VAIL SUCKS

[Edd]

Would this, in any way, affect your decision to ski the WROD today or not?

Ski or don't, but Vail got their shit open before anyone else, yet you all manage to find a problem with it anyways.

Yeah, but this is basic Vail strategy, no matter the time of year. Their snow reports are about as helpful as a coin flip, it’s obvious they consider accurate, detailed information for the customer to be a negative.

 

[ThatGuy]

Yeah, but this is basic Vail strategy, no matter the time of year. Their snow reports are about as helpful as a coin flip, it’s obvious they consider accurate, detailed information for the customer to be a negative.

I remember 3 or 4 years ago I was at Mt Snow on a day it was dumping and was lapping the North Face waiting for Sunbrook to open. I see it finally listed as open on the map so I take a little woods cut that brings you over there. The run was great untouched powder the whole way down and I’m thinking to myself wow no one must’ve noticed it was open. Get to the bottom and the lifty tells me its not supposed to be open yet but sends me back up the lift anyway. At the top ski patrol was waiting for me and tells me they’re going to take my pass for ducking ropes. I show them the virtual map and that it has all of Sunbrook open already. Old man ski patroller tells me that doesn’t matter I still ducked a rope (which I didn’t) he radios in and they told him to just let me go. Learned a valuable lesson that day never to trust the virtual trail map…

 

[BenedictGomez]

I'm not as much of a Vail hater as some on this site

You can still join our group. Try the punch, it's delicious.

 

[ThatGuy]

You can still join our group. Try the punch, it's delicious

“Keep talking that way and I’ll give you a different kind of punch bud”

 

[joshua segal]

Yeah, but this is basic Vail strategy, no matter the time of year. Their snow reports are about as helpful as a coin flip, it’s obvious they consider accurate, detailed information for the customer to be a negative.

Snow reporting has been an historical industry-wide problem. The classic reporters like Lloyd Lambert and Roxie Rothafel would stop reporting an area's condition if they got too many complaints about inflated conditions being reported. These days, the areas do their own reporting. Are there any "honest brokers" out there when it comes to condition reports and open-trail counts?

 

[eatskisleep]

Snow reporting has been an historical industry-wide problem. The classic reporters like Lloyd Lambert and Roxie Rothafel would stop reporting an area's condition if they got too many complaints about inflated conditions being reported. These days, the areas do their own reporting. Are there any "honest brokers" out there when it comes to condition reports and open-trail counts?

Probably just MRG.

 

[cdskier]

Probably just MRG.

I think the majority of non-Vail resorts actually list the correct open trails and counts. Honest/detailed conditions is another story. I'd would however also say Stowe even though they're a Vail resort tends to be not only accurate with their open trails, but also has a good detailed and honest conditions report. Which proves that other Vail resorts could do it if they wanted to...

 

[thetrailboss]

"As I love saying, 'you're welcome!'"

Keystone Wins Race to Open on 90 Minutes Notice

SAM Magazine—Keystone, Colo., Oct 27, 2025—On Saturday morning, Arapahoe Basin announced it would open for the season Sunday at 8:30 a.m. MDT, positioning

www.saminfo.com

 

[AdironRider]

The reality is almost no one bags a day of skiing because one specific trail is open or closed. Its a situation that some claim is important, but then never actual act upon. The reality is most skiers, when they have the time to go ski, will go ski. They will bag it if its raining. They will definitely come out if its snowing, both of which are independently verified these days and you aren't dependent on the ski area marketing department.

 

[Smellytele]

The reality is almost no one bags a day of skiing because one specific trail is open or closed. Its a situation that some claim is important, but then never actual act upon. The reality is most skiers, when they have the time to go ski, will go ski. They will bag it if its raining. They will definitely come out if its snowing, both of which are independently verified these days and you aren't dependent on the ski area marketing department.

Well if a place said they had a tree run open and another did not I would go for the glades. So it isn't a total bail but helps in the decision making. Same if one place states they have expert terrain open and another doesn't. If I got to said place and said terrain was not open I would be pissed and may bail.

 

[kbroderick]

Well if a place said they had a tree run open and another did not I would go for the glades. So it isn't a total bail but helps in the decision making. Same if one place states they have expert terrain open and another doesn't. If I got to said place and said terrain was not open I would be pissed and may bail.

When I was full-time remote with an understanding boss, it wasn't uncommon for me to make a "go skiing or start the day at the computer" decision based on the trail report, and as Smellytele suggests, sometimes you can use status for a single natural snow trail to get a sense for what options you can expect.

The marginal revenue from my decision was zero, though, because it was more about which days I'd ski, not how many, and I rarely spent any incidental cash in the process.

Late updates on snowfall are more annoying, IMO--when I decide based on the initial report I should get stuff done and then fifteen minutes after first chair it gets updated from 3" to 12" and I know wasn't snowing that hard in the interim...