Spring Mountain Impressions

[T.O.Blackwing]

I've never received any email or anything from Cadillac about it. Even the dealer never said anything. Fortunately, I knew about it.

I don’t think my dealer even knows that I’m going.

 

[2019V]

Ashley called me Thursday with a February 20-21st cancelation so I immediately took care of my "honey do list" without being asked (a 2nd time) then played coy with my wife about it. Needless to say I'll be there in two weeks (love you honey) any other forum members attending on those dates?

 

[GoldGSF]

Ashley called me Thursday with a February 20-21st cancelation so I immediately took care of my "honey do list" without being asked (a 2nd time) then played coy with my wife about it. Needless to say I'll be there in two weeks (love you honey) any other forum members attending on those dates?

I was just there the past two days. The weather was pretty nice. The morning started at 45 degrees then reached 60 degrees after lunch on both days. Have fun out there and hope the weather plays nice.

 

[Throat Yogurt]

I was just there the past two days. The weather was pretty nice. The morning started at 45 degrees then reached 60 degrees after lunch on both days. Have fun out there and hope the weather plays nice.

I'm going next week, Feb 15-16. Anyone else going? @dstewart51 ? The long range forecast is looking pretty good, about as you described...mornings in the 40s and afternoons in the 60s.

My flight lands in LV late morning on the 15th, so I have all afternoon to go do something and a Camaro SS rental to do it in. Current plan is to go see the Hoover Dam on my way to the Grand Canyon west rim and Skywalk. Any other recommendations?

 

[GoldGSF]

I'm going next week, Feb 15-16. Anyone else going? @dstewart51 ? The long range forecast is looking pretty good, about as you described...mornings in the 40s and afternoons in the 60s.

My flight lands in LV late morning on the 15th, so I have all afternoon to go do something and a Camaro SS rental to do it in. Current plan is to go see the Hoover Dam on my way to the Grand Canyon west rim and Skywalk. Any other recommendations?

Please visit Red Rock Canyon Road on your way to Pahrump. It's a 13 mile road with great scenic views. There are multiple stops to take pictures and multiple trails in that stop. My only regret was that I arrived there a little to late. Red Rock Canyon has a soft closure at 5PM. So if you arrive there with an hour left I would skip it. I would have spent the whole day taking pictures and going up and down the trails. Before going there I stopped by the local Trader Joe's and stocked up on snacks and drinks for my stay in Pahrump.

 

[bloominguez]

I'm going next week, Feb 15-16. Anyone else going? @dstewart51 ? The long range forecast is looking pretty good, about as you described...mornings in the 40s and afternoons in the 60s.

My flight lands in LV late morning on the 15th, so I have all afternoon to go do something and a Camaro SS rental to do it in. Current plan is to go see the Hoover Dam on my way to the Grand Canyon west rim and Skywalk. Any other recommendations?

Amen, exactly what I did (but with a shittier rental). Except I did them after the V Academy. Hoover Dam was great, I did the Engineering Tour (not the full tour). And I thought Guano Point was more impressive than the Skywalk. YMMV.

 

[DaytonOH CT 5 BW]

I sure wish spring mountain would email us/post new classes for September, October. I'm on a list for October. The wife and I plan on making a big vacation out of it. We would love to start planning.

 

[FLYARMY]

My wife and I got there around 4pm and then after settling into our beautiful condo, went the 5 minute ride into Pahrump 's Walmart and bought some small stuff for our room. They have a full kitchen , stocked with supplies. We only used the fridge, coffee maker and microwave. Ate breakfast in the room (clubhouse is from 6:30 -8am) buffet style. I just don't like getting up too early. Wife would drop me off at the classroom and then she would go back to the room to hang out and watch tv and read. Then she would head to the nice gym and met other women to hang with. They ended up driving into Pahrump to shop a little bit. Lunch was from (I believe) from 11-1pm. Classes are very coordinated and your day will go from 8am to 4pm quickly. Maybe slower for your #2. I brought my gun and didn't know they had a shooting range until I was ready to leave. I would have loved to let my wife get some gun range time in. Can't do it in NY. They have about 250 C8 Vettes there. They had a dozen CT4vBW's and 6-8 5BW's. A mix of autos and manuals. The manuals require more thought and chances to screw up than the autos, that you use 95% of the time with paddle shifters.

 

[TK42ONE]

I'm going next week, Feb 15-16. Anyone else going? @dstewart51 ? The long range forecast is looking pretty good, about as you described...mornings in the 40s and afternoons in the 60s.

My flight lands in LV late morning on the 15th, so I have all afternoon to go do something and a Camaro SS rental to do it in. Current plan is to go see the Hoover Dam on my way to the Grand Canyon west rim and Skywalk. Any other recommendations?

If you land late morning (depending on what late means) will be challenged to get to hoover dam and north rim (especially if you are doing the tour at the dam) and get back up there at a decent hour IMHO and enjoy the views / trip.

