21-22 Vail/Stevens Pass Monitoring reports

Abominable Snowman
Stevens Pass skiers snowed | The Seattle Times

Ok,   Some great lines!  I think at the very least a good chuckle can't hurt.  How about this?

Just saw Vail fired Tom Pettigrew and are bringing in a former SP guy.  Wishing him all the best, but I'll just leave this here:

Good article from the Seattle Times

www.seattletimes.com/life/outdoors/close...-2021-22-ski-season/
 

Whelp, just going to throw this idea out there about SP and all the other small mountains bought up by VR, partially opened, and flailing:

So I'm beginning to wonder about all these Vail acquisitions. 
I wonder if it is similar to hospitals or grocery stores in rural places being bought up, limped along a bit, and then shut down because they aren't profitable to run. The ownership brings equity to their books, there is usually some kind of inflow of cash - like the many, many pass buyers, and the huge increase in stock value, and the equity - and then once eviscerated they are shed. Meanwhile the bigger resorts become more and more inaccessible or cater to a specifically profitable crowd. It's like cutting ICU beds and ERs or rural hospitals while opening elective surgery centers (a tactic that was working brilliantly until Covid)...

Or what about the grocery mergers. Grocery stores aren't big money makers unless they are Whole Foods or New Seasons but the buildings/land are worth something. We have a grocery store here in Tacoma that was bought and then immediately closed for the last decade because it was cheaper to make property payments and wait for the appreciation in value of the property than run the store in a poor neighborhood. It wasn't even "worth it" to the mega parent company to lease the building to another entity so someone else could use it. So it sits (as assets/equity on their books) waiting for the neighborhood to further gentrify or??

Private equity investment is happening all around us. Friends at a gathering this past weekend were talking about hailing an Uber home and then mentioned how Google maps directed their driver onto the most harrowing icy or impassable roads. Not to mention how very, very seemingly arbitrarily expensive an Uber is now and that cost doesn't even go the the driver but to the company (a percentage of tips go to the driver). Once upon a time the (now maligned) taxi driver was a driving, living, breathing Thomas Guide who knew every route through the city. You paid a fixed rate and tipped generously to the driver when they successfully and safely delivered you to your destination. Now we pay for an app that utilizes a human to get the job done. Lift lines and chairs now run by apps... or maybe a ski patroller if you are lucky.

Since Vail (like Uber) is also heavily funded by private equity groups such as Apollo Ski Company this article from 2017 peaked my interest: www.powder.com/stories/deer-valley-meet-...new-corporate-owner/ Kind of a glimpse into the future. I don't think my musings are all that far off.

Vail blames Covid for is current closures and employee issues but Covid is a scapegoat. Low wages, no benefits, no local housing - don't even get free food or powder run on your break anymore. I think they can blame greed for their issues.
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Meanwhile: SOLIDARITY
www.sltrib.com/news/2022/01/11/vail-resorts-park-city/ Passholders and guests are already standing in line; maybe we can team up with the employees and demand more from the private equity firms fleecing us.
No, we will not run(or pay for) your resorts while you run to the bank with your profits and run us into the ground!

This is an opportunistic moment and I hope that the employees of all locations AND THE PATRONS organize/support each other in solidarity. The long-term gain far outweighs the one month of rent IF IF IF you are an employee who can stick it out through April (the terms of the bonus Vail is offering). Even if you think you are that employee who will hold on through April, I still say you are far better off holding a picket sign.

 

My favorite verse from Vail Fail Bail brings it home

"Mommy blames Daddy and Daddy blames Vail.
They bought out the neighbors.
Our family can't hold the block,
They bought up the whole neighborhood.
And we are selling out the shop."

Oh that was a good laugh - thanks!!

Hitler Skis Stevens Pass. Now that was funny!

