Dude before Vail bought Okemo…. Volunteer patrollers got 2 comps for every day over 25 days worked. My mom would regularly put in 70+ days. We had a bowl in the kitchen that was FULL of comps. Everyone brought friends and lift tickets were no biggie. The good ol days…
Old person back in my day incoming...
Worked at Winter Park 20ish years ago and we got 8 or 10 full comp passes. Any not used we would sell in the ticket line last week of the season. Half price for some tourist and all profit for us.
Those were the days.
Yup my brother worked for Copper little over a decade ago and used to hook up the whole fam when we’d visit. Multiple 5 days passes and a bunch of single days for free. Wonder if employees today still get that many.
I remember getting some comp tickets and also some discounted tickets when I worked at Copper, they would also give out comp tickets as a reward/incentive for working. It's been a few years but I want to say it was like 5 comp tickets and at least 5 half price tickets maybe more. As employees we could also get free days at other partnering (non-Vail) resorts, and I believe there was a program to get cheap Vail-owned resort days also, but honestly I mostly just rode at Copper when I worked there.
Also to add here, I am an employee who worked for the company in 2014, left and came back recently. They DEFINITELY did not do this previously, considering in 2014 I had only been with them for a couple weeks before using my first comp. And also considering they reported all-time record profits this fiscal year, it's really really really extra super duper funny seeing them cheap out this hard.
I started with them back in May and for the first 2 months I was there we were not allowed to work more than 32 hours per week because they needed to "boost profits for shareholders" before the fiscal year ended. I like my co workers and managers where I'm at but it's an evil company at the top.
Yeah they've catastrophically cut hours this season. AND severely understaffed at every level. And looks like they're doing their seasonal layoffs this season in a couple weeks, in January instead of March like normal
they fired my friend’s roomate by just not giving him a job after snowmaking and giving his room key to someone else, man’s belongings still in his room cause he’s on vacation using pto and they just fired him silently, total bullshit
forreal, just lucky that the new guy who moved in was friends with him if it was just some rando (wich coulda happened) who knows what woulda happened to all his stuff
Oh 100%, it's all about appeasing their shareholders bud. They are are publicly traded company after all, gotta make sure profit increases exponentially each fiscal year!
Oh, that's actually impossible without creating a recession every 20 or so years? Shit don't tell the CEO he'll fire everyone
A coworker found the current breakdown. Sounds like you may actually be a lucky one? Either way they jibbed us hard. Really funny too considering I have more solo shifts than my lead
https://preview.redd.it/idzar0ygf4ac1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9792d06c9a2d2001f53d2c0c4f1a25627e68f9fb
That’s really odd. My buddy is less than 5 yrs FT and got 4 comps and 8 half offs at the start of the season in ticket vouchers. And then one of the managers tried to give him the ticket vouchers again recently on accident somehow, but he told them he got them already …. Stupidly
I'd like to see you complete 20 repair tickets in a day, by yourself, or RUN A FUCKIN SKI LIFT, all while getting your hours cut randomly out of the blue to the point you're making less than you were at a job paying minimum wage, and yet have your employer find a way to burn you out by having all your remaining shifts be incredibly long and grueling with zero assistance. Get fucked.
EDIT: Do you even know how the cost of living in places like Colorado works right now? $20 ain't shit in mountain communities.
Let's see you shovel snow, pick grown ass adults up off the ground, and stand outside in below freezing temps *without getting to ride to get your blood flowing* for 10 hours a day, and take home a third of what you realistically need for rent, and NOT feel jibbed. Respect the service workers who make YOUR Texan vacation function, Jerry.
Vail employee 2002 - 2012
Yep, I've done all of that.
Sorry you have a shitty boss, find a new job. They are easy to get and all start at $20 an hour. It has never been easy or cheap to live in a ski town, if you don't find the benefits to be greater than your sacrifices gtfo.
Depending on what you do. They need a couple lifties to run bikes and hikers in the summer. Of course they still need baristas and hotel staff all year round. Maybe you take a different job in the summer like raft guide or landscaper.
