

Earlier this season, ski patrol at Vail-run slopes in Park City, Utah nearly went on strike - citing too-low pay as the dominant factor, according to reporting in the Salt Lake Tribune - before reaching a tentative agreement in mid-January. Meanwhile, news stories about Vail’s labor practices are adding increased scrutiny. The company also says it increased the minimum wage it pays at Colorado resorts this season from $12.25 to $15 per hour. They must stick it out to the end to receive their bonuses, which will be paid in May. Chief executive Kirsten Lynch, who is in her first winter at the helm of the company, announced two weeks ago that employees will receive a bonus of $2 per hour for all hours worked from Jan. Vail Resorts’ five Colorado areas currently are reporting that 90% or more of their terrain is open.
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They know how to do infrastructure, maybe they can start paying people better, maybe things will run more efficiently.’ Instead, what happened was the exact opposite.” It was like, ‘OK, this is an established company that knows how to do skiing.

“Living in Crested Butte, I watched Vail Resorts come in,” Rubingh said. Rubingh has lived in Seattle for 2½ years, but he was born and raised in Colorado, and he spent most of his adult life in Crested Butte. Only about 40% of Stevens Pass was open over the holidays, Rubingh said. “If you have been impacted, or have information, I’m asking that you file a complaint with my office.” “This is a significant number of complaints in a short period of time,” Ferguson tweeted. In Washington State, attorney general Bob Ferguson weighed in on the Vail Resorts complaints last week, tweeting that his office had received more than 80 comments about Stevens Pass over the past two months. Although the Teocalli area has been open for much of the season, the lift has not been running regularly due to staff shortages and illnesses. 28, sparking anti-Vail Resorts complaints from coast to coast.ĭean Krakel, Special to The Denver PostA sign warned skiers that the Teocalli lift was closed at Crested Butte Mountain Resort on Monday. Rubingh expected perhaps “a couple of hundred people” would respond, but his petition has been supported by nearly 44,000 people since it was posted Dec. That petition was inspired by another that was created by former Crested Butte resident Jeremy Rubingh, which blasted Vail Resorts for the way it is managing the Stevens Pass ski area in Washington State. They’ve made the place a lot worse.”Īn anti-Vail Resorts online petition started by a local resident has garnered more than 400 supporters. I’ve been here through four different owners of the ski area, and this is the first one that has actively destroyed the ski culture that had been here through all those owners for all those years. “I gave them three years, and they didn’t make my skiing better they made my skiing worse. “The first two things they need to do is pay their people and house their people,” said Denis Hall, 72, who has had Crested Butte season passes for 54 years. While ski areas across the country - and mountain towns in particular - have struggled with staffing this year amid omicron, high housing costs and a national labor shortage, Vail Resorts has faced a cacophony of complaints on social media and in national news stories from outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, alleging everything from long lift lines to unplowed parking lots, limited terrain and frustrated, overworked employees. Streets here are lined with massive snowbanks, and nearly all of the mountain’s ski terrain has been open.īut the lifts to reach all that terrain? Crested Butte has struggled to keep some lifts operating, skiers say, amid a staffing problem the company blames on the omicron variant even as its labor practices at resorts around the country have come under fire.Īfter several major acquisitions in recent years, including Crested Butte in 2018, Broomfield-based Vail Resorts is now the largest ski area operator in the United States with more than 30 properties in Colorado, California, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont and beyond. While it came late this season, two huge December storms dumped 90 inches on Crested Butte alone. Monday, July 10th 2023 Home Page Close MenuĬRESTED BUTTE - Several Vail Resorts properties across the country are facing backlash from skiers and snowboarders, many of them longtime customers.
