“Overcrowded and unsafe”

Jan 2022

Used to be a fantastic place to ski (it has a lot of fantastic WIDE cruiser trails) before Vail took over. Now, it is:
– Very Overpriced
– Unbelievably time-consuming just to get to the first ski-lift (unless you are staying at a ski-in/ski-out place, which will cost lots of $$)
– Most importantly, UNSAFE (i got hit HARD by a super reckless snowboarder on a Green run when i was skiing with my 6 year old niece who was learning how to ski, near the bottom of the mountain. I reported it, but Vail & Northstar only care about how many tickets they can sell, it doesn’t matter that the mountain is dangerously overcrowded and that some people only care about going as fast as they can, even on super-crowded beginner runs)
I’m done with Vail.

Source: tripadvisor.com

“Way too crowded. Not safe“

Jan 2022

Way too crowded the past couple weekends to the point of almost being unsafe… not enjoyable.

Experts ruin it for the beginners and zoom around causing accidents. Along with untamed children running around everywhere. Absolute zoo. Poor food to boot.

Source: tripadvisor.com

“Avoid This Disastrous, Overhyped Property”

Small, outdated rooms. It’s like a Motel 6 with fake pine paneling. Dirty, Dingy and Depressing. Avoid

Source: tripadvisor.com

“Prepare to part with your wallet. Ski resorts are greedy”

A lift ticket is already over $130 for a SENIOR or a TEEN, and then they gouge you with $25/day parking unless you want to wait for a shuttle from the hinterlands. A “cup of soup” sized bowl of vegetarian chili is $16!! And a locker is $15 to rent. We are already paying premium to ski, and it feels like consumer rape with the resort charging these exorbitant fees.

Source: tripadvisor.com

“Getting to a ski lift, not to mention the top of the mountain, is really, really, really huge pain”… “..don’t be surprised if it takes 30-45 minutes..”

As others have mentioned, getting to a ski lift, not to mention the top of the mountain, is really, really, *really* huge pain. If you don’t have a plan for how to minimize the amount of time it takes to get up the mountain, don’t be surprised if it takes 30-45 minutes to do this on a *non*-holiday day, and at least twice as long during peak times like President’s Day weekend.

Source: tripadvisor.com

How Vail Resorts Makes Its MONEY

“Vail is in the business of selling season passes not managing their resorts.”

“Yep, their CEO only knows to sell stuff, not deliver what’s been promised”

“The whole consolidation of all these resorts has been a huge negative. I hate the hoops they make you go thru to buy the pass. What do you get for it? Spamming and them selling off your data. Tell me how many ski runs I have done? Who cares? Every scintilla of data is examined and a way found to monetize. You are being herded into chutes to be sold off to the highest bidder.”

Users comments at YT

Vail Resorts reports skier visits are down for start of the season

“CEO acknowledges early-season challenges as company releases key metrics.

Vail Resorts reported Friday that its skier visits at its North American resorts from the beginning of the season through Jan. 2 are down 1.7% from the prior year, and down 18.3% compared with the same period in the 2019-20 season.

Season-to-date total lift ticket revenue, including an allocated portion of season pass revenue for each applicable period, was up 25.9% compared with the prior year and down 4.6% compared with the 2019-20 season.”

Source: Chris Dillmann/Vail Daily

Letter: Please sell, Vail Resorts

“Congratulations, Vail Resorts. You’ve built an empire. You’ve turned a small mountain town into an amusement park. Thanks for some great things you’ve done, but now please give us our town and mountain back. As Huey would say: “Take the money and run!”

You’ve convinced local business that a $20 hamburger and french fries is the norm.

You’ve made billions while expecting your workers to live in poverty because they love to ski and ride and they love the mountains. You’ve made our mountains unaffordable for even the middle class. You’ve sucked the very essence of ski town out of ski town. You’ve sucked all the blood out of this turnip. Please sell to people who love skiing more than money.”