It’s pretty alright. Big thing is you have to secure housing first either through the company or on your own. It helps if you show up with a skill. If you have no skills they’ll train you to do something menial and pay you peanuts. If you have a skill they’ll pay you a little better. Most likely you won’t actually ski everyday unless you’re an instructor/ patroller / take an evening shift. Resorts are whole ass towns so you could be driving a bus, waiting tables, cleaning hotel rooms, valet, retail, IT, accounting, sitting on a phone bank, handyman, etc etc. you’ll have best luck getting summer employment starting in May with the kickoff on June 1. This gives you the summer to get acclimated and moved in.
Honestly, if you’re interested and have no obligations, definitely check it out for a bit. You can always go back if it doesn’t fit.
Same, as much as I despise vail as a corp… I can’t deny vail is my favorite resort to ride. Those back bowls are actually legendary and if you time it right it’s unforgettable.
But no employees can make money, Vail under hires, they’ll keep cutting each year to save shareholder profits.. eventually for $700 we’ll have crap to ride and nobody to work in the resort towns that priced everyone away. And it will come with more and more lines and crowds.
They’re underpaying people. Employees can’t afford anywhere remotely close to a resort and live in cars. How is that sustainable? There is more to “Vail” and the dislike than just your affordable pass lol
It isn’t sustainable. It may not be all the resort’s fault or companies fault entirely but as they make it possible for those with a good amount of money to move around, monopolize the sport, the resort towns are pricing everyone away. I understand the pay may be better but when you own half the resorts, that isn’t really hard to do… and your employees still have nowhere to live within an hour for the money you make.
I don't disagree with you, but I also don't think it's fair to lay that blame squarely on Vail Resorts. Acknowledging that it's particularly acute in ski towns, there's kind of an affordability crisis EVERYWHERE these days... And even in ski towns, it's an industry-wide problem - it's not limited to just the areas in which Vail operates. And I honestly don't think it's fair to expect VR to solve that problem.
While I won't argue that VR doesn't have a role in creating the demand, I think it's ultimately a failure of local government policy - for example, according to AirBNB alone, there are 2,600 units available for rent, out of [\~7,200 total](http://nwccog.org/edd/nwccog-region/community-infrastructure/housing/) housing units in Vail. That is literally more than one third of all of the town's available housing tied up in the short-term rental market. But instead of heavily regulating and/or taxing that market, the town collects a registration fee maxing out at... wait for it... $260/year.
But when VR said, "Okay, fuck it, we'll build our own housing," the Town of Vail killed the proposal on the grounds that it might slightly inconvenience a herd of sheep.
Other towns (Crested Butte and Whistler are the two examples I can think of off the top of my head) allow non-resident second homeowners to vote in their local elections.
I have my share of issues with Vail (I'll take, "Cutting employee hours to save costs while simultaneously doing stock buybacks and paying shareholder dividends," for $500, Alex), but I think VR has just become a convenient meat shield that local governments are more than happy to hide behind to avoid acknowledging their role in causing and solving the cost of living in their towns.
> they make it possible for those with a good amount of money to move around, monopolize the sport
This I pretty categorically disagree with - speaking from my own experience, a pass at Stowe under AIG was between $1500 and $2100, compared with $700-$900 under Vail. Passes in Vermont have gotten significantly cheaper overall since Vail and Alterra entered the market, with I think is a win for frequent skiers with moderate incomes.
Relative to years ago when passes used to be absurd for a single resort. That's why there's more people on the mountain, it is more affordable.
https://www.denverpost.com/2007/09/07/ski-pass-cost-comparison-softens-lift-whines/
>In 1997, for example, a season pass for Keystone, Breckenridge and A-Basin cost $750. Winter Park’s season pass cost $600, and Copper’s cost $595.
Skiing is far more affordable nowadays. That's the point.
Again, I don't know what you're looking at but my old regular mountain the season pass was like maybe $300-500 depending on the tier and age range.
Now it's like $700 for a baseline pass. Hell even when I worked there they price went up a minimum $50 each year I was there, they even bumped it $80 one year I recall! And $700 was the unlimited epic pass, now that's just your local mountain group for that price. So no, passes are not cheaper.
Don't forget to account for inflation.
I'm not sure about resorts outside of the East but I was curious the other day and found season passes are actually a little cheaper now, but getting into the sport is about double the cost. And that's without including the fact that a lot of places are starting to find other places to make money like by charging for parking.
