VAIL SUCKS

[ericfromMA/NH/VT]

Perhaps not so ironically, the only Vail resort with Summit lift access in NH currently (with 2 HSQ options) is the only one not a former Peaks resort. We use to beat squarely on ASC for leaving it's resorts with tons of deferred maintenance passed onto the new owners. Just saying.....

I was at sunapee monday. never even had a brief stoppage going up. No lift issues there. Place was packed by 10 with 15ish minute wait at the base lift. Pretty much ski on at the sunbowl lift. But, man, icy..scrapped off by 11 or so. the one trail open in the sun bowl was a deathtrap. They were blowing snow hard back there and did open another trail in the sunbowl today.

I'm headed to crotched tomorrow, its 25 miles from my house. bailed on a trip with the kids to Okemo tomorrow, friends say its been jammed there as expected.

 

[RichT]

Same shit at Hunter today! They had the "Northern Express" break down, while we waited a 1/2 hr for maintenance to drive over and run over the bridge, get it going to get everyone out of there and close it! Not sure if it ever opened again. I went home. They say that they are 47% open, but there's way more grass than snow!

 

[Kingslug20]

Vail in..for the fail....

 

[eatskisleep]

Well, got on the lift about 9:20, and skkied until 11. At 11, the lift shut down. After about 15 minutes with three guys running around, up and down the lift access way, (one guy in a Sunapee jacket), they started the diesel and told everyone to slog over to the west lift. I went home. Checked at 1:30, and the Rocket was running, but was empty. Crotched shut down at 2:30 today for some reason.

Closing at 230 on Christmas week?

 

[machski]

If it were year 1 of ownership, I might throw some blame towards Peak. But we are in year 3. Vail gets to eat the whole FU sandwich

It's funny, Killington and even SR folks kept blaming deferred ASC maintenance and lack of investments for like a decade after ownership transferred. Hell, some even still blame it for the resorts not being further along in development plans. But Vail gets the whole F U sandwich on 3 years, one of which was paused in lift upgrades due to a country/global work shutdown and fear of more. So really, they had this past summer of ownership of the former Peak resorts. And they were catching up on all deferred plans that had been in place prior to the Peaks acquisition.

I don't like how they are operating their resorts, I think they are part of the reason they are so understaffed. But then almost every resort with a few exceptions are. But to think they could rip out or completely overhaul lifts that definitely appear to have a lot of deferred maintenance is a bit harsh. That is a lot to ask, especially with a lost off season tossed in the middle from the pandemic shutdowns

 

[deadheadskier]

Closing at 230 on Christmas week?

The 2:30 shutdown was pre-announced. They said for scheduled lift maintenance.

During Christmas week

Gotta shut all four chairs down at once for a marathon afternoon lift maintenance session

During Christmas week

 

[deadheadskier]

It's funny, Killington and even SR folks kept blaming deferred ASC maintenance and lack of investments for like a decade after ownership transferred. Hell, some even still blame it for the resorts not being further along in development plans. But Vail gets the whole F U sandwich on 3 years, one of which was paused in lift upgrades due to a country/global work shutdown and fear of more. So really, they had this past summer of ownership of the former Peak resorts. And they were catching up on all deferred plans that had been in place prior to the Peaks acquisition.

I don't like how they are operating their resorts, I think they are part of the reason they are so understaffed. But then almost every resort with a few exceptions are. But to think they could rip out or completely overhaul lifts that definitely appear to have a lot of deferred maintenance is a bit harsh. That is a lot to ask, especially with a lost off season tossed in the middle from the pandemic shutdowns

Ok

That's a little bit fair I'll give you during "unprecedented times".

But for a company that boasts about having $1B+ in cash on hand?

That's an exponentially larger FU sandwich than a few snowmakers running lifts on a 30 degree day at Sunday River no?

 

[cdskier]

But for a company that boasts about having $1B+ in cash on hand?

Gotta save that money for dividends for the stockholders. Or for buying more ski resorts...

 

[chuckstah]

The 2:30 shutdown was pre-announced. They said for scheduled lift maintenance.

During Christmas week

Gotta shut all four chairs down at once for a marathon afternoon lift maintenance session

During Christmas week

4 lifts? You're being generous. The park chair doesn't even have chairs on it, looks like they gave up on it. And as far as I know the Valley quad hasn't been inspected, or failed, or something like that. Word on the street is the double failed inspection as well, but has obviously passed by now as it's running, however slow, it is moving. The Rocket is the Rocket, great lift, when it's running properly. I wonder how many lift mechanics they have, if any?

 

[drjeff]

4 lifts? You're being generous. The park chair doesn't even have chairs on it, looks like they gave up on it. And as far as I know the Valley quad hasn't been inspected, or failed, or something like that. Word on the street is the double failed inspection as well, but has obviously passed by now as it's running, however slow, it is moving. The Rocket is the Rocket, great lift, when it's running properly. I wonder how many lift mechanics they have, if any?

