Breeze
Member
It wasn't under Pat or Lou Franchi, either, and Lou built a crap-load of condo's and ski-homes in the MWV, depending on his own product.
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VAIL SUCKS
- Thread starter thebigo
- Start date
My guess, the poor man is inches away from a nervous breakdown, wishes he never got involved in the ski industry, wish vail would pull Blaise Carrington out of retirement and send him to atitash and wildcat for a few weeks, maybe a month, should have been that in November, the person above these gms may be also on thin ice, for picking the wrong guy, not supporting them early enough etc. picking the right guy for the job is never easy, look at the nfl, every year 20 percent of the coaches get fired, probably not more than six or seven coaches have 10 years of continuous coaching the same team, top of my head, Kansas City, Pittsburgh, New England, Seattle, their must be another 2 or 3. This experience or nightmare depending on your point of view may make this young man the finest gm in the vail system or it could totally break him, time will tell.
abc
Well-known member
You don't understand corporate America at all!
There's no direct relationship of business success and career success. But there's direct relationship between career success and ability to BS!
If you're scared about your "failure", you're not cut out for the top job.
FBGM
Well-known member
Well that was easy, I think. Let’s try:
Jklevans@vailresorts.com.
If there is more then one “jklevans” they just add a 1,2,3...etc to the end of the email. I’d fire away, see what answers you may or may not get.
There is also an east region GM I think. I think it’s some lady, maybe came from Okemo? Her email would follow same format.
Jklevans@vailresorts.com.
If there is more then one “jklevans” they just add a 1,2,3...etc to the end of the email. I’d fire away, see what answers you may or may not get.
There is also an east region GM I think. I think it’s some lady, maybe came from Okemo? Her email would follow same format.
Ever h
ever hear of Jeffrey immelt, read his story, how he hated life, was avoiding jack welch, till he turned his unit around, lots of stories like that, lots of stories like les otten not turning around the American ski company also. Brian Fairbanks in 1970s at one point after a chairlift disaster thought the ski industry wasn’t right for him,
McFatt
Member
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2020
- Messages
- 32
- Points
- 8
This thread is great! Someplace to complain about how Vail has failed our expectations this year. I skied every day from Dec 26 till yesterday Jan 2 all at Attitash with 1 day at Wildcat. I waited in lift line on average 25 minutes for each run. In my 30 years of skiing Attitash, I have never seen lift lines as long as they were this past week at both Bear Peak Attitash. Why no singles lines this year? Isn't there a pandemic happening? Only a couple runs open over 2 main lifts? The weather has been cooperating for snow making, but it seems to be happening at a snails pace. The drought is over, especially since the Christmas deluge. Wildcat still only has 1 weak trail opened from the top (Lynx is great and all, but everything gets BORING after 5-6 laps). WTF is going on up here?
Drove home after 1 run yesterday Jan 2. It was a cold morning, but the snow was pretty decent. The line at Bear Peak stretched all the way across the base area to the Kachina lift. Could not deal with waiting another 30+ minutes to make another run down Illusion. Left frustrated, even though Saturday was a decent powder day. How can this many people be allowed at the resort with Covid Protocols? Isn't the point of the reservation system so LIMIT the number of people so it's safe and spread out? FAIL this past week.
I certainly hope this upcoming weekend has more terrain and another lift open. I can't deal with 30minute lift lines for a 2 minute run all season long.
Drove home after 1 run yesterday Jan 2. It was a cold morning, but the snow was pretty decent. The line at Bear Peak stretched all the way across the base area to the Kachina lift. Could not deal with waiting another 30+ minutes to make another run down Illusion. Left frustrated, even though Saturday was a decent powder day. How can this many people be allowed at the resort with Covid Protocols? Isn't the point of the reservation system so LIMIT the number of people so it's safe and spread out? FAIL this past week.
I certainly hope this upcoming weekend has more terrain and another lift open. I can't deal with 30minute lift lines for a 2 minute run all season long.
It's interesting that some resorts have singles lines and others don't. Brighton does. Snowbird does not.
Edd
Well-known member
Skied the Cat today. Seems as if no efforts are being made to blow snow. Lynx and the lower sections of Polecat skied well in the morning. Several people we encountered in the lot were baffled at the lack of terrain.
dblskifanatic
Active member
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- May 24, 2019
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- 767
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So I have seen lots of negative stuff in various threads regarding Vail. I am not sure what the issues are from Vails perspective but I would imagine the rain we got in December messed things up somewhat, The whole COVID thing does not help since ski areas are probably opening up terrain differently because of it. I am also not sure how much Vail has sunk its teeth into operations in the Northeast yet. Yes Stowe, Okemo and Sunapee have been under Vail slightly longer but my guess, is when operations become more normal this will all change for the better (optimistic). I feel that with F&B sales being limited they are limiting expenses. I would not doubt for a second that Vail just wants out of this season as a whole and are trying to skate by.
