I saw lots of people cheering the shutting down of the two lift projects at Park City on social media (including the Epic Lift Lines account), and the overarching motive and sentiment I observed... was simply that people were trying to stick it to Vail Resorts in retaliation for how busy Park City has become due to Epic Pass sales, wanting Vail Resorts to bring back the reservation system and capacity management.
Still, the logic (or lack thereof) of those opposed to the lift upgrades at Park City gives me a headache. If you're tired of waiting in lines, wouldn't you be happy they're installing faster, higher capacity lifts? *Facepalm*
Vail Resorts tried a reservation system for the "Covid Season" of 2020-2021. It didn't work too well for them and countless people were infuriated because it was extremely difficult to lock in reservations at resorts that are rather famous and busy, which is a lot of the Vail Resorts portfolio. I had no problem locking in reservations that season to visit Mission Ridge, but that's because Mission Ridge isn't a ski resort that is simultaneously world-famous and right outside a massive metropolitan area, such as Vail CO or Whistler Blackcomb.
And even if Vail Resorts brought back a "Reserve in advance online" system for everyone including Epic Pass holders, their resorts are still going to be quite busy because they have a high comfortable carrying capacity, with massive acreage, sprawling lift networks and massive parking lots! These NIMBYs decided to live outside one of America's largest, most famous and busy ski resorts right next to the massive Salt Lake City. Same with the NIMBYs living at Vail, one of the most famous ski resorts also within driving distance of the massive city of Denver. The NIMBYs were smart enough to become wealthy and successful enough to own a slopeside mansion, so I'm surprised they weren't smart enough to foresee the potential challenges of living outside Park City and Vail. Maybe they should've bought a slopeside house at a ski resort NOT outside a massive city, such as Big Sky or Whitefish! Lol
I agree with you Stuart, one way Vail could help manage lines better is if they took a different approach to the blackouts on the different Epic Pass tiers, similar to what the Ikon Base/Base+ and Indy Base Pass do.
Sometimes I feel like a few of the podcasts with Vail Resorts staff don't quite seem as in-depth as the independents, or at least contain a lot more corporate talk / question dodges (esp. when they use language typically found in quarterly release calls...); this one didn't seem to have that at all, which made it much more interesting to listen to.
Would definitely love a second pod focusing entirely on the mountains---I think you hit the nail on the head with your "Questions I wish I’d asked" section w.r.t. the relevancy of NIMBYs in the surrounding communities being more important today, but if you could wave a magic wand and get Bill back on the pod again soon that would truly be sweet!
Stuart! I really enjoyed the podcast. Thanks for all of your great work. To be honest, I thought I might get a question about sun valley and snowbasin leaving the EPIC pass as this would have been in Bill’s region, but I trust you’ll ask that to Sun Valley down the road. Good work again?
I saw lots of people cheering the shutting down of the two lift projects at Park City on social media (including the Epic Lift Lines account), and the overarching motive and sentiment I observed... was simply that people were trying to stick it to Vail Resorts in retaliation for how busy Park City has become due to Epic Pass sales, wanting Vail Resorts to bring back the reservation system and capacity management.
Still, the logic (or lack thereof) of those opposed to the lift upgrades at Park City gives me a headache. If you're tired of waiting in lines, wouldn't you be happy they're installing faster, higher capacity lifts? *Facepalm*
Vail Resorts tried a reservation system for the "Covid Season" of 2020-2021. It didn't work too well for them and countless people were infuriated because it was extremely difficult to lock in reservations at resorts that are rather famous and busy, which is a lot of the Vail Resorts portfolio. I had no problem locking in reservations that season to visit Mission Ridge, but that's because Mission Ridge isn't a ski resort that is simultaneously world-famous and right outside a massive metropolitan area, such as Vail CO or Whistler Blackcomb.
And even if Vail Resorts brought back a "Reserve in advance online" system for everyone including Epic Pass holders, their resorts are still going to be quite busy because they have a high comfortable carrying capacity, with massive acreage, sprawling lift networks and massive parking lots! These NIMBYs decided to live outside one of America's largest, most famous and busy ski resorts right next to the massive Salt Lake City. Same with the NIMBYs living at Vail, one of the most famous ski resorts also within driving distance of the massive city of Denver. The NIMBYs were smart enough to become wealthy and successful enough to own a slopeside mansion, so I'm surprised they weren't smart enough to foresee the potential challenges of living outside Park City and Vail. Maybe they should've bought a slopeside house at a ski resort NOT outside a massive city, such as Big Sky or Whitefish! Lol
I agree with you Stuart, one way Vail could help manage lines better is if they took a different approach to the blackouts on the different Epic Pass tiers, similar to what the Ikon Base/Base+ and Indy Base Pass do.
Anyways, great podcast and article as usual!
A great pod!
Sometimes I feel like a few of the podcasts with Vail Resorts staff don't quite seem as in-depth as the independents, or at least contain a lot more corporate talk / question dodges (esp. when they use language typically found in quarterly release calls...); this one didn't seem to have that at all, which made it much more interesting to listen to.
Would definitely love a second pod focusing entirely on the mountains---I think you hit the nail on the head with your "Questions I wish I’d asked" section w.r.t. the relevancy of NIMBYs in the surrounding communities being more important today, but if you could wave a magic wand and get Bill back on the pod again soon that would truly be sweet!
And I guess there’s no edit button on here either. Meant to say “Good work again!” No question mark.
Stuart! I really enjoyed the podcast. Thanks for all of your great work. To be honest, I thought I might get a question about sun valley and snowbasin leaving the EPIC pass as this would have been in Bill’s region, but I trust you’ll ask that to Sun Valley down the road. Good work again?