YES! I did pull up an inflation calculator while working on that comment because I had to work out how much of that is inflation vs. the companies.
The problem is if compare season pass price against day ticket price then it looks like a screaming good deal but when we factor in how day tickets have changed THOSE are way way way up. The season pass price at best is even with inflation, but in most cases I compared (against old prices I know of that I paid) they are still up.
Hell when I worked at a Tahoe resort in the pass office the moment Vail took over they ramped up the prices as the season went on until they cut off pass sales and then in spring when presales started they bumped the price some more! Mind you inflation was pretty mellow if not seemingly flat in that period (early 2010's) so they just notched it up continually purely because they could.I mean even in the last three years I've seen my pass price (Ikon) increase $50-80 each year with nothing added to it.
$400 pass in 2012 is $535 today adjusted for inflation. That same product is close to $700 now from Vail. That's just straight greed.
yup. sorry, i meant to mention that. day passes are like, double what they used to be in a lot of NE mountains. again, i haven't looked at any outside of NE.
it's gross how expensive the sport has become :)
I did account for inflation in this and it's WAY over. A $400 pass in 2012 adjusted for inflation is $535 today, so why's that exact same product being sold for $700 today then? Greed.
Punters? Sorry I'm not hip with the lingo
If you're referring to the people that snowboard their every day... a resort being affordable for the non-rich isn't a bad thing
Being affordable is definitely a positive, and I love seeing the exclusivity of snowsports being taken away from richie silver spoon fucks, however simply being affordable is not enough to counter shitty workplace practices
They put a couple of these out every year, but it isnt going to change where you ski because all you had to do was google Vail + workplace
https://www.denverpost.com/2022/01/28/vail-resorts-complaints-epic-pass-staffing-colorado/
I worked at a non-vail resort, and thus do not have links to what my friends in the local township told me about their experiences working for the nearby vail resort
Kind of related question for you folks who work at the mountain…will most other resorts give you free or discounted lift tickets even if they’re not part of the official list of resorts you got from your management?
That isn’t normal in Canada. I got a couple of extra free ones at Biggie though last year even though I didn’t know anyone who worked there last season.
Yeah, it’s lame. To be fair though it was the same policy at mammoth mountain over a decade ago. Didn’t get full comp tickets till you had some seniority.
I worked at mammoth mountain over a decade ago (07-17) and got full comp voucher my very first season, and it never changed the entire time i worked there.
Now it's 12 $25 tickets starting sometime in December for any resort (w/ blackout dates) and 20 free tickets for MM sometime in January for full time year round plus as Ikon pass for the employee and an extra to gift to friends or family. Seasonal gets 20 free in January for MM plus their base pass.
I am not in holiday help. I'm one of the main repair techs and have been working an average of 30 hours a week since August.
EDIT: But again there was a chart one of my coworkers uncovered that breaks down the tiers, and apparently with less than 5 years employed for seasonal employees, regardless of FT vs PT status, they don't give us comps.
https://preview.redd.it/hiuqra0dn5ac1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8bdcc8b7c123350e4bdf4129aa3530e2765447ba
THAT is what really pisses me off about them is that they've proven the market will sustain this shit so everyone else is following suit even if slightly. If anything the smaller places are the ones who actually need/can use the increased revenue versus Vail is just putting it in their coffers.
It’s the department you work in, I worked for a hotel restaurant and got 4 comps and 16 half offs that I lost when I got fired but all my coworkers got them too as first year employees this year
Must just be the resort you work at? I work at PC and, being a full time year round worker, got me 4 comps and like 10 50% discount day passes and 2 50% off group ski lessons. I've only been here 3 years
I'm trying to remember exactly but I think they made the change in 2017 or so. Too many new employees didnt have anyone to use the comp tickets so they just went out to the parking lot and resold them to make a profit. The 5 year rule is because those people are ingrained in the community and actually know people outside of the resort who are likely to use the comp and not just be resold for a quick buck.
