VAIL SUCKS

[chuckstah]

I'm cannon, indy add on and either gunstock or ragged next year. Having a close mellow little midweek hill like crotched is awesome and i bummed to lose that but I just can't be part of that. This is the single best thing for the owners of ragged and pats...they're gonna clean up lol good for them.

Edit- if they close mid March that's gotta be rock bottom right? Are we there yet?

This has to be Rock bottom... unless they close the place. Not sure what to do next season, but Indy will definitely be in the mix again. I really wish Boyne or Ikon had a local option for those of us in Southern NH.

 

[snoseek]

This has to be Rock bottom... unless they close the place. Not sure what to do next season, but Indy will definitely be in the mix again. I really wish Boyne or Ikon had a local option for those of us in Southern NH.

I miss temple mtn.

 

[machski]

This has to be Rock bottom... unless they close the place. Not sure what to do next season, but Indy will definitely be in the mix again. I really wish Boyne or Ikon had a local option for those of us in Southern NH.

I wonder if Boyne would snatch it if Vail closed/sold it. They wouldn't have to fret about crowing Crotched since it was already Epic like they are with Shawnee. Be a perfect fit for NEP immediately.

As to Sunapee, I wouldn't give them a pass, with the parked out days by 0900 and let's not forget, they go it open early December. But then had a good two week stretch where they could have blown many of those days and expanded the terrain much faster but no. Okemo was short staffed so we're sending the Sunapee snowmakers over there and NH folks will have to make do on a trail and a half TTB.

 

[thebigo]

Not a chance Vail is going to let their competition take over crotched. Boston has to be one of the largest ski markets in the country and Vail surely understands their near mega-pass monopoly.

Best chance for Boyne to add a mountain for the southern nh crowd would be a privatization of gunstock, no idea if this would be a good thing but has been in the news. Other option would be massive investment in a defunct/marginal area: whaleback and moose come to mind; both would awesome with a crotched sized rebirth but boyne has shown a preference for established areas.

We are going Ragged and Boyne Bronze next year, passes compliment each other well. Doesnt hurt that I found a 15 year old boyne rewards account with a few hundred dollars of rewards, also my youngest sneaks onto the $30 pass at both, she will easily be under $1/day next year.

 

[snoseek]

Not a chance Vail is going to let their competition take over crotched. Boston has to be one of the largest ski markets in the country and Vail surely understands their near mega-pass monopoly.

Best chance for Boyne to add a mountain for the southern nh crowd would be a privatization of gunstock, no idea if this would be a good thing but has been in the news. Other option would be massive investment in a defunct/marginal area: whaleback and moose come to mind; both would awesome with a crotched sized rebirth but boyne has shown a preference for established areas.

We are going Ragged and Boyne Bronze next year, passes compliment each other well. Doesnt hurt that I found a 15 year old boyne rewards account with a few hundred dollars of rewards, also my youngest sneaks onto the $30 pass at both, she will easily be under $1/day next year.

Privatizing gunstock would bum me out!

Man never thought about the moose mtn thing. That place sits in a prime location and has some decent real estate to work with. I used to ski there as a kid it wasn't half bad.

 

[Edd]

Privatizing gunstock would bum me out!

Theoretically possible. Much depends on the elections for Belknap County Delegation later this year. That will influence who sits on the Gunstock Area Commission. The expansion plans they announced are not happening until that gets sorted one way or the other.

 

[deadheadskier]

I would put the expansion plans at Gunstock well on the back burner. They don't really need the terrain.

Top 2 priorities for them should be expansion of the Stockade Lodge and then adding a second carpet that starts as close as possible to the lodges. The second should be number 1 and it's not something people really think about until they try and teach toddlers how to ski. It is an absolutely brutal walk for parents with young kids to get to their carpet today. And 1 carpet isn't enough for the traffic they get on weekends. I can't tell you how many times I saw tearful kids lying on the ground screaming at their parents protesting that walk. It's just rough on a 3 year old in ski boots. I'd get rid of a couple lanes of tubing to figure out a way to put in a lower carpet going from the Historic lodge up towards the Penny Quad and other carpet.