Red Rock canyon is a neat drive. Really nice to look at and if you are a climber you can go bouldering. The Shelby museum is right by the airport. I missed it but heard it was worth the stop.

 

[Throat Yogurt]

If you land late morning (depending on what late means) will be challenged to get to hoover dam and north rim (especially if you are doing the tour at the dam) and get back up there at a decent hour IMHO and enjoy the views / trip.

Red Rock canyon is a neat drive. Really nice to look at and if you are a climber you can go bouldering. The Shelby museum is right by the airport. I missed it but heard it was worth the stop.

Thanks. I'm definitely not planning on the dam n? tour, I know I won't have time for that and I really want to see the Grand Canyon as I have never seen it before other than from an airplane.

 

[OldGoat]

Thanks. I'm definitely not planning on the dam n? tour, I know I won't have time for that and I really want to see the Grand Canyon as I have never seen it before other than from an airplane.

If you ever get the chance do the full tour. Absolutely amazing feat of engineering in an incredible timespan. I've done it twice. Do it before Lake Mead dries up

 

[shbox]

If you ever get the chance do the full tour. Absolutely amazing feat of engineering in an incredible timespan. I've done it twice. Do it before Lake Mead dries up

When I went, cars still drove across the dam. There was no bypass bridge. Water was a lot higher, too.

 

[Throat Yogurt]

If you ever get the chance do the full tour. Absolutely amazing feat of engineering in an incredible timespan. I've done it twice. Do it before Lake Mead dries up

As a structural engineer with primary expertise in concrete, there isn't much about the dam I haven't already studied...only thing left is to see it in person.

 

[Finally-a-V]

Is there someplace to store your small stuff? Like a cubby? Things like car keys, extra pair of glasses, maybe a sweat shirt as the day warms up? I don't really want to have to keep track of my keys or a sweat shirt all day and other dumb stuff. When I did the Lexus HPDE, they had cubbies you could store stuff.

 

[TK42ONE]

As a structural engineer with primary expertise in concrete, there isn't much about the dam I haven't already studied...only thing left is to see it in person.

On the tour you also see where they kept the transformers.

 

[TK42ONE]

In the classroom. Everyone gets their chair for the two days. Both chairs were empty on either side of me so I kept stuff in there.

 

[GT325]

Does anyone know if there are any Tesla chargers at the facility?

 

[Throat Yogurt]

Does anyone know if there are any Tesla chargers at the facility?

According to all the EV mapping programs, no. There's a supercharger in Las Vegas and a few L2 chargers in Pahrump. One of the reasons I switched my Hertz rental from a Tesla to a Camaro.

 

[bloominguez]

On the tour you also see where they kept the transformers.

Only generators were shown on the tour I was on, not transformers, at least on the "engineering" tour. Maybe they were shown on the longer tour?

In any case, the transformers are outside the generator hall, as shown here:

Interesting side note: Most of the power from Hoover Dam goes to Arizona, only 25% to Las Vegas. The tour guide mentioned that expecting everyone to be surprised. But if you count up the transmission lines it's pretty obvious. Way more lines heading east than west. Apparently the dam was built before it was apparent Las Vegas was going to be a city of significant size, and long term agreements were locked in.

 

[FLYARMY]

The instructors will give you a lanyard with your name on it, a Cadillac water bottle that fits perfectly in the BW's cup holder. They put a nametag on the back of your chair. The class will usually be split into 3 groups. Red-Blue-Green and you will do a round robin of track work, classroom, and paddock (big parking lot ). When they do the auto cross, there will be 3 auto cross champions (one from each group). The 5BW's are a bit tricky because they have more power in the autocross. In the track course, the instructors are able to get up to 135 mph+/- . I was able to get up to 130 mph after I figured out that I needed to be in 4th gear at the turn onto the straightaway. The Performance Data Recorder will show everything that you are doing (right and wrong) and you can learn from it during the classroom review. I was shifting wrong entering the straightaways. After I learned from my mistake and then only used 4th thru 7th gear on my paddleshifter, I was much faster. ALSO.....remember to turn on your PDR when driving ! Some guys would turn it off when they were done doing a task and then forget to turn it back on for the next one. The instructors are usually pretty good at reminding you to turn it on. It records audio in the car perfectly ! You get to take home the car SD card. They will have a professional photographer there on the last day taking pictures. They will sell you a thumb drive with your photos and PDR combined. I paid something like $180 (cash discount). You can buy a heavy plaque at the gift shop for your lanyard ID and the certificate they give you at the end. The gift shop is heavy on Corvette , not so much on Cadillac. I did buy a nice winter Blackwing jacket and BB cap. Tipping is appreciated for the instructors. Most people gave $20 per instructor (my class had 7/ so $140). No pressure to give anything. Students just left the money on the podium. There were 18 people in my class, so they did well.