Washington state attorney general, Bob Ferguson, wants feedback about Stevens and Vail

www.king5.com/article/news/local/stevens...62-b8c1-f120f275d0e3
 

I’ve done as much bitching about Vail as anyone, but this year I changed it up. I applied for a liftie job to help out and try to get the Backside open. They are a little slow, but I did a successful phone interview today, and my info was passed on so I could get trained and scheduled. I’m old in years, partly retired, and don’t need the work. They have screwed things up horribly during the Pandemic, -but I don’t believe it’s intentional - and think they need help. Wish me luck, and join me if you feel so inclined.

GO avajane GO!
That is being proactive with positive energy to help things out directly!

Thank you! I was actually very, very proactive as I emailed Steven’s Pass on November 24th that I was ready to help, part time, but that I wanted to talk to management. I wanted to goto social media and recruit more people like myself. I got no response even though I also sent my email to a CS VP in Colorado…They said they were too busy.

a couple of weeks ago I forwarded the Email to the new GM Tom Fortune, and he replied within an hour on a Saturday! I posted on a couple spots this weekend and got over 250 positive responses - and one “Vail sucks”

Yea Avajane!!!

In other good news I just received this email

To Our Valued Pass Holders at Stevens Pass,Thank you for patience and understanding as we navigate a challenging start to the 2021/22 ski and ride season at Stevens Pass. As the new Interim General Manager of the resort, I want to take this opportunity to provide you with a few updates on our operations and how we plan to honor your loyalty as a pass holder.As I have been sharing with guests on our  blog , we have made good progress in the last couple of weeks getting more terrain open and implementing new strategies to make sure we are providing you with a great experience. Yesterday, in addition to being a beautiful blue bird day, we were excited to open additional lifts and trails – we had 72% of our terrain available. This weekend, we’re hoping to have 86% open. Looking forward, our plan is to open all our lifts as soon as we have enough employees trained to do so safely. In the meantime, we are prioritizing our resources to maximize the experience. Right now, we have seven lifts on weekends and plan to add Jupiter and the backside this Friday, which will bring us to eight out of 10 lifts running Friday through Sunday. You can read more about our next lift priorities (both for daytime and night skiing)  here .As we shared previously, hiring has been a challenge at Stevens Pass this season for a variety of reasons. It was a bit of a perfect storm of circumstances, which certainly included the impacts from Omicron. At times over the holidays, upwards of 30% of our lift operators were out due to COVID-19 or symptoms. That aside, we are very focused on bringing on additional people, and I am proud to share that we have hired many new team members over the last month. We secured additional housing for employees and added a $2 per hour bonus to their compensation, which is supporting these efforts. We also provide free transportation to both Monroe and Wenatchee and just increased the size of the bus to accommodate more staff. We have amazing employees and are working hard to ensure they feel recognized, appreciated and engaged.I also want to address the concerns many of you have raised as pass holders. We have heard that you do not feel the experience so far this season has lived up to your expectations and you want to know how our company plans to address those concerns. As you know, our passes are non-refundable given they are highly discounted products that provide access all season long and because we cannot predict exactly how the season will play out in terms of conditions or terrain. Pass holders accept the possibility of limited terrain and variable conditions in exchange for significant discounts. While we provide Epic Coverage for no additional cost, it does not provide refunds relating to the amount of terrain open; rather, it provides refunds for certain resort closures or personal events such as job loss, injury or illness. That said, we acknowledge that Stevens Pass has experienced very unique challenges this season – unique in comparison to any prior season, unique for the region, and unique when compared to the 36 other resorts our company operates throughout North America.We greatly value your loyalty as a pass holder as well as your passion for Stevens Pass. To honor that loyalty, we are offering you the option of a discount on a 22/23 Stevens Pass season pass or a spend credit to use at Stevens Pass during the 22/23 ski and ride season:

