Industry News
The Stevens Pass, WA, skier who started a petition against Vail Resorts for what he calls ‘mismanagement of the ski area’ yesterday updated the petition asking Epic Pass holders to ‘cancel auto-renew’ on next season’s pass.
“Vail thinks of itself as skiing as a service or a subscription, like Netflix. They have our money for 21-22 season but one key metric that subscription companies look for as a business is renewals. This will put pressure on Vail’s 22-23 season.
What do you need to do? Please join us on January 18th by sending a message stating that you’d like to cancel your pass “auto-renew.” Even if you don’t have the auto-renew activated, you can send an email to seasonpass@vailresorts.comexplaining why you will not be renewing your pass.
Vail Resorts will need to earn our business back with their actions over the rest of the season. We are having a positive impact, but we need to keep pushing. The Vail Resorts business model must change.”
– Jeremy Rubingh on Change.org
Rubingh specifically cites lift lines, parking, the treatment of employees, and lack of investment as disgusting. The petition has so far gathered over 40,000 signatures.
Lift lines are out of control to the point where the majority of a day of “skiing” is spent standing in line at one of the few lifts open.
The full update is below:
This is an Epic Pass Holder Group Action Alert
Jeremy Rubingh, Seattle, WA, United States
JAN 16, 2022 —
This is an Epic Pass holder group action Alert to cancel your Epic Pass “auto-renewal.” Great job supporting the petition to hold Vail Resorts Accountable! As of today there are nearly 40,000 of us who have joined this petition. I am so proud of the impact we have had and the pressure we are creating.
While every industry has been impacted by the pandemic, Vail Resort’s failure to operate their ski areas, compensate with a livable wage, and provide the product we all paid for, has made it clear that this is a Vail Resorts problem, not a covid-19 problem. By comparison, every other ski resort in every state Vail Resorts operates has been able to open their terrain and run lifts.
This has become a local and national news story thanks to you adding your voice to this petition. We were even on the front page of the Seattle Times! Newsweek has covered the petition, and we’ve been on the major Seattle TV networks, among many other outlets throughout the country. And Vail Resorts has been forced to respond!
But Vail Resorts has a long way to go to demonstrate that they actually care about their workers or their customers. Please continue to share this petition on your social media networks—we must continue to push Vail Resorts in the right direction. They cannot run our mountain communities into the ground like they are just a bottom line in a stock portfolio for some hedge fund manager with no concern for their workers or their customers. We just won’t have it.
Across the company, Vail Resorts has offered a contingency-based two dollar an hour bonus incentive for employees to stay for the rest of the season. This honestly does not amount to a whole lot for most employees, but it is a start in the right direction.
At Stevens Pass we have forced Vail Resorts to make some changes. They have hired a new interim General Manager, Tom Fortune, who grew up skiing at Stevens and knows what we expect of operations and access to our mountain. Whether he acts on that remains to be seen. The memo from the new General Manager acknowledged their disappointing performance and there has been some lip service in internal memos to affordable housing for employees and finding beds “immediately.”
Still, they haven’t actually solved the problem at Stevens Pass yet and we remain vigilant in holding Vail Resorts accountable. Especially in solidarity with all the other areas that they operate and are failing their employees and customers, from the Pacific Northwest to Park City, to Crested Butte, to Ohio, to New Hampshire and Vermont. Here at Stevens Pass, we need to see immediate changes.
Time will tell. And frankly they don’t have much time. We expect action and results if they are to salvage this season. Weather conditions at Stevens Pass left the road closed for a week starting on January 6th with limited access to the ski resort. However, now the road is open, and changes have been promised. We need to see more staff hired and the majority of terrain open and lifts running, including the Mill Valley side, within the next two weeks, otherwise this has all been merely optics by Vail Resorts to attempt to quell our movement.
This is the next step for us to keep the pressure on Vail to help us negotiate for fully open resorts by advocating for market-based pay and treatment for employees. Let’s make this successful so other resorts can follow. Even if you’ve already canceled your auto-renew, read more below.
Why is this a great next step? Vail thinks of itself as skiing as a service or a subscription, like Netflix. They have our money for 21-22 season but one key metric that subscription companies look for as a business is renewals. This will put pressure on Vail’s 22-23 season.
What do you need to do? Please join us on January 18th by sending a message stating that you’d like to cancel your pass “auto-renew.” Even if you don’t have the auto-renew activated, you can send an email to seasonpass@vailresorts.comexplaining why you will not be renewing your pass.