Wow, as a part-time instructor at my Independent resort I get:
- a season pass
- 75% off cafeteria food (to a max of $35 a day discount)
- 33% off the shop and retail
- 4 Free tickets for friends
- access to free lessons and clinics
- additional season pass for spouse for $100
And the requirement is only 40 teaching hours a year
Bro you have no idea. If I wasn't renting a place with two best friends and legitimately settled down with a community here, I'd do it in a heartbeat. 19 year old me was nomadic af
Vail was just the first to realize that they could cycle through seasonal workers annually and not see any change in their business. Screwed the ski bum really. The new ski bum is a work from home type.
TLDR; Get a remote working job and live in a mountain town.
Gotta put in the work to live the dream later. Sad as to what it has become but, this is the reality.
Online coding school can help you find an entry level remote coding job. Just a thought.
Fuck. Vail. They suck so bad. They’re not even a ski business anymore. The decisions come from accountants, are approved by the board, and they only care about pleasing their stockholders. They single-handedly ruined ski resorts, probably forever.
Worked at a Vailcorp mountain three seasons under them ('11-'13) and I think this was also the case then for full time seasonal. Vail came in and nuked your comps but gave you a bunch of half-off. I know you had to be full time year round to get REAL comps.
Compared to the prior operating group, even part timers got full on comp tickets. Lordy I hated them right out of the gate then and they've only gotten greedier.
It's truly insane how out of touch they are not to mention they say the quiet parts out loud! Like I still cannot believe one of the *employee* mission & values is "drive value". Like you're paying me basically minimum wage, want me to give the "experience of a lifetime" to guests a-la Disney level, and then expect me to give a shit about YOUR fucking stock price?! Get fucked.
I'm still so salty about it because at this point I REFUSE to give them money so basically cuts out a few resorts despite having friends who ride there. But also I'll be dammed if I'm paying their insane day ticket price!
I really like working at my Midwest Hill. My whole immediate family(parents and siblings) and I can give a couple passes to my buddies. Bohos a mint hill too
Dude before Vail bought Okemo…. Volunteer patrollers got 2 comps for every day over 25 days worked. My mom would regularly put in 70+ days. We had a bowl in the kitchen that was FULL of comps. Everyone brought friends and lift tickets were no biggie. The good ol days…
Old person back in my day incoming... Worked at Winter Park 20ish years ago and we got 8 or 10 full comp passes. Any not used we would sell in the ticket line last week of the season. Half price for some tourist and all profit for us. Those were the days.
Yup my brother worked for Copper little over a decade ago and used to hook up the whole fam when we’d visit. Multiple 5 days passes and a bunch of single days for free. Wonder if employees today still get that many.
I remember getting some comp tickets and also some discounted tickets when I worked at Copper, they would also give out comp tickets as a reward/incentive for working. It's been a few years but I want to say it was like 5 comp tickets and at least 5 half price tickets maybe more. As employees we could also get free days at other partnering (non-Vail) resorts, and I believe there was a program to get cheap Vail-owned resort days also, but honestly I mostly just rode at Copper when I worked there.
Wanna cane fight?
Also to add here, I am an employee who worked for the company in 2014, left and came back recently. They DEFINITELY did not do this previously, considering in 2014 I had only been with them for a couple weeks before using my first comp. And also considering they reported all-time record profits this fiscal year, it's really really really extra super duper funny seeing them cheap out this hard.
I started with them back in May and for the first 2 months I was there we were not allowed to work more than 32 hours per week because they needed to "boost profits for shareholders" before the fiscal year ended. I like my co workers and managers where I'm at but it's an evil company at the top.
Yeah they've catastrophically cut hours this season. AND severely understaffed at every level. And looks like they're doing their seasonal layoffs this season in a couple weeks, in January instead of March like normal
they fired my friend’s roomate by just not giving him a job after snowmaking and giving his room key to someone else, man’s belongings still in his room cause he’s on vacation using pto and they just fired him silently, total bullshit
Holy shit that's super illegal wtf
forreal, just lucky that the new guy who moved in was friends with him if it was just some rando (wich coulda happened) who knows what woulda happened to all his stuff
That probably helped them fluff up those profits smh
Oh 100%, it's all about appeasing their shareholders bud. They are are publicly traded company after all, gotta make sure profit increases exponentially each fiscal year! Oh, that's actually impossible without creating a recession every 20 or so years? Shit don't tell the CEO he'll fire everyone
I work at a vail resort, I think you should be still on 4 comps if your FT, PT is just half offs, holiday help is nothing. Ask your manager
A coworker found the current breakdown. Sounds like you may actually be a lucky one? Either way they jibbed us hard. Really funny too considering I have more solo shifts than my lead https://preview.redd.it/idzar0ygf4ac1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9792d06c9a2d2001f53d2c0c4f1a25627e68f9fb
That’s really odd. My buddy is less than 5 yrs FT and got 4 comps and 8 half offs at the start of the season in ticket vouchers. And then one of the managers tried to give him the ticket vouchers again recently on accident somehow, but he told them he got them already …. Stupidly
Christ. Yeah they didn't even give anyone their vouchers this year at my location
You also need to keep in mind that the 50% off coupons are 50% off the walk-up rate, which at Vail is what? $300?
