12 Comments

Mt Snow's lines were so poorly managed that I didn't use my Epic Pass, and I live 20 minutes away. They were so understaffed that state mask and distancing guidelines were not enforced. I spoke to an infectious disease physician who had 100 covid patients in his hospital in December, 80 miles away. He said to stay home. Complaints to the resort got only the party line that they were abiding by the guidelines, even after I showed them photos proving otherwise. Crowds next year will likely be huge, and Mt Snow has just announced that they are reserving 60% of parking on weekends and holidays as preferred parking (meaning, paid parking), so their grand experience is becoming more costly. I foresee a crowded year, and will shift to Ikon.

Expand full comment
Mar 26, 2021Liked by Stuart Winchester

The stock market didn't like this at all, and I have to agree. Here's a company that is severely down in revenues from last year, and that was an awful year with March vaporized, and they decide to wave their things and start a market share price war with this discount. Awful management. We can only hope the company finally implodes and gets sold off for parts, but, present executives will probably still walk away rich and respected, like Les Otten did after driving Killington and ASC into a deep ditch.

I just did a midweek three day thing at Killington, and, although I have my issues with management there, (spending a million bucks to host the World Cup? Ahem) I was really impressed with how that place is run these days. RIFD on every lift, tons of grooming and snowmaking. That's what I want to see, not a fading infrastructure with little new investment because they actually reduced their revenue in the middle of a world wide resort and travel depression. Dumb.

Expand full comment
founding

Paying money for a frustrating experience sucks. Paying less than last year for it, still sucks. One excellent Hunter weekday was my only Vail day this year. Have fun with that pass cost/ski day math. Epik and Icon don't need me anyway. I'll be skiing indy.

Expand full comment
Mar 25, 2021Liked by Stuart Winchester

I'm not sure if I should like or hate this. This year the lines were so BAD, three times I didn't bother getting out of the car when going to Crouched Mt. Once the same happened at Mt. Sunapee and it would have been more if I didn't ignore the parking attendant and lucked out finding a parking spot closer to the lifts. My experiences at Wildcat, Attitash, Okemo and Mount Snow were not much better on the weekend. Forget Stow, it's still sold out most weekends. This year it seemed as though the only metric used in the reservation system is PARKING CAPACITY. While lift capacity might be better next year I am having second guesses about buying the EPIC pass next year.

Expand full comment

I am skiing Red Lodge right now, an Indy Pass resort. Look for a blog post soon on the experience. With the parking lot full it feels like the place is empty. (24 inches of pow over the last 24 hours.) For expert skiers it is tremendous. Exceptional tree skiing. Yes, it doesn’t have huge bowls, on mountain lodging or fancy shops and restaurants. If you prefer a nice airbnb and skiing right onto the lift, consider checking out Red Lodge. A very different experience from the mega resorts.

Expand full comment
Mar 24, 2021Liked by Stuart Winchester

I am not sure how to feel about this. This year has been terrible. Our "home" mountains are Wildcat and Attitash. This is the first year they did not keep the old staff and it showed i believe. The lack of snow-making was so bad that Cranmore actually opened before Wildcat. how sad. Sure Covid and the weather didn't help but does these offers mean even more people will be showing up? our last visit we were on site for 3hrs and 40 min and only skied an hour of that due to waiting in lines. Will next year be even worse? They very rarely ran all the lifts at Wildcat and there are only 4. all in all it just wasn't a pleasurable experience and i'm afraid this might be the new normal.

Expand full comment
Mar 24, 2021Liked by Stuart Winchester

Also, the fine people of Crotched Mtn refunded my girls seasonal dev program due to COVID testing requirements related to in-school leaning. Another example of Vail Resorts doing the right thing. I’ve found that if you are persistent, kind and state a case based on facts Vail will work with you; just my experience over the past couple years.

Expand full comment
Mar 24, 2021Liked by Stuart Winchester

Vail is providing a credit to people that did not use their pass in the core season (thru 4/4) and I have the email to prove it! This includes using the pass for ski/ride school. I’m going to VT this weekend and using ski with a friend tix for my family since they didn’t use their passes this season. I am not using the Epic rate for ski/ride school for the kids because that would be considered “use” and void the roll over credit. Bravo Vail, a little late to announce but it did the right thing!

Expand full comment
Mar 24, 2021Liked by Stuart Winchester

I just don't know how I should react to this. On one hand - awesome, why wouldn't we re-up for the Epic pass at this price with all of the options it provides? On the other hand, unless there are some obvious midweek windows of opportunity to ski next year, is there really "value" in a pass that might provide enjoyable skiing from 8 AM to 10 AM and then not much thereafter? It's going to be chaos out there. This year, the one benefit of the lift restriction was that the slopes were less crowded once you got to the top. Next year, assuming the Covid world starts to approach normalcy, there will be crowds at the bottom, at the top, and everywhere in between.

I guess I have to acknowledge that the price cut was a smart move. I was firmly in the "no" column for renewing, and now I am undecided.

Expand full comment