The "Sugarbush Thread"

GregoryIsaacs said:

Just read a couple pages back. The whole Blazers vs. Bush hardos is very real. and sad.

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Gregory, maybe you should reread what was said back a couple of pages. There are no hard feelings against the blazers.

WWF-VT said:

That's a pretty stupid comment to make by someone who has no knowledge of what happened

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+1

Hawk said:

Gregory, maybe you should reread what was said back a couple of pages. There are no hard feelings against the blazers.

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Got it. Your just "sad" and "feelings are hurt" because of them. My bad

mikec142 said:

there is a laid back, friendly vibe at Sugarbush

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Not to be contrary, but I find this to be the opposite of the case. The way I've been treated by Sugarbush employees, I will never return.

On top of that I get to avoid: Bad snowmaking. Crowded parking lot. Skied off trails. Lift lines. Overpriced everything.

There is some good skiing to be had there, so I hope eventually they have new ownership who keep their employees in check and not act like self righteous teenagers and then taking it to social media when a customer expresses a different point of view.

Good mountain, but the lower level employees there will decide if you're part of their clique or not. From what I can tell this a top down attitude as Sugarbush seems to take political and controversial stances more than other mountains. I simply mentioned not all your customers agree with you and got hammered by a dozen plus employees, on social media mind you (when I was still on it), all telling me basically go ski elsewhere if you don't agree with our latest political position. Totally unprofessional and all their snow can melt until new ownership for all I care.

WWF-VT said:

That's a pretty stupid comment to make by someone who has no knowledge of what happened

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The internet is very serious today.

bdfreetuna said:

Not to be contrary, but I find this to be the opposite of the case. The way I've been treated by Sugarbush employees, I will never return.

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Can't say I've ever met any Sugarbush employees that have been anything but nice and friendly. Lift Ops, Snowmakers, Groomers, Bartenders, Greeters, Ski Patrol...all have been laid back and great people anytime I've had an interaction with them.

On top of that I get to avoid: Bad snowmaking. Crowded parking lot. Skied off trails. Lift lines. Overpriced everything.

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I don't find their prices to be higher than any other of the major mountains in VT. Longest lift line I've waited on this year has been maybe 5 minutes. Skied off trails will happen anywhere if it is a heavily used trail, so really not sure how SB differs from other areas in this aspect. There's plenty that don't get skied off too (plus endless woods). Crowded parking lot? What does this even mean? They have a shuttle running through the lot so no matter how close or far away you park this shouldn't be an issue.

There is some good skiing to be had there, so I hope eventually they have new ownership who keep their employees in check and not act like self righteous teenagers and then taking it to social media when a customer expresses a different point of view.

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I completely disagree with you and think Win and his partners have been excellent owners. Do I agree with every decision? Certainly not. But overall I think they've done a tremendous job with making the resort a great and very special place. On top of that, Win is very visible and approachable. I have no interest in seeing any change in ownership. I also don't see any issues on any recent social media posts that I've seen with any inappropriate employee comments.

bdfreetuna said:

Not to be contrary, but I find this to be the opposite of the case. The way I've been treated by Sugarbush employees, I will never return.

On top of that I get to avoid: Bad snowmaking. Crowded parking lot. Skied off trails. Lift lines. Overpriced everything.

There is some good skiing to be had there, so I hope eventually they have new ownership who keep their employees in check and not act like self righteous teenagers and then taking it to social media when a customer expresses a different point of view.

Good mountain, but the lower level employees there will decide if you're part of their clique or not. From what I can tell this a top down attitude as Sugarbush seems to take political and controversial stances more than other mountains. I simply mentioned not all your customers agree with you and got hammered by a dozen plus employees, on social media mind you (when I was still on it), all telling me basically go ski elsewhere if you don't agree with our latest political position. Totally unprofessional and all their snow can melt until new ownership for all I care.

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Ahh, you want to talk about snowmaking, I am right there with ya but employees....Come on!?! They really do have awesome people working at the mountain who are super-friendly. From the parking lot attendants, lift-ops, patrol and certainly everyone at CRP!! Hey, it's a LONG season and they have to put up with all of us. Everyone has a bad day or maybe you got flamed on social media in a political conversation (we're all internet heroes!) Yet if you come on back, I think you would see the same thing. And please please...don't wish for our snow to melt....it's finally good now!!

cdskier said:

I don't find their prices to be higher than any other of the major mountains in VT.

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I like Sugarbush, and disagree with much of what he said, I generally think Sugarbush is a pretty great place. But I do agree with him that the price is obviously high from the standpoint of the entire value proposition, which is the #1 thing (the only thing actually) that keeps me from skiing Sugarbush more often. Why should I ski Sugarbush when I can ski as good or better terrain in n.VT for substantially cheaper lift ticket pricing?

cdskier said:

I completely disagree with you.

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I would expect so as you weren't involved in the situation. I think you're probably a regular person though and if you had a dozen SB employees go out of their way to insult you it would be a different situation.

The event took place over a year ago; I have not been on social media really in over a year so idk if anything has changed. At the time SB was using social media to virtue signal against certain political positions related to the election. I stated very mildly that doing so is dividing their customer base and they should not assume everyone agrees with their positions. The response was incredible and several of their employees felt entitled enough to tell me not to come back anymore.

So I won't. But I still post here!

And yeah I do blame the upper management if they never bothered to tell their employees that the customer is always right -- or at least hold you tongue if it's a minor disagreement. I can count how much $$$$ I've spent at SB over the years. It will be a lot easier to count from now on.