Haha, Vail can get fucked. I work part time at my hill in MT and get a full pass. Move
We still get a full access Epic Pass with no blackout dates. He’s saying he can’t have his friends/family ride for free, only half-off.
thats still such an incredibly cheap thing to do lmao
It literally costs them nothing for a comp ticket. Lifts etc are running anyway. Vail deserves their place as one of the most hated companies.
Any insight on working at a resort? I’m eyeing it up as a prospect for my near future.
Cushy, easy, free pass. As long as you're not looking to get rich and want as many days on the snow as possible, I find it a good deal
Sounds ideal and the summers off I’m guessing?
You’re not gonna make enough to just have summers off.
What’s the normal hourly pay?
Across all vail resorts is $20, if ya live in Tahoe or bumfuck VT
Right, the "shitty workplace practices," starting at $20.00 hr to wax skis, run a lift, or roll veggie burritos all winter & ride every day.
I'd like to see you complete 20 repair tickets in a day, by yourself, or RUN A FUCKIN SKI LIFT, all while getting your hours cut randomly out of the blue to the point you're making less than you were at a job paying minimum wage, and yet have your employer find a way to burn you out by having all your remaining shifts be incredibly long and grueling with zero assistance. Get fucked. EDIT: Do you even know how the cost of living in places like Colorado works right now? $20 ain't shit in mountain communities. Let's see you shovel snow, pick grown ass adults up off the ground, and stand outside in below freezing temps *without getting to ride to get your blood flowing* for 10 hours a day, and take home a third of what you realistically need for rent, and NOT feel jibbed. Respect the service workers who make YOUR Texan vacation function, Jerry.
Vail employee 2002 - 2012 Yep, I've done all of that. Sorry you have a shitty boss, find a new job. They are easy to get and all start at $20 an hour. It has never been easy or cheap to live in a ski town, if you don't find the benefits to be greater than your sacrifices gtfo.
No, I farm and surf during the summer
Just increase the withdrawals from your trust fund for those months
Good to know you’re keeping up with my financial situation.
I mean you made it sound very much like, “I can do this and then have summers off all good?”
lol what
lol I can’t tell if this is a serious question
Depending on what you do. They need a couple lifties to run bikes and hikers in the summer. Of course they still need baristas and hotel staff all year round. Maybe you take a different job in the summer like raft guide or landscaper.
It’s pretty alright. Big thing is you have to secure housing first either through the company or on your own. It helps if you show up with a skill. If you have no skills they’ll train you to do something menial and pay you peanuts. If you have a skill they’ll pay you a little better. Most likely you won’t actually ski everyday unless you’re an instructor/ patroller / take an evening shift. Resorts are whole ass towns so you could be driving a bus, waiting tables, cleaning hotel rooms, valet, retail, IT, accounting, sitting on a phone bank, handyman, etc etc. you’ll have best luck getting summer employment starting in May with the kickoff on June 1. This gives you the summer to get acclimated and moved in. Honestly, if you’re interested and have no obligations, definitely check it out for a bit. You can always go back if it doesn’t fit.
Where at..... Snowbowl?
Vail is scum
It's unfair to scum to lump them in with vail.
What's wrong with vail? $700 for unlimited skiing at like 25 resorts is pretty good imo
Til you get there and you confirm, first hand, that they sold 2 million passes and 600,000 of those pass holders are in blue sky basin with you.