Stockade Lodge would be great if it was 50% bigger with a proper bar.

Do those first. Add snowmaking to Hot Shot and Upper Ramrod next to add more consistent variety off the summit. As great as they ski on natural snow, that's like 3 weeks of the season. So, it's pretty pointless.

Following those improvements replace Tiger and Ramrod chairs with a HSQ like is on the master plan.

I'd do all that first before any of the additional terrain expansion. Perfect what they have before anything else.

 

[elks]

As Dr Jeff said, operations at Mt Snow were pretty typical, but as an NH resident I don't want to go there with any regularity.
As far as Crotched the operations were abysmal. Hardly any snowmaking, lifts not running (and lying about why Valley didn't run for much of the season), and the big one... season length. Opening on 12/26 for 5 days a week is not acceptable. IF they make 3/27 it will be a 68 day season, 63 if they close this Sunday, 3/20, which is the unverifiable rumor. Complete Epic Fail.

The early season was rough for sure, but it's been running pretty smoothly lately and crowding has been a non-issue for weeks now. The first 3 weekends in January were super busy, but since then it's been similar to prior years. Even President's Day weekend was low crowds. Did one week day during Mass vacation and it was pretty quiet. Evening skiing was completely empty outside of some race training. I'm curious to see how they learn from this season's slow start and correct for next year. They just announced a big additional investment in employees: https://townlift.com/2022/03/vail-resorts-announces-20-per-hour-starting-wage-next-season/

 

[RichT]

We all know that Mt snow and Stowe are Vail's golden Mtns in the east. The rest of us.............................go shit in your hat, so there's that.

 

[machski]

We all know that Mt snow and Stowe are Vail's golden Mtns in the east. The rest of us.............................go shit in your hat, so there's that.

Actually, when they bought the Mueller's out (Triple Peaks) prior to Peak, they did so for Okemo and Sunapee (they already had Stowe). Created Butte was an afterthought. I would say same with Peaks, the NH areas especially Crotched and Wildcat we're afterthoughts and tag along a for what they really wanted (PA and Midwest markets plus Mt. Snow). Attitash they are investing in fairly quickly after acquiring even if at a slower pace than desired. But they left WC and Crotched out to dry this year. Would they really miss Crotched? I don't think so.

 

[2Planker]

Actually, when they bought the Mueller's out (Triple Peaks) prior to Peak, they did so for Okemo and Sunapee (they already had Stowe). Created Butte was an afterthought. I would say same with Peaks, the NH areas especially Crotched and Wildcat we're afterthoughts and tag along a for what they really wanted (PA and Midwest markets plus Mt. Snow). Attitash they are investing in fairly quickly after acquiring even if at a slower pace than desired. But they left WC and Crotched out to dry this year. Would they really miss Crotched? I don't think so.

Maybe so, But they had a bona fide offer on the table for Wildcat. Could have easily let it go.
Vail has done absolutely NOTHING in the way of improvements, and have also
blown off much of the previously deferred maintenance.
Corporate AHoles who who only care about the bottom line.

On the upside - BW was stellar this past weekend. They know "last open in NH" is pretty much their game to loose.

 

[chuckstah]

The early season was rough for sure, but it's been running pretty smoothly lately and crowding has been a non-issue for weeks now. The first 3 weekends in January were super busy, but since then it's been similar to prior years. Even President's Day weekend was low crowds. Did one week day during Mass vacation and it was pretty quiet. Evening skiing was completely empty outside of some race training. I'm curious to see how they learn from this season's slow start and correct for next year. They just announced a big additional investment in employees: https://townlift.com/2022/03/vail-resorts-announces-20-per-hour-starting-wage-next-season/

I like Crotched and ski it every week. Vail has ruined the vibe. Great employees who really care but Vail has them handcuffed. They didn't make snow on many occasions, even when the pond was full. Fail. Not to mention closing Monday and Tuesday, canceling midnight madness, night skiing cut back to 3 nights, lifts not running, poor maintenance. The list goes on. I will agree crowding has not been an issue when I ski anyway (midweek), but there were midweek days I had to leave and go elsewhere due to not running lifts, and lying saying they were "waiting on a part" for half the season. I could go on..... but I'm done.

