Has Vail Resorts taken over your favorite hometown ski area?
This website is not just for Hunter Mountain. It’s for all ski areas that Vail Resorts has Acquired. This site is not just for skiers and riders. It’s for everyone effected by what Vail Resorts has done to your local or favorite destination Ski area. If you have memories from when you were a children with your grandparents and parents and were hoping to make them with your children and friends but are upset with Vail Resorts, this is the place for you to air your grievances, memories or just what negative affects Vail Resorts has done to your mountain or town.
February 6, 2022 @ 9:38 am
Wow..i live in Hunter n was a lift operator for 3 seasons,there til Vail Inc came. They describe being a liftie as “the adventure of a lifetime” or something like that on their application page. Everyones maling a huge deal about the fact that theyre now starting peeps at 15/hr. Big fucking deal! Experienced lift operators should make much more. I’ve been working in this industry my whole life since I was 14, I’m 52 now, been a lift operator for over 6 yrs, n vail rejected my application for “people that fit in better w our vision”. (I’m paraphrasing). So i havent worked for Vail, n i dont think i want to. Idk. I leep hearing all kinds of things..
February 6, 2022 @ 8:49 pm
I wouldn’t worry about them – because they are so completely inept that I guarantee they’ll be selling these mountains very soon.
(WHY?)
Because the difference between running Vail and a “hometown” mountain is like the difference between running a Micheline 5-Star rated resturaunt, vs. a local fast-food franchise. Yes, they are BOTH restaurants – but that’s where the similarity ends. The have different customers, who come there for different reasons, at different times, with different demands and expectations. They have a different staff and staffing needs.
If they “think they know how to run a ski mountain” – they don’t even understand that this is a SPECTRUM – let alone where they fall under it.
Crotched Mountain (NH) has a long history (expansions, closures, reopenings, sales, etc.) that I won’t get into – but lets just say that in one of their most recent lives (going back maybe 10 years ago) – they were a THRIVING business – *PACKED* during their “peak times”. (I doubt they even know what those times were – or who came there – or why). They even underweant a couple multi-million dollar expansions (lodge, and high speed lift) over the past 15? years or so.
But the past few years – everything has been noticeably DOWN. I blame the last own on this (probably) – but the point is Vail Resorts bought a place that was on the downslide and being *mismanaged* – and made the problem even worse. So much so that our kids’ ski team was scheduled to do some practices/races there – and the team (or league?) had to PULL OFF the mountain due to closure and inconsistent operations. Meanwhile, Pat’s Peak (about equidistant from all Crotchet’s major population draws) is a smaller mountain, and continues to thrive and rapidly expand!
Let me repeat: The kind of work, marketing and staffing that it takes to run a mountain like this – the people who come – why they come – how they come – is a totally different skillset. I don’t think they fundamentally understand this.