Vail Resorts will need to earn our business back with their actions over the rest of the season. We are having a positive impact, but we need to keep pushing. The Vail Resorts business model must change.
Please share any creative ideas and thoughts about how we can keep the pressure on. The best way to reach me is through Direct Message on Instagram: @jeremycoloradoboy
We are powerful when we come together and demand better. Let’s ride.
Sincerely,
Jeremy Rubingh
derp
Someone needs to make sure human’s don’t destroy the Environment entirely lol if nobody controlled the land we wouldn’t have any left
I was told Big Chief will be opening again. The parents of Spac will be trained and run the lift. As a former employee they have never contacted me to return. If they offer a deal I would of returned. Yet Vail put a limit on sibling passes and we had to commit to 17 day’s difficult as second job, 9 weekend days. As an instructor I would be paid for 15 minutes each line up and if no class come back in two hours. I could be paid for one hour yet be there 9 hours a day. Amazon offers $1000.00 sign bonus hey Vail give us a carrot.
How many years !!? how many people !!!? at how many resorts !!!!?? did I try to tell you ALL !!! NOW look at you all now
You got exactly what you deserve because you got exactly what you bought into CORPORATE CHUMPS
NEXT TIME WHEN SOMEBODY WHO HAS PUT IN MORE FULL SEASONS AT 4+ TIMES MORE RESORTS THAN YOU HAVE VISITED FOR A DAY…. AND WITHOUT A JOB LONGER THAN MANY OF YOU HAVE BEEN ALIVE TELLS YOU WHAT’S WHAT
MAYBE YOUR DUMBAS*ES WILL LISTEN WELL NOW YOU GOT PLENTY OF TIME STANDING AROUND IN LINE TO THINK ABOUT IT and where am I !!? Now that I checked off every single place I wanted to spend the season before they got bought up by Vail and icon well can you remember anything I told you about the road you were on cuz if you could, you could figure it out
ZERO lift lines !!! full mountain open gnarly bitch’n terrain ZERO !!!! CORPORATE ANYTHING YEP I’M STILL LIVING THE DREAM AND YOU’RE STUCK IN CORPORATE HELL JUST LIKE YOU BOUGHT INTO CHUMPS
You bought the bed and the bedding so now be lying in it and you know what stop your bitching about it because it only makes more of an a*s of yourself as if what you’re bitching about wasn’t EXACTLY what you bought into… Tape your mouth up and bend over
How many years !!? how many people !!!? at how many resorts !!!!?? did I try to tell you ALL !!! NOW look at you all now
You got exactly what you deserve because you got exactly what you bought into CORPORATE CHUMPS
NEXT TIME WHEN SOMEBODY WHO HAS PUT IN MORE FULL SEASONS AT 4+ TIMES MORE RESORTS THAN YOU HAVE VISITED FOR A DAY…. AND WITHOUT A JOB LONGER THAN MANY OF YOU HAVE BEEN ALIVE TELLS YOU WHAT’S WHAT
MAYBE YOUR DUMBASSES WILL LISTEN WELL NOW YOU GOT PLENTY OF TIME STANDING AROUND IN LINE TO THINK ABOUT IT and where am I !!? Now that I checked off every single place I wanted to spend the season before they got bought up by Vail and icon well can you remember anything I told you about the road you were on cuz if you could, you could figure it out
ZERO lift lines !!! full mountain open gnarly bitch’n terrain ZERO !!!! CORPORATE ANYTHING YEP I’M STILL LIVING THE DREAM AND YOU’RE STUCK IN CORPORATE HELL JUST LIKE YOU BOUGHT INTO CHUMPS
You bought the bed and the bedding so now be lying in it and you know what stop your bitching about it because it only makes more of an ass of yourself as if what you’re bitching about wasn’t EXACTLY what you bought into… Tape your mouth up and bend over
Hey all you LEFTIST skiers. YOU are the problem, more than Vail.
You keep voting for Big Government.
The Forest Service won’t approve additional parking, nor more lift expansion.
WADOT won’t expand the roads to accommodate the additional traffic.
The Federal Government printed money and sent stimulus checks, unemployment checks, food cards, housing assistance, etc… so that more people don’t need to work to survive.
If the Government wasn’t the gatekeeper for federal lands, don’t you think some entrepreneur wouldn’t develop an alternate ski area as competition? Remember Early Winters that got shut down? Look at Chelan County actively fighting to prevent Mission Ridge from expanding.
Stop voting for Government and Hyper-Enviromentalism.