 

[urungus]

$20 minimum wage next year at all Vail resorts

Letter to Employees : A New Direction

Team, I have been in my new role as CEO of Vail Resorts for just over 100 days, and the challenges we have faced together this season have given me an opportunity to reflect on...

www.marketscreener.com

Letter to Employees: A New Direction​

03/14/2022 | 04:28pm EDT

Team,
I have been in my new role as CEO of Vail Resorts for just over 100 days, and the challenges we have faced together this season have given me an opportunity to reflect on what is important, and what our company must focus on as we move forward. Today, I want to share some of my thoughts, and important news for our company.
One of my biggest takeaways from these past 100 days is the importance of each of you - our team. We have a mission that we all know and love: Experience of a Lifetime. You are the core of this mission. We cannot create an Experience of a Lifetimefor our guests without first creating an Experience of a Lifetime for you - unfortunately, we have fallen short on that.
Addressing this requires a pivotal shift in our company's direction with a new strategic focus on all of you - year-round and seasonal, hourly and salaried, mountain resorts and corporate. We are focused on providing each of you the resources and support you need to have an Experience of a Lifetime, and staying out front by making the necessary investments in you.
Today, we are taking some important first steps in this new direction with an incremental annual $175 million investment in our employees, which includes the following:

• New $20 Per Hour Minimum Wage for All Employees at all 37 North American Mountain Resorts for the 2022/23 Winter Season* and increases for Hourly Employees with Compression Adjustments based on Career Stage and Leadership Differentials
  To deliver on our mission, we must invest in you and your experience with our company - that starts with competitive compensation.
  • New $20 per hour minimum wage at all 37 North American mountain resorts and corporate.
  • New $21 per hour minimum for Patrol, Maintenance Technicians and Certified Commercial Vehicle Drivers.
  • New CAD $20 per hour minimum wage at Whistler Blackcomb, from current CAD $15.20.
  • Guaranteed minimum of $20 per hour for tipped roles.
  • Hourly employee wages will increase with compression adjustments based on leadership and career stage differentials.
  • This represents an average wage increase of nearly 30% across hourly employees in North America
• New Seasonal Frontline Leadership Development
  Our company is passionate about leadership development. Starting next winter, we will be launching new Seasonal Frontline Leadership Development programming. If you come for a season, we want you to have the opportunity to build a career. One of the benefits of being a part of the Vail Resorts family is that our employees have the opportunity to grow within their mountain resort, or move across our mountain resorts and company for new opportunities. You might start in Lift Operations like Chris Sorensen, and grow to become the GM of Keystone Ski Resort, or you might be like Beth Howard, starting as an hourly intern in F&B and then growing to become the COO of Vail Mountain. In the past two years, over 600 employees have moved from one mountain resort to another for new career growth opportunities. My goal is to create many more of these opportunities for you. Leadership development is a passion of mine and I look forward to sharing more with you as we head into next season.
• New 40% Employee Discount at all Vail Resorts Retail for the 22/23 Winter Season
  We are a mountain company with team members who are passionate about enjoying the outdoors every season of the year. While we know wages are the top priority, we also want to make it easier for our employees to enjoy our core business - the outdoors. Starting this fall, all employees will get a discount of 40% off retail MSRP for all gear at all Vail Resorts Retail locations, including Vail Resorts' partner branded stores such as Helly Hansen, Patagonia, Burton, The North Face, Salomon, Smartwool, and others. This new benefit is in addition to the free season passes for you and dependents; discounts on food and beverage; discounts on lodging; discounts on Helly Hansen; ski and ride school benefits; access to health insurance, sick pay and free mental health resources; and more. ski and ride school benefits; access to health insurance, sick pay and free mental health resources; and more.
• Our Commitment to Affordable Employee Housing in Our Mountain Communities
