VAIL SUCKS

[takeahike46er]

Chelsea Handler, who owns a home in Whistler and is normally enthusiastic about the resort, posted an IG story blasting Vail for the ops at W/B this year.

Among the complaints were a noticeable lack of grooming, messy bathrooms, and lifts closing earlier than posted times. Not a good look for one of their flagship resorts, and ones I don’t blame on local management who are doing the best they can with what they are provided.

IMO, these types of issues all point to reductions in payroll, which is not totally surprising given Vail’s recent performance. However, continued cuts will only worsen the erosion of market share as skiers choose to go elsewhere or do other activities.

 

[Edd]

"Good afternoon, denizens of AlpineZone. Let me remind you that it is NOT too late to renew your EPIC pass NOW for 2026-2027! Hell, you can get a better value by purchasing our NEW product, the EPOCH pass! Why be EPIC for ONE season when you can go EPOCH for FIVE seasons? Call now--operators are standing by!"

Eat a dick Bobby.

He looks like someone's trying to tell him Vail owns Wildcat and it just doesn't sound right to him.

 

[thetrailboss]

Eat a dick Bobby.

He looks like someone's trying to tell him Vail owns Wildcat and it just doesn't sound right to him.

AND THAT was the moment when he realized that all the losses were due to Wildcat and that it needed to be punished.

 

[thetrailboss]

As seen in the "Northeas Ski and Ride" Group on FB:

 

[SLyardsale]

As seen in the "Northeas Ski and Ride" Group on FB:

The flag should say "closed"

 

[snoseek]

Here's my hot take- wildcat has done a decent job overall this year. Not perfect but I never expected wildcat to be all that great the first half of the year. To me its been better than a couple years ago. The grooming has been far better than I've skied in the past but some of thst could be due to the lack of people.

Attitash has been straight up good. Its a better expereince with the quad for sure. Trails have opened at a good rate.

Lets.not forget ask as much as you guys seem to yearn for those peak days they let both of these areas go and invested minimally. They did run a longer season but I doubt vail ever does that.

 

[BenedictGomez]

Looking at the PCMR base, High Meadow, and Canyons beach webcams, Park City is totally empty on MLK junior Saturday. Hearing Vail's empty too. I went skiing yesterday afternoon for a few hours, and MLK Friday was ski on at every lift I hit.

I really think their numbers are going to be worse than people think, and worse than their updated guidance the other day, which, if you read the full release relies on things "returning to normal" by PDW, and I have no idea why that would happen.

 

[snoseek]

Looking at the PCMR base, High Meadow, and Canyons beach webcams, Park City is totally empty on MLK junior Saturday. Hearing Vail's empty too. I went skiing yesterday afternoon for a few hours, and MLK Friday was ski on at every lift I hit.

I really think their numbers are going to be worse than people think, and worse than their updated guidance the other day, which, if you read the full release relies on things "returning to normal" by PDW, and I have no idea why that would happen.

View attachment 67399

Man I bet they shut down early everywhere no matter what happens

 

[drjeff]

Definitely the busiest day of the year, out of the 18 I have had at Mount Snow today. Felt like pre-Covid MLK Saturday crowds both on the hill and in the lodge. 4-6" at opening bell, been snowing all day, and its supposed to pick up in intensity shortly. Could easily end up with a 24hr 10-12" total of fluff here if this keeps up for the rest of the afternoon/evening as its supposed to

 

[SLyardsale]

Definitely the busiest day of the year, out of the 18 I have had at Mount Snow today. Felt like pre-Covid MLK Saturday crowds both on the hill and in the lodge. 4-6" at opening bell, been snowing all day, and its supposed to pick up in intensity shortly. Could easily end up with a 24hr 10-12" total of fluff here if this keeps up for the rest of the afternoon/evening as its supposed to

Tell them about the lifts today at MS.

 

[Edd]

Definitely the busiest day of the year, out of the 18 I have had at Mount Snow today. Felt like pre-Covid MLK Saturday crowds both on the hill and in the lodge. 4-6" at opening bell, been snowing all day, and its supposed to pick up in intensity shortly. Could easily end up with a 24hr 10-12" total of fluff here if this keeps up for the rest of the afternoon/evening as its supposed to

I presume you love crowds, must’ve been a top 10 day for you.

 

[Zand]

I like how Mt Snow purports to have gotten a foot more snow than Okemo this year yet has half the terrain open.

