Vail Resorts Red Flags in 2021-22

jamesdeluxe

jamesdeluxe

Administrator
Tony Crocker said:
Compagnie des Alpes Ski Resorts runs most of the big French ski complexes.
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I wasn't aware of that, partially because I've never skied at any of those resorts, which comprise most of France's top industrial-tourism ski destinations. Assuming that my March trip moves forward, Serre Chevalier will be my first Compagnie des Alpes joint.
 
jamesdeluxe

jamesdeluxe

Administrator
Listen at your own peril. If you want to cut to the chase (hot takes from the East Coast), here's the NYSB thread along with this article from the NY Times, posted yesterday. I guess this is when you hire a PR firm specialising in cleaning up messes.

 
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tseeb

tseeb

Active member
Trying to fight Vail at City Hall in Park City: https://www.parkrecord.com/news/par...ange-of-pcmr-grievances-brought-to-city-hall/

I now have 12 days in 2022 at Vail Tahoe resorts (1 Northstar, 4 Kirkwood and 7 Heavenly). Since I only have skied Mon-Thurs and don't usually go into lodge, I have not been affected by staffing shortages. Dry windy storms have been worse for skiing at Heavenly and Kirkwood than any staffing shortages or other bean counting coming from Broomfield.
 
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berkshireskier

Member
New story in last Sunday's NY Times (02/06/22) about the issues at various ski resorts resulting from the multi-area ski passes (Epic and Ikon, etc).

www.nytimes.com

Who Gets to Ski?

The mountains are too crowded. The sport is too expensive. Several resorts are trying to fix a number of problems. How are they doing?
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com
 
jamesdeluxe

jamesdeluxe

Administrator
That's a brutal article. Someone reposted this pic on the NY Ski Forum. Not sure if it was photo-shopped or not (I'd like to believe that it wasn't!), but pretty funny regardless.

1644411420795-png.12851
 
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berkshireskier

Member
LOL, that is from an ad that has been playing during the Olympics TV coverage (I forget what the commercial is about or the company involved) but I assume it is somehow photoshopped or otherwise computer manipulated. If not, the ad agency got a HUGE number of people to ski down that slope.
 
ChrisC

ChrisC

Active member
That could just be the weekend crowd coming off Whistler at the end of the day. Only North American resort I would rather download to the base versus ski.
 
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snowave

Member
jamesdeluxe said:
Heads up to @snowave:
unofficialnetworks.com

Tamarack Resort Offers Free Lift Tickets For Epic and Ikon Passholders

Tamarack Resort, ID is offering two free lift tickets to any skier and snowboarder holding valid 2021/22 EPIC or IKON season passes. The deal is good from February 21 through the end of the 2021-22…
unofficialnetworks.com unofficialnetworks.com
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Yeah, I saw that on their FB page the other day. They have always been fairly aggressive with trying to lure more people resort, however it seems much slower this year than last in these parts (which selfish me appreciates). The snow drought since the holidays certainly hasn't helped, either.
 
M

mdskier

New member
tseeb said:
My $359 Senior Tahoe Value pass is only valid at Heavenly, Kirkwood and Northstar with all 3 blacked out on holidays, and Kirkwood and Northstar blacked out all Saturdays. I can buy 1/2 price walk-up tickets on black-out days and think I also get 1/2 price walk-up tickets at any Vail-owned resorts; not that I would buy any of those after breaking even on my pass first two days at Heavenly where walk-up is $179 (down from $199 over holiday and discounted for advance purchases). I only plan to ski Mon-Thurs on this pass until Spring due to crowds Fri-Sun although Sun PMs could be OK. I also have full Ikon that I plan to use over President's weekend at Palisades on way to Aspen.
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Sprung for the same $359 Senior Tahoe Value pass. It's one of the few senior passes offered by VR. A colossal dud as I only used it one day this year. Snow drought left Northstar with mostly hard pack that day in January Next 6 weeks more of same. Got to get at least 2 more days. But VR pulls the plug on all their Tahoe areas except Heavenly in first week of April. Pre-VR Kirkwood would stay open till near end of May. VR bean counters nixed that.
 
Tony Crocker

Tony Crocker

Administrator
Staff member
Vail and Kirkwood are open to May 1 this year and Heavenly to April 24 per recent announcement. Vail is presumably tying to dig itself out of the bad publicity hole of this season. Unfortunately late April skiing at these places is likely to fall short of what it would be in a normal season. There's also the question of how much in the way of lifts/terrain will they actually keep open.
 
EMSC

EMSC

Active member
jamesdeluxe said:
How do they catch people
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I suspect there are plenty of people, especially later season, who are showing plenty of their face to be compared to the picture/age/gender that comes up on the screen when you scan through the ticket gantry at lifts... That fact is indirectly hinted at in the linked article. Fraud likely doesn't increase in the later part of the season, it's just easier to spot by the lifties (who can get paid bonus's for finding a cheater).

Most people don't even know that their picture pops up for a couple seconds on the ipads that lifties are looking at at the base area lifts with automated ticket gates.
 
tseeb

tseeb

Active member
While searching for something else on Kirkwood's website, I found https://www.kirkwood.com/-/media/global/sapphire/class-action-lawsuits.ashx
Not sure if these have been settled, but lawsuits are from people who didn't use their passes enough before Pandemic closure in March 2020 and were not satisfied with credit towards next year's passes for those with 6 or less days usage.

While Northstar had problems handling crowds earlier this season and could barely make it to Easter closing due to high temps melting snow, both Heavenly and Kirkwood seemed to avoid problems other than full parking lots on busy days and staffing shortages at places to eat on mountain (that doesn't really affect me). This afternoon, I went to Round Hill Safeway in NV and they had a sign in door saying closed 12-3 PM today and deli was closed before 6 PM, both due to staffing. Heavenly also had to close CA base earlier than planned due to middle CA level melting. Then Stateline gondola could not run most of their last two weeks due to wind which meant no skiing at Heavenly except for 2 or 3 days. For details from their GM who was also assigned to fix Stevens Pass this year, see https://www.skiheavenly.com/blog/fortune-friday-april-22.aspx?
 
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