  Affordable housing in our mountain communities is essential for so many of our employees. We know this has become harder for you as those mountain communities have grown. We plan to aggressively pursue building new affordable housing on the land we own, and pursue company leases in existing affordable housing developments, so we can make housing more accessible and affordable for our employees. Our company currently provides about 7,000 affordable housing beds across all our mountain resorts, and GTLC, and we ensure that the rental rates remain affordable for our employees. We plan to expand affordable housing further. This is not easy to do. It requires mountain communities to be fully committed to affordable housing, and the approvals needed to allow us to build on the land we own. While we understand that some of our mountain communities have concerns about new developments, we believe it's time for us, and our communities, to make affordable housing a top priority and accelerate the processes to ensure we collectively make progress. We are actively working on several key projects to achieve this, and look forward to sharing more on this soon.
• A New $4 Million Investment in HR
  I would like to express my gratitude for our HR team, as they navigated through many challenges this season related to staffing and the COVID-19 Omicron acceleration in December. Unfortunately, those challenges meant that your experience with payroll and HR support was not what we wanted it to be - or what you deserve. It is our responsibility to provide you with the support you need. To make that possible we are taking additional steps to enable the HR team to better serve you. We are investing an additional $4 million per year in HR immediately. This will add 66 more people to the central People Connect and Payroll teams. This represents an almost 50% increase in central HR Services staff, dedicated to the resorts in each region, with the goal to provide you with faster, more direct support in hiring, onboarding, payroll and case management, and a more personalized experience. We are also committed to initiating the work to upgrade HR technology systems and simplifying HR processes.
• New Flexible Remote Work for our Corporate Office
  It is hard to believe that it has been two years, almost to the day, since we closed our Broomfield office due to the pandemic. I miss seeing all of you in person every day. I also recognize that during this time, we have proven that we can be effective working remotely. Today, we are announcing a significant change in how we will return to the office - Flexible Remote Work. When our Broomfield office reopens on May 16, corporate employees will not be required to work in the office a specific number of days, nor need to be based in Colorado. This allows corporate employees to live and work in any of the states in which Vail Resorts currently operates.** While this provides the flexibility many of you have asked for, I also know that personal connection is important to you, as it is for me. I am committed to fostering a strong culture - in person and virtually. More details on these engagement plans will be shared ahead of May.
• Merit Increase for Salaried Employees
  To reflect the changing dynamics in today's labor market, we are doubling our merit increases for year-end, from an average of 3% to an average of 6%,effective October 2022 for salaried employees. Each team member's merit will continue to be differentiated based on their performance. We will continue to assess market compensation to determine further adjustments as appropriate.

Our mission of Experience of a Lifetimemust start with you. These announcements are the first steps in a new direction for Vail Resorts. Does this solve every concern and piece of feedback you have shared over the past 100 Days? No, but I hope they demonstrate our commitment to continued improvements and progress.
You have all worked tirelessly to welcome all skiers and riders back to the mountains this season, despite the challenges. I want to thank each of you for your passion and commitment to our mountains, our company, and our guests.
You will have an opportunity to discuss these changes in more detail in upcoming Town Hall meetings with your leaders in late March and early April.
Kirsten

 

[elks]

I like Crotched and ski it every week. Vail has ruined the vibe. Great employees who really care but Vail has them handcuffed. They didn't make snow on many occasions, even when the pond was full. Fail. Not to mention closing Monday and Tuesday, canceling midnight madness, night skiing cut back to 3 nights, lifts not running, poor maintenance. The list goes on. I will agree crowding has not been an issue when I ski anyway (midweek), but there were midweek days I had to leave and go elsewhere due to not running lifts, and lying saying they were "waiting on a part" for half the season. I could go on..... but I'm done.

