I was caught in that Hunter debacle last Tuesday. Reserved a spot and drove up, just to stand in the parking lot for an hour and then hear second hand that they were not opening because of "lack of safety personnel . Wtf? And, I never received an email or text before or after, even though I signed up for notifications. It seems that, of one is to better communicate, or just hear what is going on at Vail properties, you should be on Facebook or Twitter (I see that is a tweet that you printed above). And, the Facebook quotes or tweets that are valuable are from other skiers, not Vail. This is the way to run a communications/marketing department? Wildcat had similar issues. Sure, some skiers are whiney about lack of snowmaking in such an awful year, but, I totally sympathize with the lack of communication. https://www.conwaydailysun.com/business/local/vail-resorts-inc-responds-to-epic-complaints/article_c120d5ce-5127-11eb-a42c-63fb06890d0d.html
"In more positive news, Katz said the growth in the number of skiers who are new to Vail Resorts buying the Epic Day Pass bodes well for the future and “will accelerate our ability to move guests into advanced commitment.""
"advanced commitment" He really said that. I mean, would you trust this man, or even share a beer with him?
Great article! I checked in today at small but 29 miles from home/in state Otis Ridge today. They are doing a great job, especially considering the massive washout that followed a nice 15-20" snowfall in mid December. An occurrence that has become all too frequent in the Northeast. A nice, well managed crowd was assembling for Thursday night skiing as I left.
How in the world do you find the time to gather all this information and then create a well written article about all of it? Amazing. I can't wait to park our RV at Targhee in a few weeks and write about the experience.
We still haven't broken the seal on our annual passes, with a combination of nowhere to stay (Covid lodging restrictions), and the snow isn't really great (so I don't feel that I need to be heroic to get onto a mountain). If we get another "March Miracle" out here in the West, then it might work out, but at this point I won't be surprised if we roll our passes over to credit for next year. It's good tennis/golf season right now.
Excellent piece as usual. Its super painful this year. As a half time Vermont resident (NJ the other half), the inability to actually go skiing for the first time in more than 40 years sucks. Its literally a core fiber of our family life. Vermont in particular, has created an environment of animosity between its citizens and people who have cars with non green license plates. Its silly, petty, and shameful. To be fair, some people are simply lying about their quarantine status, but most are trying to do the right thing. For those that don't know (Stuart, I know you covered this in November), Vermont says you can go skiing there, as long as you "attest" to having quarantined for 14 days prior to arrival. Yep, non functional.....
Many of the ski resort workers we've known for years are in a bad way. Coaches that earn a bulk of their annual living on the mountains are trying desperately to drum up business, even though some sanctimonious mountain employees at many mountains are trying to put them out of business. Local restaurants are closing down. The entire local economy revolves around the ski industry in many areas.
The chaos is global as well, not just in the northeast US as you point out. The hysteria in the Alps, between the EU states and Switzerland is really amusing to watch. And even the normally stalwart Italian ski industry is super pissed off about this whole thing.
Its really troubling in so many ways. No one wants to either catch or spread the virus. But not being able to be outside in 20 degree weather on a giant mountain seems simply too illogical.
I was caught in that Hunter debacle last Tuesday. Reserved a spot and drove up, just to stand in the parking lot for an hour and then hear second hand that they were not opening because of "lack of safety personnel . Wtf? And, I never received an email or text before or after, even though I signed up for notifications. It seems that, of one is to better communicate, or just hear what is going on at Vail properties, you should be on Facebook or Twitter (I see that is a tweet that you printed above). And, the Facebook quotes or tweets that are valuable are from other skiers, not Vail. This is the way to run a communications/marketing department? Wildcat had similar issues. Sure, some skiers are whiney about lack of snowmaking in such an awful year, but, I totally sympathize with the lack of communication. https://www.conwaydailysun.com/business/local/vail-resorts-inc-responds-to-epic-complaints/article_c120d5ce-5127-11eb-a42c-63fb06890d0d.html
I blame the CEO for running a company that says things like "excluded from work". Here, he actually said this in this quarterly statement: https://coloradosun.com/2020/12/11/vail-resorts-earnings-covid-ski-season/
"In more positive news, Katz said the growth in the number of skiers who are new to Vail Resorts buying the Epic Day Pass bodes well for the future and “will accelerate our ability to move guests into advanced commitment.""
"advanced commitment" He really said that. I mean, would you trust this man, or even share a beer with him?
Great article! I checked in today at small but 29 miles from home/in state Otis Ridge today. They are doing a great job, especially considering the massive washout that followed a nice 15-20" snowfall in mid December. An occurrence that has become all too frequent in the Northeast. A nice, well managed crowd was assembling for Thursday night skiing as I left.
How in the world do you find the time to gather all this information and then create a well written article about all of it? Amazing. I can't wait to park our RV at Targhee in a few weeks and write about the experience.
We still haven't broken the seal on our annual passes, with a combination of nowhere to stay (Covid lodging restrictions), and the snow isn't really great (so I don't feel that I need to be heroic to get onto a mountain). If we get another "March Miracle" out here in the West, then it might work out, but at this point I won't be surprised if we roll our passes over to credit for next year. It's good tennis/golf season right now.
Excellent piece as usual. Its super painful this year. As a half time Vermont resident (NJ the other half), the inability to actually go skiing for the first time in more than 40 years sucks. Its literally a core fiber of our family life. Vermont in particular, has created an environment of animosity between its citizens and people who have cars with non green license plates. Its silly, petty, and shameful. To be fair, some people are simply lying about their quarantine status, but most are trying to do the right thing. For those that don't know (Stuart, I know you covered this in November), Vermont says you can go skiing there, as long as you "attest" to having quarantined for 14 days prior to arrival. Yep, non functional.....
Many of the ski resort workers we've known for years are in a bad way. Coaches that earn a bulk of their annual living on the mountains are trying desperately to drum up business, even though some sanctimonious mountain employees at many mountains are trying to put them out of business. Local restaurants are closing down. The entire local economy revolves around the ski industry in many areas.
The chaos is global as well, not just in the northeast US as you point out. The hysteria in the Alps, between the EU states and Switzerland is really amusing to watch. And even the normally stalwart Italian ski industry is super pissed off about this whole thing.
Its really troubling in so many ways. No one wants to either catch or spread the virus. But not being able to be outside in 20 degree weather on a giant mountain seems simply too illogical.