• 22/23 pass renewal discount for Stevens Pass: As a 21/22 pass holder receiving this email, you and any dependent with a 21/22 pass are eligible for the following discounts on 22/23 Stevens Pass season passes:
  • $150 discount off Adult, Young Adult, and Teen Passes:
    • Stevens Pass Premium Adult Pass at $385 (compared to $535 this season).
    • Stevens Pass Premium Young Adult Pass at $305 (compared to $455 this season).
    • Stevens Pass Premium Teen Pass at $169 (compared to $319 this season).
    • Stevens Pass Select Adult Pass at $193 (compared to $343 this season).
  • $50 discount off Senior Passes:
    • Stevens Pass Premium Senior Pass at $53 (compared to $103 this season).
    • Stevens Pass Select Senior Pass at $37 (compared to $87 for this season).

OR

• $150 renewal spend credit at Stevens Pass for 22/23 season
  • If you choose to renew or purchase a 22/23 Epic, Epic Local, Epic Military, Epic 4-7 Day pass, 5 Day Edge Card, or 10 Day Edge Card for yourself, you will receive a Stevens Pass spend credit of $150.00 that you can use next season at Stevens Pass for restaurants, retail and rental locations, lift tickets or for ski and ride school lessons. This offer is valid for 21/22 pass holders who received this email, as well as any dependent who has a 21/22 pass.

To be eligible for either of these offers, you will need to renew or purchase your pass by May 30, 2022.More details on how you can redeem this offer will be emailed to you directly in the weeks to come and before our passes for next season go back on sale in March. However, we wanted to provide you this information now as we have heard your concerns and want to share the actions we are taking in response, in addition to the progress we are making with hiring and terrain openings.Thank you again for your patience and for your passion. The team at Stevens Pass and I are working hard to improve every day, and I am truly looking forward to a great season ahead. Stevens Pass is an incredibly special resort. Everyone at Vail Resorts is committed to its future success and to ensuring we provide all of you an amazing experience each time you visit.Tom FortuneInterim General ManagerStevens Pass

Ava good on you mate.   Remember to bring your thermos of hot beverage and donut or cookie to get you through the time you're out in the cold.   Oh yeah and learn to love the kids on the race ski team,

Nice to see people doing more than just complain. Looks like jupiter starts running friday, with southern/double the following week, under some sort of alternating plan. They intend to have the backside open everyday starting friday.

blog.stevenspass.com/category/inside-stevens/ is getting updated regularly, and the twitter updates are actually real time now, which I've never seen even pre-vail. They'd be 1h or more late, and watching the dot cam was a much better option.

Was up yesterday, skiing continues to be fun. Bit icy but nbd, bit of corn in a few places. Sunny and warm, front row parking and no lines. The new park on sky has a few nice medium sized features w/good landings. When these were down at the old half pipe, it was real easy to overshoot them. The waterfall line has two wedges on each now, which seems smart.

I would not really consider Vail a private equity company.  They are a strategic in the skiing space.  I work for a PE company and they do not have the model of ours or any similar company.  they are not trying to build ebitda value for a resell process.  

Vail is doing exactly what they say they're doing: hedging against climate change. They correctly expect many resorts to have repeated bad years and eventually close, so they pre-sell passes that allow people to use multiple regions in exchange for the end user taking some of that risk. To do that, they need to own resorts all over the place. So they've more than tripled or quadrupled in size in as many years, which is a very hard thing to handle and they didn't do it well.

Lift accessed skiing is going to be over in my lifetime, with maybe a random place here or there running a lift or two for a couple months. Might as well start the grieving process now

I have my training day this coming Friday. If you see an old long hair bumping the Backside soon that’ll be me. Stay positive. Going up tomorrow for hopefully a powder day!