Employee and lift problems were a real problem early on in the season, no doubt, but as they hired and brought in folks from Okemo, Sunapee, and Western resorts to help, it's been a lot more consistent since late January. They were aggressively blowing snow in late February (later than any recent season), but then the weather really ruined the opportunities since March 1. It will be interesting to see how they handle the next season after the challenges of this early season. That to me is the real test.

 

[gittist]

Soooo will they finance the new wages with more EPIC pass sales or jack the price up? I guess we'll find out in the new few weeks. I'm surprised they haven't put next year's passes on sale yet.

 

[kendo]

$20 minimum wage next year at all Vail resorts

Letter to Employees : A New Direction

Team, I have been in my new role as CEO of Vail Resorts for just over 100 days, and the challenges we have faced together this season have given me an opportunity to reflect on...

www.marketscreener.com

Letter to Employees: A New Direction​

03/14/2022 | 04:28pm EDT

Team,
I have been in my new role as CEO of Vail Resorts for just over 100 days, and the challenges we have faced together this season have given me an opportunity to reflect on what is important, and what our company must focus on as we move forward. Today, I want to share some of my thoughts, and important news for our company.
One of my biggest takeaways from these past 100 days is the importance of each of you - our team. We have a mission that we all know and love: Experience of a Lifetime. You are the core of this mission. We cannot create an Experience of a Lifetimefor our guests without first creating an Experience of a Lifetime for you - unfortunately, we have fallen short on that.
Addressing this requires a pivotal shift in our company's direction with a new strategic focus on all of you - year-round and seasonal, hourly and salaried, mountain resorts and corporate. We are focused on providing each of you the resources and support you need to have an Experience of a Lifetime, and staying out front by making the necessary investments in you.
Today, we are taking some important first steps in this new direction with an incremental annual $175 million investment in our employees...

Kirsten getting ahead of the 3/22 investors conference. Must watch...

 

[snoseek]

$20 minimum wage next year at all Vail resorts

Letter to Employees : A New Direction

Team, I have been in my new role as CEO of Vail Resorts for just over 100 days, and the challenges we have faced together this season have given me an opportunity to reflect on...

www.marketscreener.com

Letter to Employees: A New Direction​

03/14/2022 | 04:28pm EDT

Team,
I have been in my new role as CEO of Vail Resorts for just over 100 days, and the challenges we have faced together this season have given me an opportunity to reflect on what is important, and what our company must focus on as we move forward. Today, I want to share some of my thoughts, and important news for our company.
One of my biggest takeaways from these past 100 days is the importance of each of you - our team. We have a mission that we all know and love: Experience of a Lifetime. You are the core of this mission. We cannot create an Experience of a Lifetimefor our guests without first creating an Experience of a Lifetime for you - unfortunately, we have fallen short on that.
Addressing this requires a pivotal shift in our company's direction with a new strategic focus on all of you - year-round and seasonal, hourly and salaried, mountain resorts and corporate. We are focused on providing each of you the resources and support you need to have an Experience of a Lifetime, and staying out front by making the necessary investments in you.
Today, we are taking some important first steps in this new direction with an incremental annual $175 million investment in our employees, which includes the following:

