Backlash against Vail Resorts growing among skiers and snowboarders across the country

CRESTED BUTTE — Several Vail Resorts properties across the country are facing backlash from skiers and snowboarders, many of them longtime customers. The problem hasn’t been a lack of snow. While it came late this season, two huge December storms dumped 90 inches on Crested Butte alone. Streets here are lined with massive snowbanks, and nearly all of the mountain’s ski terrain has been open.

But 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.

After 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 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.

Read more: https://www.denverpost.com/2022/01/28/vail-resorts-complaints-epic-pass-staffing-colorado/