Thursday, February 17
Well today I was our first day with the new system of running Kehrs chair and Double Diamond /Southern Cross instead of Tye Mill and Jupiter. I give this plan a great big vail fail.  The best snow on the mountain was again on the Jupiter chair but the only way to access it was to ride the Southern Cross chair and then ski down the very narrow very icy ridge to the Aquarius run. Aquarius and the options below we're soft enough to be fun.  Anything off piste on the backside was very challenging.  We did it twice and decided it wasn't worth the extremely crappy icy ridge to get to it. Coming back down Tye was a lot of fun. Good snow and nobody skiing because the lift was closed. Kehrs ski well. I even got off on skiers right a bit.  It was way too foggy most of the day.  Both my buddy and I skied well, considering. It was one of those days where if you didn't go you didn't miss much.

The “new system” is trying to get the whole mountain open. If Tye Mill was better skiing today,  that is unfortunate, But the Big Chief, Double Diamond, Southern Cross needs to be gotten ready to go. I ran the Double Diamond lift today. There were also 4 lift ops guys from Heavenly Valley who were there to help get the mountain open. Lots of new staff, and hopefully just enough to get the whole mountain open. That’s why I’m there. The mountain is being run by mostly the same people who have been running it in the past, and more than a few like me who are just trying to help. I’m hoping the whole mountain will be open this weekend. I also think it's about time the “Vail Fail” thing gets retired. 

My interactions with frontline employees at Stevens have been overwhelmingly positive.  The actions of corporate vail speak for themselves.

Beauty of a Spring day in early February. All groomers softened - even in the shade. I got out for .good runs a couple of times, and my wife
reported that the Backside was primo by 11. The full mountain is scheduled to be open this weekend! I’m planning on a powder day on Sunday!