• New $20 Per Hour Minimum Wage for All Employees at all 37 North American Mountain Resorts for the 2022/23 Winter Season* and increases for Hourly Employees with Compression Adjustments based on Career Stage and Leadership Differentials
  To deliver on our mission, we must invest in you and your experience with our company - that starts with competitive compensation.
  • New $20 per hour minimum wage at all 37 North American mountain resorts and corporate.
  • New $21 per hour minimum for Patrol, Maintenance Technicians and Certified Commercial Vehicle Drivers.
  • New CAD $20 per hour minimum wage at Whistler Blackcomb, from current CAD $15.20.
  • Guaranteed minimum of $20 per hour for tipped roles.
  • Hourly employee wages will increase with compression adjustments based on leadership and career stage differentials.
  • This represents an average wage increase of nearly 30% across hourly employees in North America
• New Seasonal Frontline Leadership Development
  Our company is passionate about leadership development. Starting next winter, we will be launching new Seasonal Frontline Leadership Development programming. If you come for a season, we want you to have the opportunity to build a career. One of the benefits of being a part of the Vail Resorts family is that our employees have the opportunity to grow within their mountain resort, or move across our mountain resorts and company for new opportunities. You might start in Lift Operations like Chris Sorensen, and grow to become the GM of Keystone Ski Resort, or you might be like Beth Howard, starting as an hourly intern in F&B and then growing to become the COO of Vail Mountain. In the past two years, over 600 employees have moved from one mountain resort to another for new career growth opportunities. My goal is to create many more of these opportunities for you. Leadership development is a passion of mine and I look forward to sharing more with you as we head into next season.
• New 40% Employee Discount at all Vail Resorts Retail for the 22/23 Winter Season
  We are a mountain company with team members who are passionate about enjoying the outdoors every season of the year. While we know wages are the top priority, we also want to make it easier for our employees to enjoy our core business - the outdoors. Starting this fall, all employees will get a discount of 40% off retail MSRP for all gear at all Vail Resorts Retail locations, including Vail Resorts' partner branded stores such as Helly Hansen, Patagonia, Burton, The North Face, Salomon, Smartwool, and others. This new benefit is in addition to the free season passes for you and dependents; discounts on food and beverage; discounts on lodging; discounts on Helly Hansen; ski and ride school benefits; access to health insurance, sick pay and free mental health resources; and more. ski and ride school benefits; access to health insurance, sick pay and free mental health resources; and more.
• Our Commitment to Affordable Employee Housing in Our Mountain Communities
  Affordable housing in our mountain communities is essential for so many of our employees. We know this has become harder for you as those mountain communities have grown. We plan to aggressively pursue building new affordable housing on the land we own, and pursue company leases in existing affordable housing developments, so we can make housing more accessible and affordable for our employees. Our company currently provides about 7,000 affordable housing beds across all our mountain resorts, and GTLC, and we ensure that the rental rates remain affordable for our employees. We plan to expand affordable housing further. This is not easy to do. It requires mountain communities to be fully committed to affordable housing, and the approvals needed to allow us to build on the land we own. While we understand that some of our mountain communities have concerns about new developments, we believe it's time for us, and our communities, to make affordable housing a top priority and accelerate the processes to ensure we collectively make progress. We are actively working on several key projects to achieve this, and look forward to sharing more on this soon.
• A New $4 Million Investment in HR
  I would like to express my gratitude for our HR team, as they navigated through many challenges this season related to staffing and the COVID-19 Omicron acceleration in December. Unfortunately, those challenges meant that your experience with payroll and HR support was not what we wanted it to be - or what you deserve. It is our responsibility to provide you with the support you need. To make that possible we are taking additional steps to enable the HR team to better serve you. We are investing an additional $4 million per year in HR immediately. This will add 66 more people to the central People Connect and Payroll teams. This represents an almost 50% increase in central HR Services staff, dedicated to the resorts in each region, with the goal to provide you with faster, more direct support in hiring, onboarding, payroll and case management, and a more personalized experience. We are also committed to initiating the work to upgrade HR technology systems and simplifying HR processes.
• New Flexible Remote Work for our Corporate Office
  It is hard to believe that it has been two years, almost to the day, since we closed our Broomfield office due to the pandemic. I miss seeing all of you in person every day. I also recognize that during this time, we have proven that we can be effective working remotely. Today, we are announcing a significant change in how we will return to the office - Flexible Remote Work. When our Broomfield office reopens on May 16, corporate employees will not be required to work in the office a specific number of days, nor need to be based in Colorado. This allows corporate employees to live and work in any of the states in which Vail Resorts currently operates.** While this provides the flexibility many of you have asked for, I also know that personal connection is important to you, as it is for me. I am committed to fostering a strong culture - in person and virtually. More details on these engagement plans will be shared ahead of May.
• Merit Increase for Salaried Employees
  To reflect the changing dynamics in today's labor market, we are doubling our merit increases for year-end, from an average of 3% to an average of 6%,effective October 2022 for salaried employees. Each team member's merit will continue to be differentiated based on their performance. We will continue to assess market compensation to determine further adjustments as appropriate.