Source: Joe Shankland via VailDaily

Katz

Vail Resorts offers end-of-season bonus as ski areas struggle through labor crisis

“Ski resorts are struggling with COVID-ravaged workforces and swelling crowds. Vail Resorts promises workers a $2-an-hour bonus as it weathers a labor crisis, a potential strike by Park City ski patrollers and a declining stock price.”

“And Wall Street appears to be noticing the struggle. Vail Resorts’ stock peaked at $372.51 in early November, a month before the company reported selling 2.1 million advance tickets and season passes and told investors it had $1.5 billion in cash on hand for new acquisitions. Now Vail Resorts is trading around $300. “

via ColoradoSun

Jack Frost Ski Resort: “the lines are epic”

“Lift lines are “epic” at @skiJFBB , and not in a good way. 90 seconds to get down the mountain, more than an hour stuck in line to get back up.”

CecilyTynan via Twitter

According to Wikipedia: “The Jack Frost Ski Resort which opened in 1972, is located in Kidder Township, Carbon County, near White Haven, Pennsylvania. It is part of the Pocono Mountains region. Jack Frost Ski Resort is affiliated with Big Boulder ski area about 5 miles away and customers can ski both mountains on the same lift ticket. Previously operated by Peak Resorts, it was purchased by Vail Resorts in 2019. It offers 20 trails and a terrain park for skiing and snowboarding.”

Vail Resorts’ leadership failing on multiple fronts

This ski season, Vail Resorts’ leadership has failed locals and guests with a subpar and unsafe skiing experience. Here’s the breakdown:

  • Vail Resorts was extremely slow to comply with the county mandate on masks in indoor spaces on its gondolas. It still isn’t instructing their employees enough to actually enforce this rule. As our community COVID-19 numbers skyrocket, gondolas are one of the best places to catch the virus.
  • As overworked/underpaid employees are strained or come down sick and resort operations suffer, Vail blames the “global talent shortage.” This is corporate speak for “we don’t want to pay people living wages.” The talent is there; Vail just needs to pay living wages for employees.
  • Snow is Vail’s business. When other competing resorts can open terrain, but Vail Resorts’ resorts across the country can’t, that’s 100% Vail Resorts’ fault.
  • The model of “sell as many passes as possible” clearly worked for the bottom line, but is that something we actually want for skiing? I’d gladly take an Epic Pass that’s north of $1,000 next year if it leads to shorter lift lines and fewer crowds on our ski hill. I’m not saying we should make skiing exclusionary. It’s already very expensive, and the more folks who ski, the more will care about combating the climate change that is ruining our winters. But there’s loving something to death, and that’s what Vail has seen this entire winter season with absurd crowds even on weekdays due to cheap Epic Passes.
  • No heartfelt Instagram post from Beth Howard changes that she’s in charge and responsible for these failures. She needs to step up, fight for a living wage for her employees, open terrain swiftly and safely without excuses, and combat the pandemic.

Source: Benjamin Gadberry and VailDaily

Northstar Sucks blog is getting online attention

Googling for “Northstar sucks” lists our blog at #1 position at the first page. Looks like people are googling for Northstar reviews quite a lot these days.

NorthStar Sucks | VailEpicFail google results

Country-wise the traffic looks pretty diverse:

Hopefully this will help Northstar (and Vail Resorts in general) start addressing the issues they have ignored for years. Right, Deirdra Walsh?

Single-Day Lift Ticket on Vail Mountain Hits $1,566

Skiers arriving at Vail’s namesake Colorado resort over the weekend were shocked to find four-digit prices greeting them at the ticket window. Adult one-day lift tickets were listed at $1,566, a nearly 700 percent increase over the previous peak price of $229. A child’s one-day lift ticket rose to $798.

“This is an outrage,” said Abner Stevens, 92, a retired mining engineer who was walking back to the car with his wife and six grandchildren. “Why I remember when you could barter a little squirrel meat and a shotgun shell for a ride on the chairlift. Now these damn kids will just waste the whole day Faceposting on their Nintendos.”

Full story at: StormSkiing