Some good news for this thread:
Seattle Times staff reporter
STEVENS PASS — With the clock tower just brightening in the morning sun, Tom Fortune stood in ski boots by a fire pit at the Stevens Pass Ski Area chatting with customers and employees on a late January Friday. He asked staff about their commute and solicited guests’ opinions in lines at the busiest chairlifts.Fortune is the interim general manager at Stevens Pass. He arrived on Jan. 14 when the ski area was at a low point. After a delayed start to the season, snow hammered the Cascades during the holiday week. Severely understaffed,  for six weeks, including those serving the popular backside terrain.Vail Resorts, which bought Stevens Pass in 2018, had sold a record number of its season pass product, the Epic Pass, in the run-up to the 2021-22 winter, leaving thousands of Washington residents claiming that they had prepaid for a product they couldn’t use. A Change.org petition titled “ Hold Vail Resorts Accountable ” generated over 45,000 signatures. Over 400 state residents file complaints with the state Attorney General’s office. In early January, VailDaily reported that vales stock was underperforming by 25%, with analysts attributing the drop in part to an avalanche of consumer ire about mismanagement at resorts across the country, including Stevens Pass.On Jan. 12, vail resorts fired then general manager  and announced that Fortune would temporarily relocate from his role as general manager at Heavenly Ski Resort in South Lake Tahoe, California, to right the ship at Stevens Pass. Vail, which owns 40 ski areas across 15 states and three countries, has a vast pool of ski industry talent from which to draw. In elevating Fortune, whose history with the mountain goes back five decades, the company seems to have acknowledged what longtime skiers and snowboarders at Stevens Pass have been saying for several seasons : local institutional knowledge matters.“Vail heard us,” said former Stevens Pass Alpine Club president Chris Weiss. “In Tom Fortune, they went out and found someone who knew the mountain, brought him in and gave him the resources to turn things around.”Deep roots at Stevens PassTo say that Fortune, 60, knows this snowy corner of the Cascades is an understatement. Born and raised in Edmonds, he learned to ski at Stevens Pass in the early 1970s when a school bus ferried his second grade class up Highway 2 for lessons.“The first time I came up here I was hooked,” he said. “I had a calling for the mountains.”As a high school student in 1978, he began working nights and weekends. Over the years, he worked in lift operations, repairs and rentals. He lived in a cabin at the pass for 15 years. In December 1988, he and his wife raced down Highway 2 to a Redmond hospital where she gave birth to their son, Tony, who is now on ski patrol at Stevens. For years he shuttled between the cabin and a house in Monroe when his three children were school aged.In 1998, Fortune was promoted to Schweitzer in Idaho, and continued to climb the ranks in a ski industry career that eventually landed him on the shores of Lake Tahoe in 2016 when he began running Kirkwood and later Heavenly. That is, until Jan. 5, when he got a call from Doug Pierini, Vail’s western region senior vice president, who asked him to take over at his former home mountain.“It didn’t take me long to say yes,” Fortune said. “I really, truly care about this place and I do feel like I can help.”Fortune arrived on Jan. 14, two days after Vail announced the leadership switch. In those 48 hours, the mood changed dramatically. He was greeted at the hill with hugs and high-fives. His phone began ringing with 206 and 509 area codes from old friends and colleagues that he hadn’t heard from in years.“The attitudes have taken [a] 180 degree turn [and] everybody is pumped that Tom Fortune is here,” wrote Tim Wangen, who skied with Fortune in the 1990s and became a real Vail critic, via text message in late January. “He was the best person to send up here to get the mountain back on track.”.In Leavenworth and Skykomish, the two closest towns on either side of Stevens Pass, people stopped him in the street and the grocery store to thank him. A wellspring of social media commentary that had savaged Vail for weeks on end expressed cautious optimism. “I see a lot of corporate bloat in this message,” . “Actions speak louder than Kodak moments from the 90s.” On the Stevens Pass subreddit, a user called vectran wrote, “Heads are starting to roll as the stock price tumbles. Only thing Vail will really listen to. I’m optimistic but not holding my breath.”“It’s a bit overwhelming,” said Fortune of his newly minted status as a local celebrity. For a plain-spoken career ski bum with a mild-mannered demeanor, he said, “It’s a little out of my comfort zone.”Fixing what’s brokenWhile Fortune said he didn’t see Stevens Pass at its worst, confidants believe he knows that the situation was dire. “When Tom got here it was a bigger mess than what he thought,” Wangen wrote.Morale was at an all-time low as an overstretched, underpaid workforce struggled to keep the bare minimum of chairlifts and base area amenities running. Management and administrative positions like marketing and human resources had been hollowed out as part of Vail’s corporate strategy to run its ski areas from a centralized operation at its Broomfield, Colorado, headquarters.In response, Fortune rolled up his ski-jacket sleeves and began chipping away at the Stevens Pass puzzle by drawing on decades of experience on how ski areas tick, especially this one. He met daily with four Vail hiring managers to secure more staff, buoyed by a $2-per-hour end-of-season bonus that Vail announced on Jan. 10. the ski area’s 130-bed housing stock from Monroe to Wenatchee— a mixture of ski area summit cabins, leased hotel rooms in larger towns and rented bedrooms in private residences—to