Or how many might be currently affect by the Omicron spike? Regardless of Vail's employee vaccination requirement I am pretty sure we all can agree that this current wave of infections seems to hit plenty of folks regardless of their vaccination status

 

[chuckstah]

Or how many might be currently affect by the Omicron spike? Regardless of Vail's employee vaccination requirement I am pretty sure we all can agree that this current wave of infections seems to hit plenty of folks regardless of their vaccination status

Oh, the Omicron is everywhere, I just kicked it (likely, don't know what variant) to the curb myself. But lifts not being maintained over the summer, with Vail not allowing money to be spent, and not being able to hire when the competition was on it! That's 100 percent in Vail.

 

[deadheadskier]

Or how many might be currently affect by the Omicron spike? Regardless of Vail's employee vaccination requirement I am pretty sure we all can agree that this current wave of infections seems to hit plenty of folks regardless of their vaccination status

Pretty sensible conclusion Jeff. It really is given the flight cancellation shit show well broadcasted this week where Covid infection was purportedly the fault. Things ARE getting nutty again across multiple industries and staffing is an issue.

But is the competition having the same problems right now as Vail resorts?

Don't bring that Mt Snow 20 year Mr Sunshine optimism into a Vail Sucks thread without an answer to why Vail lags comp.

 

[Smellytele]

The 2:30 shutdown was pre-announced. They said for scheduled lift maintenance.

During Christmas week

Gotta shut all four chairs down at once for a marathon afternoon lift maintenance session

During Christmas week

Seeing they just opened this week. Wtf were they doing before?

 

[drjeff]

Pretty sensible conclusion Jeff. It really is given the flight cancellation shit show well broadcasted this week where Covid infection was purportedly the fault. Things ARE getting nutty again across multiple industries and staffing is an issue.

But is the competition having the same problems right now as Vail resorts?

Don't bring that Mt Snow 20 year Mr Sunshine optimism into a Vail Sucks thread without an answer to why Vail lags comp.

I fully get that compared to other Vail properties, especially in the Northeast, that Mount Snow is lucky enough to have Snow Lake Lodge as employee housing for J1 Visa folks to get a greater amount of staffing than other resorts. So until that place falls down (which I have long thought is a possibility since I once stayed there back in the mid 90's ) I get the lucky factor!

As my brother, who is staying up in Bartlett this week with his family was at Attitash today and texted me around lunch time today.... Didn't think that I'd have more beers than runs by 11 and I'm on my 2nd beer and gave up on the day already.

I feel terrible especially for the way too small now crew of dedicated employees at their New Hampshire properties, who are trying their best to keep customers happy because they have pride in their "home" mountain even with very little support apparently from the home office.

We at times seem to forget that most ski resort employees, whether full time year rounders or winter seasonal employees underneath it love the sport of skiing/riding

 

[deadheadskier]

Okay skiing Mr Rogers. Can I borrow your shades?

 

[drjeff]

Okay skiing Mr Rogers. Can I borrow your shades?

Just get the rose colored lenses for your new Glade Optics goggles!

 

[Mainer]

We at times seem to forget that most ski resort employees, whether full time year rounders or winter seasonal employees underneath it love the sport of skiing/riding

I see this less and less every year around here (mwv). You used to normally see lifties bumping chairs in ski boots or snowboard boots. Not so much anymore. Which is part of the problem vail is having. If you can’t find skiers that think it’s fun to work at the mountain. You just get workers that want the money, and if it’s less then every other business in town. It’s a problem. Add the stupid rules corps have, mandates, and just a $400 free pass as the perk. That’s a hard no.
Plus everybody skiing there is pissed because the product is so bad. They get wrath all day.

 

[thetrailboss]

In Vail news from out here…..

PCMR leader optimistic resort and ski patrol will reach contract agreement

The leader of Park City Mountain Resort said Monday he is disappointed the ski patrol union voted down the company’s latest contract proposal earlier this month but he was hopeful progress would be made in a bargaining session early in the week.

www.parkrecord.com

 

[ss20]

I see this less and less every year around here (mwv). You used to normally see lifties bumping chairs in ski boots or snowboard boots. Not so much anymore. Which is part of the problem vail is having. If you can’t find skiers that think it’s fun to work at the mountain. You just get workers that want the money, and if it’s less then every other business in town. It’s a problem. Add the stupid rules corps have, mandates, and just a $400 free pass as the perk. That’s a hard no.
Plus everybody skiing there is pissed because the product is so bad. They get wrath all day.

I agree overall. Some of it is due to stricter liability laws. Worker's comp is a very messy issue industry-wide. Lots of factors in-play regarding skiing at work...on-clock/off-clock, uniform, terrain, etc. Alta has by far the most lax skiing/labor rules I've ever encountered. After my lesson I can go up and ski Gunsight in uniform, no issues. Lifties are a little more restricted but they can ski in uniform between switching stations...it's cool seeing their skis set up ready-to-go right outside the op shack! It's a PITA if you have to go to the locker room, get into civilian clothes, and clock-out before freeskiing. Consider it impossible if it's just a lunch break. Not defending Vail but industry-wide you're not going to see many on-hill employees skiing on their work days. It's just tough these days with the hoops to jump through.

 

[thetrailboss]

Totally. Although Sunapee is open to the summit their snowmaking is embarrassing compared to what they produced before vail. Being next door to ragged makes realizing that easy.

Under the Muellers the snowmaking was a huge part of the draw for Sunapee. Huge draw. I can’t imagine it with less snowmaking.