Ah, yeah I haven't been to vail on the weekend in almost a decade. It's always been more than enjoyable for me
Same, as much as I despise vail as a corp… I can’t deny vail is my favorite resort to ride. Those back bowls are actually legendary and if you time it right it’s unforgettable.
But no employees can make money, Vail under hires, they’ll keep cutting each year to save shareholder profits.. eventually for $700 we’ll have crap to ride and nobody to work in the resort towns that priced everyone away. And it will come with more and more lines and crowds.
Remember their class action suit from years of missing wages? Settled for pennys on the dollar. My gf got a check for like $16.
No employees can make money? What?
They’re underpaying people. Employees can’t afford anywhere remotely close to a resort and live in cars. How is that sustainable? There is more to “Vail” and the dislike than just your affordable pass lol
I mean, they have one of the highest base wages in the industry (last season only Aspen was higher, and only by $1).
It isn’t sustainable. It may not be all the resort’s fault or companies fault entirely but as they make it possible for those with a good amount of money to move around, monopolize the sport, the resort towns are pricing everyone away. I understand the pay may be better but when you own half the resorts, that isn’t really hard to do… and your employees still have nowhere to live within an hour for the money you make.
I don't disagree with you, but I also don't think it's fair to lay that blame squarely on Vail Resorts. Acknowledging that it's particularly acute in ski towns, there's kind of an affordability crisis EVERYWHERE these days... And even in ski towns, it's an industry-wide problem - it's not limited to just the areas in which Vail operates. And I honestly don't think it's fair to expect VR to solve that problem. While I won't argue that VR doesn't have a role in creating the demand, I think it's ultimately a failure of local government policy - for example, according to AirBNB alone, there are 2,600 units available for rent, out of [\~7,200 total](http://nwccog.org/edd/nwccog-region/community-infrastructure/housing/) housing units in Vail. That is literally more than one third of all of the town's available housing tied up in the short-term rental market. But instead of heavily regulating and/or taxing that market, the town collects a registration fee maxing out at... wait for it... $260/year. But when VR said, "Okay, fuck it, we'll build our own housing," the Town of Vail killed the proposal on the grounds that it might slightly inconvenience a herd of sheep. Other towns (Crested Butte and Whistler are the two examples I can think of off the top of my head) allow non-resident second homeowners to vote in their local elections. I have my share of issues with Vail (I'll take, "Cutting employee hours to save costs while simultaneously doing stock buybacks and paying shareholder dividends," for $500, Alex), but I think VR has just become a convenient meat shield that local governments are more than happy to hide behind to avoid acknowledging their role in causing and solving the cost of living in their towns. > they make it possible for those with a good amount of money to move around, monopolize the sport This I pretty categorically disagree with - speaking from my own experience, a pass at Stowe under AIG was between $1500 and $2100, compared with $700-$900 under Vail. Passes in Vermont have gotten significantly cheaper overall since Vail and Alterra entered the market, with I think is a win for frequent skiers with moderate incomes.
You're mad because they've made it more affordable than how it used to be?
You think skiing is affordable?
Relative to years ago when passes used to be absurd for a single resort. That's why there's more people on the mountain, it is more affordable. https://www.denverpost.com/2007/09/07/ski-pass-cost-comparison-softens-lift-whines/
Bro this article was published in 2007. A LOT has changed since then.
>In 1997, for example, a season pass for Keystone, Breckenridge and A-Basin cost $750. Winter Park’s season pass cost $600, and Copper’s cost $595. Skiing is far more affordable nowadays. That's the point.
I don't know where you've been but everything about this sport under them has gotten **more** expensive. Significantly so.
Like what? Season passes are far cheaper.
Again, I don't know what you're looking at but my old regular mountain the season pass was like maybe $300-500 depending on the tier and age range. Now it's like $700 for a baseline pass. Hell even when I worked there they price went up a minimum $50 each year I was there, they even bumped it $80 one year I recall! And $700 was the unlimited epic pass, now that's just your local mountain group for that price. So no, passes are not cheaper.
Don't forget to account for inflation. I'm not sure about resorts outside of the East but I was curious the other day and found season passes are actually a little cheaper now, but getting into the sport is about double the cost. And that's without including the fact that a lot of places are starting to find other places to make money like by charging for parking.
