Friday Fun
Earlier this week Vail Resorts got the ski industry talking by adding 17 new resorts to their portfolio with the acquisition of Peak Resorts. For many, the rise of these conglomerates gobbling up ski areas to add value to their multi-resort passes will be the death of skiing as we know it. In acknowledgment of this, TGR published a satire piece (not too disimilar to our own Everest April Fool post from 2018) about a fictional company called ‘Epic Resorts’ adding Everest to their megapass.
- Related: EXCLUSIVE: SnowBrains Learns of Multi-Billion Dollar Venture for Ski Resort Atop Mount Everest
The post claimed that for $199, the megapass could be upgraded to their ‘Stoke Pass’:
Stoke Pass holders will be required to pay an extra $199 for the Everest add-on, but the addition will reportedly include oxygen masks, climbing equipment, basecamp tent space as well as Sherpa support.
Starting in winter 2019, Epic Resorts will be proud to offer skiers and riders access to one of the most famous alpine environments in the world.
A new six-seater gondola to Camp 4 is currently in development and promises to whisk skiers and riders to well over 26,000 feet, where they can enjoy icy, windy, generally terrifying conditions under the shadow of Lhotse and the Everest summit.
Obvious satire, even tagged as such on their site, and not even posted on their news page. But that didn’t stop people falling for it. Google News results on the day saw the post rise to third hit. In the release of the ‘Google News Initiative’ last year, their number one focus was ‘highlight accurate journalism while fighting misinformation‘… seems like this one slipped through the net.
But I read it on the internet, so it must be true…