BenedictGomez said:

I like Sugarbush, and disagree with much of what he said, I generally think Sugarbush is a pretty great place. But I do agree with him that the price is obviously high from the standpoint of the entire value proposition, which is the #1 thing (the only thing actually) that keeps me from skiing Sugarbush more often. Why should I ski Sugarbush when I can ski as good or better terrain in n.VT for substantially cheaper lift ticket pricing?

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So for "as good or better terrain" that leaves Jay, Stowe, maybe Smuggs in N VT as the areas you're referring to? Stowe day ticket rates are higher. Jay certainly is cheaper, but it is also a 2 hour longer drive coming from NJ (important for me, but maybe not for others). Smuggs is cheaper too, but a bit of a pain to get to and no high speed lifts. I guess it somewhat depends what is important to you for how you're defining value. I'll agree that SB's normal day ticket rates are high. I've felt that way for a while. However, plan in advance and buy a quad pack for Sugarbush though and you drop your lift ticket price way down. (~$55-60 if I remember right). That's a pretty good value in my book unless Jay/Stowe/Smuggs have other discounts that bring their normal prices even lower than that (not saying they don't, I honestly don't remember).

Season passes are also competitively priced in my book. Right now I have my cost per day down to around $20.

Everybody has a unique perspective. I was not there so I can't tell what was said or who said what. Hell I think is was cdskier and I that had opposing views on Alpine Options. He had a bad experience and I am friends with those guys so we obviously do not see things the same about them. What I don't understand is how you knew that the people on the internet where employees. Honestly the grand majority or employees are locals that have been there for years and work very hard to make SB a great place. I have never had an issue with any of them. As for cost, Quad packs are $50 a day and pre purchased tickets are $60 to $90 a day non-holiday. That is not too bad compared to similar places. I won't comment on snowmaking. ;-) If you feel that way then that is too bad because it's really a good place with good people.

cdskier said:

So for "as good or better terrain" that leaves Jay, Stowe, maybe Smuggs in N VT

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Or 2 miles up the road. I like places that unite people based on a common love of skiing. Not the places that are happy to divide people to make some political statement taking advantage of a mass casualty, which has nothing to do with skiing but I guess makes the college students feel good about themselves.

I don't really care about their prices as I get half off anyway or snowmaking as I ski MRG whenever possible

Really I like most mountains except the ones that don't appreciate my business and make it clear to me.

Hawk said:

Everybody has a unique perspective. I was not there so I can't tell what was said or who said what. Hell I think is was cdskier and I that had opposing views on Alpine Options. He had a bad experience and I am friends with those guys so we obviously do not see things the same about them. What I don't understand is how you knew that the people on the internet where employees. Honestly the grand majority or employees are locals that have been there for years and work very hard to make SB a great place. I have never had an issue with any of them. As for cost, Quad packs are $50 a day and pre purchased tickets are $60 to $90 a day non-holiday. That is not too bad compared to similar places. I won't comment on snowmaking. ;-) If you feel that way then that is too bad because it's really a good place with good people.

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Hah...good memory Hawk!

I'm kind of curious about your point of how he knew they were employees too. I fully agree that it is a really good place with really good people. I'm really very surprised to hear about tuna's experience online as it is completely different than anything I've ever experienced in person.

Kind of easy to hover over somebody's name on social media and if it says they are a SB employee, I assume they are.

My point goes to a larger one about how companies engage in political subjects.

After Sugarbush attempting to take a "side" (as if there are sides besides good and evil) on a mass shooting, virtue signaling on the LGBT community and how we need to stop the "hate". I mentioned the guy who shot 'em up idolized ISIS and it seemed they mischaracterized the incident; that did not go over well... the 2nd occasion was Sugarbush making a statement denoucing the USA's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord, and I think my response to that one was actually very mild stating how I don't think it would have mattered anyway and it was a giveaway to other countries. That went over much less well.

And I will say again it was a matter of enough employees I could count on 2+ hands chiming in, to me, a customer mind you, expressing an objection to SB taking sides on political issues. It very quickly amounted to a "we don't want you here anyway" situation.

So, as the patron of a business (Sugarbush) am I the one expected to hold my tongue when they take a controversial stance? Or should it be the low level employees holding their tongue when a customer, who they don't know and for all they know could be one of their best customers, has a different view?

As far as I'm concerned it worked out fine. Sugarbush weeded out the evil Trump voter from their midst, and I know where I'm not welcome.

I had a feeling it was something like that. Politics, religion and snowmaking are taboo on here and at sugarbush. Didn't you know? Geeze!

It just strikes me in bad taste when companies decide to get up on a moral high horse on issues like "hate" and "the environment" and then cannot handle the slightest debate on a subject that they've gone out on a limb with in the first place.

Really hoping to avoid debating any of these topics *here*... my message is more one for Win S to absorb. I really have nothing else to say about it unless Win or an SB employees cares to respond.

Uh, kinda sounds like you posted on SB's FB page looking for this type of reaction. So they support the LGBT community after a mass shooting in the first state that legalized same sex marriage? Express disappointment in the USA pulling out of a global warming accord because they are in the business of winter sports? I recall many ski areas expressing the same feelings.

The employees are locals that work hard, the same locals that work at MRG, Bolton Valley, Jay and all the other places you profess your love for. Did you go looking for a fight on their FB pages?

I too do not like ski areas chiming in on political issues - not the right forum - whether or not I agree with them. Plenty of opportunities in this country to be divided, let's leave the ski areas out of it.

Be Better Here

Where has Sugarbush been commenting on mass shootings and LGBT. As for the Paris accord, they were a clear winner from the deal, and loser when trump decided to symbolically end it.