COVER FEATURE
The Thunderbolt, North America’s longest
year-round mountain coaster
BERKSHIRE EAST MOUNTAIN RESORT
According to Mahoney, resorts typically
run alpine coasters on a limited
basis during the winter (such as weekends
and holidays) and will ramp up
coaster operations to six or seven days
a week for the key revenue period during
summer. For this reason, Mahoney
said, “when you decide to build a
coaster, ensuring an install time to get
you up and running for those summer
months is essential.”
As flagship attractions that help
drive new and different customers to
four-season resorts, mountain coasters
are not only sought out by thrill-seekers
looking for their next adrenaline rush,
they’re very popular with families. Kids
as young as three can ride them, and as
many resorts have discovered, mountain
coasters are also a hit with the
silver-haired set.
Bob Serfass, director of mountain
adventures at Camelback, says this
isn’t something the resort really anticipated
when it decided to add a mountain
coaster.
“We’re getting a lot of older people
who really like the fact that they can
control the speed,” Serfass said, adding
that many of them are grandparents
who see it as great opportunity to
have fun riding the coaster with their
grandchildren. “It really tailors itself to
people of every age,” he said.
Seating up to two, ADG’s coaster
carts are rider controlled (hand-held
brakes enable carts to go as fast as
25 mph or as slow as riders want) and
feature a patent-pending collision
avoidance system and numerous other
safety features.
Mahoney notes that ADG’s customers
generally charge anywhere from
$10 to $25 for their coaster experiences
that feature a wide variety of zigs,
zags, dips and 360-degree corkscrew
turns, usually through picturesque
forest areas. She adds a typical ADG
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32 April 2018 | snowopsmag.com