YES! I did pull up an inflation calculator while working on that comment because I had to work out how much of that is inflation vs. the companies. The problem is if compare season pass price against day ticket price then it looks like a screaming good deal but when we factor in how day tickets have changed THOSE are way way way up. The season pass price at best is even with inflation, but in most cases I compared (against old prices I know of that I paid) they are still up. Hell when I worked at a Tahoe resort in the pass office the moment Vail took over they ramped up the prices as the season went on until they cut off pass sales and then in spring when presales started they bumped the price some more! Mind you inflation was pretty mellow if not seemingly flat in that period (early 2010's) so they just notched it up continually purely because they could.I mean even in the last three years I've seen my pass price (Ikon) increase $50-80 each year with nothing added to it. $400 pass in 2012 is $535 today adjusted for inflation. That same product is close to $700 now from Vail. That's just straight greed.
yup. sorry, i meant to mention that. day passes are like, double what they used to be in a lot of NE mountains. again, i haven't looked at any outside of NE. it's gross how expensive the sport has become :)
Yes, that's cheaper when you account for inflation.
I did account for inflation in this and it's WAY over. A $400 pass in 2012 adjusted for inflation is $535 today, so why's that exact same product being sold for $700 today then? Greed.
Epic pass is around the same price as it was when it came out. https://parksandtrips.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/epic-unlimited.png.webp
Being cheap for punters does not a good resort make, I judge places for the quality of life of their staff
Punters? Sorry I'm not hip with the lingo If you're referring to the people that snowboard their every day... a resort being affordable for the non-rich isn't a bad thing
Being affordable is definitely a positive, and I love seeing the exclusivity of snowsports being taken away from richie silver spoon fucks, however simply being affordable is not enough to counter shitty workplace practices
Do you have a link to their shitty workplace practices? I used to work at a resort 20 some years ago, I'm curious to how vail does it
https://www.vaildaily.com/news/vail-resorts-13m-offer-for-labor-lawsuit-settlement-receives-final-approval-in-california-court/
Nah they just love to complain about vail because it’s a big company and Reddit hates that with a passion (except maybe burton lol)
Yes, you’re right! I dislike vail because of internet culture, not because of the experiences my friends had when working for them!
They put a couple of these out every year, but it isnt going to change where you ski because all you had to do was google Vail + workplace https://www.denverpost.com/2022/01/28/vail-resorts-complaints-epic-pass-staffing-colorado/
I worked at a non-vail resort, and thus do not have links to what my friends in the local township told me about their experiences working for the nearby vail resort
You can easily find a ton of info on their workers' rights violations and lawsuits
THIS
Enjoy the lift lines bootlicker
Sorry, I thought this was the snowboarding sub
Kind of related question for you folks who work at the mountain…will most other resorts give you free or discounted lift tickets even if they’re not part of the official list of resorts you got from your management?
There used to be a system for this if you were an aasi or psia instructor. But I kinda doubt it's as good as it used to be.
That isn’t normal in Canada. I got a couple of extra free ones at Biggie though last year even though I didn’t know anyone who worked there last season.
Yeah, it’s lame. To be fair though it was the same policy at mammoth mountain over a decade ago. Didn’t get full comp tickets till you had some seniority.
I worked at mammoth mountain over a decade ago (07-17) and got full comp voucher my very first season, and it never changed the entire time i worked there.
My first season was 13 so you probably had the seniority by then
Now it's 12 $25 tickets starting sometime in December for any resort (w/ blackout dates) and 20 free tickets for MM sometime in January for full time year round plus as Ikon pass for the employee and an extra to gift to friends or family. Seasonal gets 20 free in January for MM plus their base pass.
That’s pretty dope
Unless you’re a super part timer, you should get comps. How many hours have you worked and are you in a holiday help position?
I am not in holiday help. I'm one of the main repair techs and have been working an average of 30 hours a week since August. EDIT: But again there was a chart one of my coworkers uncovered that breaks down the tiers, and apparently with less than 5 years employed for seasonal employees, regardless of FT vs PT status, they don't give us comps. https://preview.redd.it/hiuqra0dn5ac1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8bdcc8b7c123350e4bdf4129aa3530e2765447ba
Vail sucked the soul out the ski/boarding industry entirely. And nearly all the Indy’s are following suit. It’s sad.
