[drblast]

Curious if the thought process behind moving the park was to showcase it, similar to some other resorts. That said, just a dumb idea on hogsback

I doubt it, if I were a betting man I'd bet they wanted to reclaim the lower-angle terrain to give beginners more space to ride and attract more families that way, without regard to what would happen to park riders who probably spend less money on food and rentals. And I would have also bet that would have worked really well for them.

But two years later it's apparent that didn't happen at all and the lift lines at Brooks are fairly empty. And Brooks runs are really great if you have slower kids, so it's not the terrain. I'd guess that most people clogging the Hogsback line are there for the terrain park (there were like 20 people waiting at the top of the beginner park all day Sunday) or to access Tye Mill chair. Moving the park back to Brooks would move all the terrain park people, who have zero intersection with the Tye Mill people, out of the same lift line. Families would probably still be an even split between the two.

It might not be apparent looking at the line length either, but Brooks typically has two lanes while Skyline and Hogsback each have four, and Brooks still has shorter lines.

 

[Clayton Bigsby]

There’s an app for that. That said the lefties are supposed to be focused on the safe operation of their lift not what’s going on across the mountain. Usually they’re also on a different frequency from patrol so don’t know what’s happening up to the minute. If you can’t see the lift neither can they. They don’t have access to information anymore than you do again because their focus is supposed to be on their lift

Some of us old farts go boarding to leave the ”real world” behind and enjoy a day in the mtns with tons of fresh air and powder, for me that means leaving my cell in the car.

The last thing I’d say was on the mind of those lifties was safety, I’d say sleep, riding and smoking out were a little more important. All I know is if I were sitting there focused on safety and was asked numerous times weather Tye was open, I’d ask management to put a whiteboard in the window or grab a piece of cardboard and handle it myself.

As far as seeing the chair, he can’t see it because he’s in the shed and directly behind it are trees blocking his view. Instead of being the prick he was being right off of the get go, he could easily put out a call, take all of 15 seconds.

It must not be too difficult cause on that same day the lifty on the top of Tye had a whiteboard stating that one of the chairs on the backside was closed, only to have Tye closed two chairs behind us.

 

[Triple8Sol]

After having a pass at Stevens on/off for a combined 10yrs, in addition to Epic the past 3yrs, this is the last. The changeover in management and loss of seasoned patrollers this year has made it a complete shitshow.

Can't speak for all mtns out there, but as far as the major local players: Crystal, Baker, and Snoqualmie have been listening to customers and making noticeable adjustments throughout the season. They've set up more outdoor seating areas, filter out non-paying customers (like sledders and sightseers) from taking up the limited parking, keep everyone informed ahead of time about lift holds/closures using social media, their app, on the whiteboard, mountain hosts, etc...

Vail has done none of this, not to mention eliminating all RV hookup sites to make room for more parking spots. Blaming Covid is such a tired excuse. It's mismanagement, plain and simple, which should be no surprise from a corporation that answers to its shareholders, not the customer experience.

 

[Clayton Bigsby]

So true Triple8Sol and yet AGAIN yesterday was the same old B.S.

We arrived in the parking a hour and 20 early to the sweet sound of blasting, but that blasting continued til 9:30 letting us know the mtn wasnt going to open on time AGAIN. Their excuses are getting real old and they boil down to nothing more then lack of personal, as little as 4 years ago it was a rarity to not have the mtn blasted and chairs turning on time or even early.

My buddies and I are 25+ year midweek pass holders, so crowds like what we seen yesterday are new to us and to not have the bunny running, the frontside open 30 minutes late and the backside open a hour late is unacceptable once but every day is purely unprofessional.

As simple as it may seem one good thing did happen, it literally took several emails and years but it finally happened and that was the whiteboard was finally installed in the top Hogsback hut and the girl working in was super nice.

Its time to get your shit together Steven, believe me the only reason they’re still in business is not their hospitality, amenities, experience etc, it is the thousands of people that enjoy the sport of boarding or skiing. Speaking for myself my life has revolved around boarding for 35 years from where I choose to live and deciding where to retire (cause Washington sucks now), what type of vehicles I’ve owned, saving 90% of my vacation days for powder days or Cat/Heli trips.

The sad thing is it will not get better until these resorts are able to expand, if and when that time comes my knees will be stainless steel but I sure hope the rest of you will enjoy it. One things for sure Stevens will never erase the memories I have with my circle of spit in the mtns

 

[drblast]

Yeah I went up last night and the park was closed. They seem to be suffering from a lack of personnel.

Why Ski Patrollers Are Picketing at Two Vail Resorts | Outside Online

“We want Vail to treat ski patrol as professionals,” he says, “and not as a seasonal, expendable workforce to be exploited.”

I'm sure this is not limited to Vail, but a lot of the workers at these places are non-U.S. citizens. There are a few at Stevens from Jamaica. That seems all cool and like yay diversity, but I don't know what the deal is that they get. In other industries around here it's borderline exploitative when someone's visa is dependent on them keeping their job. They have very little negotiating power and salaries are comparatively low because of it.

I would assume that it's much cheaper for Vail to hire these people and use them for a season then discard them than it is to retain people or hire locally.