My guess Vail acquired Peak Resorts to capture the NY, CT and MA population so they can market them to ski out west. In that case Mount Snow, Okemo, Stowe and possibly Sunapee and Hunter become the main attractions in the East. Wildcat is tough, no lodging - strictly skiing. Attitash does attract many out of state people and I think there is Vail owned lodging there so I would think managing that one would have significance. I know many blame the GM but their operations staff should know better and influence opening of terrain.
For the money the Epic pass does offer lots of skiing options in the Northeast and out west which is still a viable option even with COVID impacting things.
We did not get the Epic Pass this year since we were not sure where we were going to move to. However, next season, that may be an option but living around Boston limits day trip options and limits the number of ski days.
My guess Vail acquired Peak Resorts to capture the NY, CT and MA population so they can market them to ski out west. In that case Mount Snow, Okemo, Stowe and possibly Sunapee and Hunter become the main attractions in the East. Wildcat is tough, no lodging - strictly skiing. Attitash does attract many out of state people and I think there is Vail owned lodging there so I would think managing that one would have significance. I know many blame the GM but their operations staff should know better and influence opening of terrain.
For the money the Epic pass does offer lots of skiing options in the Northeast and out west which is still a viable option even with COVID impacting things.
We did not get the Epic Pass this year since we were not sure where we were going to move to. However, next season, that may be an option but living around Boston limits day trip options and limits the number of ski days.
That depends on a couple things... 1) Was there a lot of turnover in the rest of the Ops staff? 2) If not and the snow-making and mountain ops teams are largely the same, then is the new GM receptive to input from them? Or is he someone that thinks he knows everything on his own and over-rides their input?
Just skied attitash. Bunch of trails have snow blown on them, but nothing is open. Still just illusion, connector to attitash. 1 1/2 runs off triple. Talked to an employee who was just as frustrated as me, he said they don’t have enough people to drive the groomers. I have a 4 and a 6 year old, the learning triple at attitash is boring for my kids. Top of illusion is super icy and crowded. Morningstar would be fine but instead of running it right back to bear you have to skate back on the bottom
Cat track pulling little kids. The triple is the triple. My wife is pissed at me because I choose the passes. I think the new gm thinks he’s the man and is not listening to the people that have worked there forever. What a pathetic effort
Cat track pulling little kids. The triple is the triple. My wife is pissed at me because I choose the passes. I think the new gm thinks he’s the man and is not listening to the people that have worked there forever. What a pathetic effort
dblskifanatic
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MogulMonsters
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- Mar 8, 2019
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I wish Attitash would reallocate the folks operating the learning center triple to one of the doubles. The double could service both the learning center and Far Out --> BNP --> StoneyBrook and not substantially increase their staffing burden. My LITTLE kids want to take the slowmit triple since they are bored with the learning center lift.
Looking at the Vail Resorts Career website Attitash has 40+ positions open.
Attitash Jobs
I would suspect that since Attitash is looking for groomer operators (multiple levels) and lift mechanics (multiple levels) that our struggles are really due to the lack of staffing. The new GM likely got stacked with a lousy deck this year.
jimmywilson69
Well-known member
that begs to ask, what the hell happened to all of the mountain ops staff? Were they let go? Does Vail not pay enough? I would think most grooming positions don't turn over in a winter, because its a highly skilled position. IDK...
dblskifanatic
Active member
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- 43
My guess, some of them did not want to work for a large corporation like Vail.
My
guess mr. Katz will force the gms to apologize for the conditions and then during the off season quietly re- assigned them, cough cough, would think their would be assistant gms at the major resorts who could of stepped up, but I guess not, my guess they got caught flat footed with the wildcat gm going to Sunday River, atitash gm retiring, should have kept Barnes from Mt snow and had him in charge of both since they are so close, not sure if a gm can run two mtns at once.
My guess, lots of foreign workers picked up the slack last year and aren’t their this year.
thebigo
Well-known member
It occurred to me today that Vail may have never intended to keep wildcat and attitash but there simply was not enough time between close of Peaks acquisition and the pandemic to unload them. This may explain why both GMs, and apparently a significant percentage of the staff, departed this year. Further why the GMs were replaced with younger (read cheaper) candidates. Their orders may have been, keep them open until we can unload them and don't activate the insurance on any passes.
The amount of snow that has been blown at Attitash, on trails yet to open this year, is staggering. I dont buy the foreign worker argument, I have not heard of any areas being impacted on the scale of wildcat and attitash.
The amount of snow that has been blown at Attitash, on trails yet to open this year, is staggering. I dont buy the foreign worker argument, I have not heard of any areas being impacted on the scale of wildcat and attitash.
FBGM
Well-known member
While there are a few good/skilled groomers kicking around at each resort, most of the time a monkey could do it. And the grooming will show. They pay like dog shit. Entry level groomer is like $13/hr. Experienced groomers might squeeze $22/hr. You could run a hoe year round for $18/hr starting or go union or city and make way more.