ensure a roof for any potential candidate. He chartered bigger buses to scale up existing employee transportation along Highway 2 for the growing workforce. “What I did in the last two weeks was work normally done in October,” Fortune said.Fortune also recruited staff from Heavenly for a temporary deployment at Stevens Pass to tackle details like improving lift-line flow to reduce overcrowding when a limited number of chairlifts are running. On Feb. 24, Vail Resorts announced that Stevens Pass had filled the base operations director role, a senior leadership team position that had sat vacant all season.For the rank and file, Fortune instituted morale boosters like surprise coffee and bagel or breakfast burrito spreads to perk up the weekend morning shift, and converted unused lodge space into an employee center with couches, games, TVs and a yoga room where staff can relax after work while waiting for a homebound shuttle.The staff recruitment and retention efforts are paying off, although Vail Resorts declined to provide current staffing numbers. On Jan. 27, Stevens Pass opened enough chairlifts to access the backside for the first time all season. Stevens is now spinning nine of 10 chairlifts on weekdays and all chairlifts on weekends. Fortune documents every step of the way on the Stevens Pass blog in a series called “ Fortune Telling .”“He has greatly improved corporate communication since returning and that means a lot,” said Rebecca Timson, a former ski instructor who has notched 51 seasons at Stevens Pass.Local limitsIn addition to staffing up, Fortune has restored components large and small that endeared Stevens Pass to the public. He resurrected the resort’s iconic bluebird logo, which decorates snowboards and bumper stickers across the region, and began signing communiqués with SPKA, an old acronym that stands for Stevens Pass Kicks [Expletive]. Fortune also pushed for Stevens Pass to stay open later into the spring and this year’s closing date is currently slated for May 1. In another coup, Vail reversed course on Feb. 11 and announced it would reopen the mountain bike park this summer r .Such rapid-fire changes run counter to recent methods at Vail Resorts, which minimized operations at its regional ski areas while using discounts to drive customers to the company’s destination resorts for multiday visits. That strategy backfired here with the longtime customer base that has high expectations for operations at Stevens. Fortune’s experience suggests that the debacle at Stevens Pass has begun changing Vail’s corporate playbook to allow more leeway for local managers. Sponsored “I pretty much did have carte blanche,” said Fortune.Fortune’s hands-on approach has endeared him to Vail employees craving a human face. “My secret to success is blocking out time in the morning,” he said, describing a routine of checking in one-on-one with staff before opening, greeting guests as they arrive and taking a few runs to get the daily lay of the land.But one general manager alone cannot always overcome larger corporate systems. During those morning rounds in January, he chatted with a seasonal employee from abroad. After a recent car crash, she had concerns about car repair bills and medical expenses. Fortune steered her to the company’s employee emergency relief fund, which she didn’t know existed. She thanked him profusely, but gleaning that tip took a serendipitous on-mountain encounter with the boss since Vail eliminated on-site human resources, though Fortune hopes to see more administrative staff locally.“The model is not going to change, but the pendulum swinging back to the right level of support at the resort is something that’s being talked about,” he said.“Vail Resorts has added HR resources to better support our teams — and continues to focus on improving the employee experience,” added Vail spokesperson Sara Roston in an email.To alleviate the near-mountain employee housing crunch, Fortune met with a contractor about renovating or replacing former employee housing 2 miles from the ski area at the Yodelin parking lot — a bunkhouse he himself lived in 30 years ago — and regularly meets with brokers and leasing agents in towns along Highway 2. Ski area traffic and overcrowding, meanwhile, remains an acute bottleneck. When a weekslong snow drought ended with 20 inches of powder on the Sunday of Presidents Day weekend, visitors surged and clogged Highway 2. The Washington State Department of Transportation shut down the eastbound stretch from Scenic to the pass for several hours.“I know how frustrating traffic and parking can be up here,” Fortune said in a written statement to The Seattle Times. “We’re actively looking at how to alleviate parking-related stress/congestion, with near-, mid-, and long-term solutions in mind. We are evaluating everything from off-site parking with shuttles, to reservations, to lot expansions.” With powder days back in the forecast and chairlifts finally spinning at close to full steam, Fortune’s honeymoon seems likely to last through the rest of the season. The search is currently underway for a permanent general manager. “Tom will support the transition period, and will continue to support/advise to ensure this positive momentum continues,” Roston wrote.“Every week, passholders are thanked for the patience they have already demonstrated — and the continued patience they will be expected to demonstrate,” said Timson, the former ski instructor. “It wears thin, but most people are still giving Fortune the benefit of the doubt.” An anonymous sticker affixed to a metal post on Skyline Express concurred. A fortuneteller’s hands cradle a crystal ball emblazoned with the letters “SPKA” while the Stevens Pass bluebird is perched on top. The bottom reads, “#GoodFortune2022.”Gregory Scruggs:    Gregory Scruggs is the outdoors reporter at The Seattle Times.

I hope Tom Fortune decides to stick around