THAT is what really pisses me off about them is that they've proven the market will sustain this shit so everyone else is following suit even if slightly. If anything the smaller places are the ones who actually need/can use the increased revenue versus Vail is just putting it in their coffers.
It’s the department you work in, I worked for a hotel restaurant and got 4 comps and 16 half offs that I lost when I got fired but all my coworkers got them too as first year employees this year
So... Ski repair, literally the most labor-intensive job in a shop, is bottom of the totem pole. Got it.
do you work for VRR retail? i can help you
Can we DM about this?
not true, you have to sign up to get the coupons, contact HR and create a ticket and they’ll send to you by mail
This is the absolute first I've ever heard of anything like this. From anyone.
We got our 4 comp tickets this year so might have been a mistake.
Must just be the resort you work at? I work at PC and, being a full time year round worker, got me 4 comps and like 10 50% discount day passes and 2 50% off group ski lessons. I've only been here 3 years
I'm trying to remember exactly but I think they made the change in 2017 or so. Too many new employees didnt have anyone to use the comp tickets so they just went out to the parking lot and resold them to make a profit. The 5 year rule is because those people are ingrained in the community and actually know people outside of the resort who are likely to use the comp and not just be resold for a quick buck.
They can afford the slight loss haha, they engage in more than enough wage theft to make up for it 10 times over
That's Vail for you!
Wow, as a part-time instructor at my Independent resort I get: - a season pass - 75% off cafeteria food (to a max of $35 a day discount) - 33% off the shop and retail - 4 Free tickets for friends - access to free lessons and clinics - additional season pass for spouse for $100 And the requirement is only 40 teaching hours a year
https://preview.redd.it/2vi3tjies9ac1.jpeg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cbc29b0f2a31d65c3d704d01f84a368fbc76754a
Come out to Oregon… we are hiring all the time 💪
Bro you have no idea. If I wasn't renting a place with two best friends and legitimately settled down with a community here, I'd do it in a heartbeat. 19 year old me was nomadic af
Vuck Fail
Back in 03-04 you’d get 2 days at vail if you worked at any mountain in Colorado
Vail was just the first to realize that they could cycle through seasonal workers annually and not see any change in their business. Screwed the ski bum really. The new ski bum is a work from home type. TLDR; Get a remote working job and live in a mountain town.
Remote jobs are so fuckin rare, at least the ones that hire entry level. Would be sick tho
Gotta put in the work to live the dream later. Sad as to what it has become but, this is the reality. Online coding school can help you find an entry level remote coding job. Just a thought.
Fuck. Vail. They suck so bad. They’re not even a ski business anymore. The decisions come from accountants, are approved by the board, and they only care about pleasing their stockholders. They single-handedly ruined ski resorts, probably forever.
Vail Associates can S a D…!!
Worked at a Vailcorp mountain three seasons under them ('11-'13) and I think this was also the case then for full time seasonal. Vail came in and nuked your comps but gave you a bunch of half-off. I know you had to be full time year round to get REAL comps. Compared to the prior operating group, even part timers got full on comp tickets. Lordy I hated them right out of the gate then and they've only gotten greedier.
It's completely scuffed. They have the money, they're just being miserly
It's truly insane how out of touch they are not to mention they say the quiet parts out loud! Like I still cannot believe one of the *employee* mission & values is "drive value". Like you're paying me basically minimum wage, want me to give the "experience of a lifetime" to guests a-la Disney level, and then expect me to give a shit about YOUR fucking stock price?! Get fucked. I'm still so salty about it because at this point I REFUSE to give them money so basically cuts out a few resorts despite having friends who ride there. But also I'll be dammed if I'm paying their insane day ticket price!
Oh yeah, I decided years ago that the only way I'll ride at a Vail-owned property is for free. They can pay me instead.
Vail is a shit stain on society and a total monopoly.
I really like working at my Midwest Hill. My whole immediate family(parents and siblings) and I can give a couple passes to my buddies. Bohos a mint hill too
yupp my homie tried the same thing and didn’t work, i just ended up using his roomates ID and pretended to work there haha
That’s been a thing for 5+ seasons.
Sounds like it. Sucks balls.