After reading “At Mt. Bachelor, mixed reviews” on Feb. 6, I would agree 100 percent with David Rosell’s concerns voiced in the Chamber of Commerce’s Business Journal. Since the purchase of the ski area by Powdr Corp. there has been a noticeable decline in service along with increased ticket prices and empty promises for improvement. If Phil Cruz of the Bend-Fort Rock Ranger District states that there has only been one complaint about Bachelor service this year, he is very much out of touch and poorly informed about the situation.

As an example of what has been the normal mode of operation for the season we went up for a ski day on Saturday, Feb. 9. It was a blue bird day with very little wind and warm temperatures. Things quickly went downhill, so to speak. First off, it took about 20 minutes to stand in an airport-type service line to process two coupons for tickets. The person at the ticket counter informed me that the coupons were always slow to process through the computer. There were three computer time-outs for the first coupon and six for the second one. A process that should have taken a couple of minutes took 20. While the new line configuration may be good in theory, it just does not work when the ski hosts are not paying attention to what is going on and chatting to one another instead of directing traffic.

Second came the ski lifts — the heart of any ski area. Summit lift was closed all day, and Northwest Express did not open until after lunch. Again, this was a Saturday and a blue bird day. There is no excuse for this. The Pine Marten and Outback lifts were in their usual stop-and-go modes, so there were long lines, and, consequently, skiing the more advanced side of the mountain became a waste of time. If you visit other ski areas you might pay more for a lift ticket (Sun Valley ($79) or Jackson Hole ($77)) but you will find all lifts operating all day with few if any stops and no lift lines.

As a result you can easily double the amount of vertical feet you ski in a day for $11-$13 more.

Grooming — some people want more and some less, and it will always be hard to please everyone. However, last Saturday it looked like most of the crew had Friday night off. Summit runs showed no signs of grooming in preparation if the lift did open.

Restaurants — the food is generally pretty good, but service is always hit and miss. It is not uncommon for five out of six people to receive their order while the sixth person finally receives their order when the others are finished.

So, for example, you’re a family of four from Portland and you want to spend a holiday weekend skiing at Bachelor. Two ski days and three nights lodging at a low-end condo in Sunriver. That’s about $100 for gas, $528 for lift tickets, $675 for lodging and a food budget of $300, totaling around $1,600 that would make its way into the local economy. Is a family of four going to part with $1,600 in a tightening economy for a less than stellar ski experience?

My suggestion would be to make the improvements as promised and only raise ticket prices if Bachelor can actually follow through with the improvements. Don’t raise prices first, and then continue the status quo with poor quality service.

I have skied here since 1966, and it is just painful to watch this happen to what has in the past been a great place to ski. It takes only a short period of time to acquire a bad reputation and years to repair. Best to start the repair process as soon as possible or sell the place back to local people who care.