 

[Clayton Bigsby]

Stevens sucks period, my knee is F’d right but my buddies went up today, he just sent a text and said that the lines were like a Saturday, the backside wasn’t opened and not all of the frontside was opened, but the website showed all 14 chairs running (that’s right 14, they count the 3 magic carpets as lifts)

If they’re going to only open a 1/3 of the mountain and late every time I’ve been up there should be a goddamn discount, I have a pass so it wouldn’t even benefit me but when I see hundreds of people standing in long ass lines, it pisses me off to think of how many paid the $111.

Most unprofessionally run business I’ve ever dealt with and most of the time if I had dealt with such an inadequate business I would NEVER return, but since snowboarding has been a part of my life for over 35 years I won’t be giving it up anytime soon and they know that about all of us.

SPSS and doesn’t stand for Stevens Pass Snowboard Shop

 

[Powdertrax]

Stevens even sucks during the summer, they canceled the chair access mtn biking again.

Probably going to use the same excuse they use during the winter, blasting for powder

 

[mjayvee]

Stevens even sucks during the summer, they canceled the chair access mtn biking again.

Probably going to use the same excuse they use during the winter, blasting for powder

Seriously!? Can you elaborate?

I bit my tongue and held back from saying too much this past snowboarding season, but now this?

 

[Powdertrax]

They canceled their mtn bike season

As far as my “blasting for powder” comment, Stevens wore that excuse out this last winter because they didn’t want to mention that a good portion of their staff walked away.

My buddies and I only ride weekdays because of the insane weekend crowds, and to see those insane crowds during the week because VAIL/Stevens was understaffed was mind blowing. So instead of apologizing to their pass holders and single day ticket buyers for the insane lines and literally having half of the mtn closed every time we went up, they just fallback on their “we’re blasting for your safety” but you’d never hear a single explosion.

A buddy of mine sent me a pic of the lift line on the backside due to the fact that they only had one chair open. People were literally having to hike up hill to reach the end of the line.

 

[mjayvee]

I am not a bit surprised at all about summer season being cancelled. But it is very unfortunate.

In addition to being short staffed last winter, one of the managers (I believe operations manager) quit mid-season.
At least that’s what I heard from a fellow pass holder that was in the know.

I am just grateful that I was able to ride as much as I did and even get a handful of nice powder days.
Let’s hope & pray there is some kind of improvement in staffing & operations for 2021-22.

 

[The_Stigs]

From everything I heard it was a huge mixed bag. Frustrating to be sure -- I miss riding Stevens 10+ years ago. I'm at least glad that The Summit is making headway on their bike operations though!

Sent from my GM1915 using Tapatalk

 

[Powdertrax]

From everything I heard it was a huge mixed bag. Frustrating to be sure -- I miss riding Stevens 10+ years ago. I'm at least glad that The Summit is making headway on their bike operations though!

Sent from my GM1915 using Tapatalk

Stevens/Vail didn’t give a shit about their customers last year and it showed in some of their employees attitude. Even when you give then suggestions on how to improve/fix them, you’d get lip or your emails would get ignored.

Like I’ve told them in numerous emails, it must be nice to have a business where you can treat YOUR customers like shit yet we keep coming back for the love of the sport Not the Stevens Pass experience.

 

[Powdertrax]

Has anyone bought their pass yet ? I’m contemplating buying one, with restaurant, home service centers, and many other places of business being extremely short staffed I really think this year is going to be the same shit show as last year (See pic from last year below).

Even with those types of lines you’d think Stevens would stop ticket sales, nope just keep selling and don’t tell them half the mtn is closed. Notice people walking uphill to get to the end of the line and the line continued 40 yards uphill from me. That line typically doesn’t even reach the yellow SLOW sign between the two lines

 

[mjayvee]

Yup. Got my pass. Let’s just hope we can have a (full) season again.

 

[Powdertrax]

Which pass did you end up with ?

We usually get the midweek only which is $349 this year

 

[mjayvee]

Which pass did you end up with ?

We usually get the midweek only which is $349 this year

Local Pass for me. We will see if the border (stays open) and maybe I can make it to Whistler this time around. The chance of that happening is not looking good right now, unfortunately.

 

[Powdertrax]

Gonna order my Epic pass today $343, September 6th is the last day for the discount prices.

 

[mjayvee]

Gonna order my Epic pass today $343, September 6th is the last day for the discount prices.

Select Pass, you mean? The $343 is for the weekday & off-peak hours only.

 

[Powdertrax]

Select Pass, you mean? The $343 is for the weekday & off-peak hours only.

Nope, we’ve had midweek only passes for over 20 years.

If my riding was limited to weekends, I hate to say it but I think I would have quit or stuck to backcountry 100% and the way it’s going it may end up that way.

 

[mjayvee]

Nope, we’ve had midweek only passes for over 20 years.

If my riding was limited to weekends, I hate to say it but I think I would have quit or stuck to backcountry 100% and the way it’s going it may end up that way.

https://www.stevenspass.com/plan-your-trip/lift-access/passes/stevens-pass-select-pass.aspx