I've never been one to really lick Okemo's boots but the product that they've been providing this year has been night and day above Mt Snow.

 

[BenedictGomez]

I like how Mt Snow purports to have gotten a foot more snow than Okemo this year yet has half the terrain open.

I've never been one to really lick Okemo's boots but the product that they've been providing this year has been night and day above Mt Snow.

They're both owned by Vail, so "saving money on snowmaking" presumably cant be the answer.

 

[Edd]

I like how Mt Snow purports to have gotten a foot more snow than Okemo this year yet has half the terrain open.

I've never been one to really lick Okemo's boots but the product that they've been providing this year has been night and day above Mt Snow.

Flatter. Helps.

 

[jaytrem]

The North Face lifts ran well. The rest of them, not so good.

 

[SLyardsale]

My 3 kids were in seasonal groups at Sugarloaf around 2005 - 2012. Bubblecuffers, Juniors Pros, sCVA. Before that, they did some one offs at Sugarloaf, Waterville V, Cannon. I always felt I got value from the one offs and definitely from the seasonal groups.

I heard from a MS coach on the chair today that a 1 day lesson for a 7-14 yo, with lift ticket (rental equip would be extra) at MS/Vail was $400. She was an older, seasoned coach, and was lamenting that Vail had priced out new kid entrants to skiing. I checked - she was close. May be she was talking $400 if you need equipment. $357 for a 1 day kid lesson at MS with ticket

 

[Former Sunday Rivah Rat]

Looking at the PCMR base, High Meadow, and Canyons beach webcams, Park City is totally empty on MLK junior Saturday. Hearing Vail's empty too. I went skiing yesterday afternoon for a few hours, and MLK Friday was ski on at every lift I hit.

I really think their numbers are going to be worse than people think, and worse than their updated guidance the other day, which, if you read the full release relies on things "returning to normal" by PDW, and I have no idea why that would happen.

At DV we rode the lift with more than one couple that switched from an Epic to ski Park City to Deer Valley which is a 4k a year pass! Vail must have pissed alot of people off last year.
Deer Valley was a zoo by 11AM today. They should have opened some lifts at 8AM for the Holiday weekend.

 

[SLyardsale]

My 3 kids were in seasonal groups at Sugarloaf around 2005 - 2012. Bubblecuffers, Juniors Pros, sCVA. Before that, they did some one offs at Sugarloaf, Waterville V, Cannon. I always felt I got value from the one offs and definitely from the seasonal groups.

I heard from a MS coach on the chair today that a 1 day lesson for a 7-14 yo, with lift ticket (rental equip would be extra) at MS/Vail was $400. She was an older, seasoned coach, and was lamenting that Vail had priced out new kid entrants to skiing. I checked - she was close. May be she was talking $400 if you need equipment. $357 for a 1 day kid lesson at MS with ticket

View attachment 67429

For comparison, Sugarloaf is $225 - without lift tik. Tik is steep though if you walk up this weekend. $89. So $314

Cannon, all in 1 day lesson & lift tik for a "peak" weekend is $244. This seems reasonable to me.

Waterville is harder to figure out what they offer. Website has full day lessons for 4-6 yo for $245. Looks like other age groups book 2hr lessons under private/semi private

 

[BenedictGomez]

At DV we rode the lift with more than one couple that switched from an Epic to ski Park City to Deer Valley which is a 4k a year pass!

I can literally ride my bike to Deer Valley's "Excellence", it's less than 15 minutes by car, but we ski Park City for two reasons:

1) Yes, Deer Valley's price is nuts
2) Deer Valley has no expert terrain that can even compare to Park City's expert terrain. Park City's expert terrain is actually underrated because Snowbird's so close.

 

[ThatGuy]

Looking at the PCMR base, High Meadow, and Canyons beach webcams, Park City is totally empty on MLK junior Saturday. Hearing Vail's empty too. I went skiing yesterday afternoon for a few hours, and MLK Friday was ski on at every lift I hit.

I really think their numbers are going to be worse than people think, and worse than their updated guidance the other day, which, if you read the full release relies on things "returning to normal" by PDW, and I have no idea why that would happen.

I couldn’t believe how dead its been these last few days…too bad theres no snow to enjoy with the lack of people. But that goes hand in hand. I’m sure Vails revenue is way down from lack of bookings, lessons and F&B revenue.