Our mission of Experience of a Lifetimemust start with you. These announcements are the first steps in a new direction for Vail Resorts. Does this solve every concern and piece of feedback you have shared over the past 100 Days? No, but I hope they demonstrate our commitment to continued improvements and progress.
You have all worked tirelessly to welcome all skiers and riders back to the mountains this season, despite the challenges. I want to thank each of you for your passion and commitment to our mountains, our company, and our guests.
You will have an opportunity to discuss these changes in more detail in upcoming Town Hall meetings with your leaders in late March and early April.
Kirsten

Wow...damn this solves alot of problems. Pair that with a reasonable commitment to operate early and all season and I'm potentially giving them money after a one year break.

 

[doublediamond]

I’ll believe it when I read reports from employees or read the hiring ads next fall. Vail was claiming they instituted a $15/hr minimum for this season but they were offering $14 in NH and a reported $12 in PA.

 

[ss20]

• New $20 Per Hour Minimum Wage for All Employees at all 37 North American Mountain Resorts for the 2022/23 Winter Season* and increases for Hourly Employees with Compression Adjustments based on Career Stage and Leadership Differentials
  To deliver on our mission, we must invest in you and your experience with our company - that starts with competitive compensation.
  • New $20 per hour minimum wage at all 37 North American mountain resorts and corporate.
  • New $21 per hour minimum for Patrol, Maintenance Technicians and Certified Commercial Vehicle Drivers.
  • New CAD $20 per hour minimum wage at Whistler Blackcomb, from current CAD $15.20.
  • Guaranteed minimum of $20 per hour for tipped roles.

$20/hr to run a lift is solid. $21/hr with your emt cert, throwing avi bombs, and savings people's lives is not. Same with driving a CDL vehicle, $21 is little.

Essentially the pay for "general labor" at the resort is great- that's what's needed to attract the frontline workers to flip the burgers, scan the tickets, and make the snow. $21 for the more skilled labor is still pretty shitty. The skilled mechanic who's pre-op checking the lifts that carry 20,000 people a day up the hill 100ft in the air is still underpaid at $21. I think in general this will fix many of the visual issues- like lifts not being ran and the now infamous "Wildcat Snowmaker" joke. I think it should staff those guest-visible jobs well. Still curious about a dearth of talent in mid-upper local management.

Overall I'm VERY suspicious. Reduced EPIC pass prices. Energy prices skyrocketing. Non-premier resorts ran with a shoestring budget. Share price trading at its 52wk low. Where they gonna find and additional $5/hr for 80% of their workforce? Don't get me wrong, this is a GREAT move. But "something else" in their empire has to get cut to pay for this... and probably "a lot" of something else.


This sets a precedent for other resorts to set wage increases as well. As they should.

 

[ss20]

Wow...damn this solves alot of problems. Pair that with a reasonable commitment to operate early and all season and I'm potentially giving them money after a one year break.

On paper it looks great. In reality I'm not holding my breath.

If they can hit those target dates, and start treating their employees right, yeah... this will be a huge win. I don't see a path how they can do it, but I'd LOVE to see it, don't get me wrong.