Vail Fail 2025/2026

Dirk109

I was up in North Conway skiing these past few days.. I have a feeling this week is going to be HARD on all those areas..

Beast Patroller

obienick Well, if Vail actually made snow at Wildcat (along with other areas) these warmer temps wouldn’t be such an issue! Everyone knows that man-made snow lasts longer than natural. I spent the last two days skiing Berkshire East with temp well up in the 60s and they’re still almost 100% open!

joshua_segal

Bad quarterly report showing large reduction in corporate profits and skier visits.

Beast Patroller

Ah that too bad! Maybe it’s time to selloff some of their areas so they can manage them better and be more profitable.

RubyGirl

Dirk109 If you are going to compare the Bluebird to Sunburst 6, please keep in mind that the Bluebird was the cheapest model of that lift and the Sunburst 6 was not. If you have ever been on both, there is a noticeable difference in quality.That was a business decision by Peaks Management, under Kelly, and not necessarily on Poma.

DrJeff

RubyGirl

Bluebird as I understand it was somewhat of a “demo model” and has certainly had a few bugs with it over the now close to 15 years that it’s been spinning. One of the other deciding factors as to why Peak went with Leitner-Poma for the Bluebird vs Dopp, was that L/P was willing to take on a major refit, including new chairs utilizing the existing grips) of the Grand Summit Express and it’s mix of at that time Yan and Poma components. It’s now mostly Poma drive and electrical systems and chairs with some Yan structural steel for base and summit terminals and lift towers as I understand it.

Sunburst at Okemo was a straight purchuse from L/P, and not the orginal model of the L/P bubble 6’s

obienick

Vail-owned Seven Springs closed with huge grass patches on webcam. Say they will open this weekend. Idk how they can push enough snow around.

Less than an hour away the county-owned ski bump Broyce Park has 5/5 trails open which appear to be near wall-to-wall coverage and they are putting in additional rails for the park.

One of these areas is known as for their snowmaking prowess (and it’s not the county-owned one)…

Beast Patroller

That’s Vail for you! They got your money last spring and made enough snow so you wouldn’t bitch during the winter months. Now it’s spring and they couldn’t care less! Go right ahead and buy another Epic Pass because they’ll keep doing the same things!

Hopefully one year all of you will realize that the corporate pass isn’t worth it and stop supporting the regime! GO INDEPENDENT!!

ski_it

Or, Doh
https://www.denverpost.com/2026/03/26/antitrust-lawsuit-vail-resorts-alterra-anticompetitive-scheme/

Apparently they didn’t read the 13 pages of liability waivers they signed barring class actions among other things

hazlntskier

Just a heads up on two items:

I ended up in the hospital last November for a week. I am doing well recovering, but they advised me to not ski for this season. Therefore I submitted a claim on the insurance for the Epic pass. Come to find out that you have to submit the claim in under 30 days from the onset of the illness or injury. I can think of several situations where you don’t know the outcome in less than 30 days. So I guess the “insurance” is worth as much as you pay for since it is “included” in the pass.
I just saw the renewal come through and they are now charging tax on the pass (₃%) even though I live in New Hampshire (no sales tax). Here is their response. "I understand why that would be confusing. While New Hampshire doesn’t charge sales tax or a lift‑ticket tax, some of our season passes do include tax based on the resorts covered by the pass, not the state you live in.
This means that even if your home state doesn’t charge tax, the pass itself may still have applicable taxes because it provides access to resorts located in states or regions where taxes are required. That’s why you’re seeing a tax amount on your renewal."
So I guess I get to fund states I will never visit or ski in.

Beast Patroller

hazlntskier I know someone who had an injury this season and couldn’t ski that filed a claim (post 30 days) and got a full refund. Though back during COVID my wife & I couldn’t ski because my employer had a list of restrictions which included travelling to a restricted state and if anyone violated any of those restriction would be terminated. We filed a claim (4 X) and were denied because they didn’t feel it was a valid reason, though people who made reservations but never used them or their season pass received a full rollover. I guess it depends who you deal with as to whether they approve or not.

As for the taxes, I’m under the impression that since every state has a different tax precent it would depend on the location of your home mountain. Which mountain did you list for your home mountain?

rickbolger

hazlntskier Vail has undeniable physical nexus in NH. OK my first call would be as you did. Second would be to the NH Department of Revenue and see what they have to say about it. (603) 230-5030 And, failing action on their part, my third call would be to the NH Department of Justice Consumer Protection Bureau (603) 271-3641 and if they don’t answer on the first call, I’d go online here and file a consumer complaint form. My fourth step would be to go back to the Department of Revenue and report tax fraud just because.

I strongly urge all residents of New Hampshire and Delaware that are charged this so called “tax” to do the same.

Beast Patroller

rickbolger Agree! You can only be taxed for an item/service in the state it was purchased. Even if you buy on-line, the business can only charge tax IF your state has a sales tax AND requires the business to collect it.

Makes me wonder if I purchased an Epic pass and list a Vermont resort as my home mountain whether I pay the tax rate for Vermont or my home state of Connecticut?

rickbolger

Beast Patroller You can only be taxed for an item/service in the state it was purchased

If they don’t have nexus in a state that doesn’t have sales tax it gets a little murky – meaning if you live in Alaska, Montana, or Oregon, I believe they can get away with this sort of thing. Not sure.

I really don’t believe their “home mountain” thing matters. If they sell you as resident of CT they have to collect taxes and remit them to CT. The transaction isn’t happening in Vermont. But again, not 100% certain on this, I went to public schools so I’m not very good at understanding the ins and outs of the ±13,000 tax jurisdictions we have here in the USA.

You picked a bad day to bring up this topic 😉

skelley19

Beast Patroller As for the taxes, I’m under the impression that since every state has a different tax precent it would depend on the location of your home mountain. Which mountain did you list for your home mountain?

I don’t think they have you select a home mountain anymore. I just bought 4 Epic Local passes for myself and my family and it never asked me to select a home mountain. Perhaps Epic Northeast is different? Myself, wife and eldest daughter were already in the Vail system form previous day trips to Wildcat, Snow and Stowe but I had to add my youngest daughter and it never asked me to specify a home mountain.

DrJeff

skelley19 - Agree. Pretty sure that “select a home mountain thing” ended a few years ago when the various State Covid restrictions ended and the chances of someone not being able to go the their “home mountain” because of various State restrictions ended.

It has seemed that it has now shifted to their thought process of “just because your closest/preferred home mountain may have been effected by the weather operations wise this year, doesn’t mean you couldn’t of gone to are various other resorts and used your Epic pass product…..”

hazlntskier

skelley19 Did they charge any tax on your order?

skelley19

Yes and I don’t want to complain because it is less than my Mass sales tax. Looks like I got charged a little over 3% instead of 6.25 that Taxachusetts usually gets from me. I checked Colorado states sales tax and that is 2.9 so that doesn’t quite match either. WTF are they doing?

skelley19

Looks like they charged us both the same 3.2%. What state are you in @hazlntskier

Edit: Sorry just scrolled back and realized you are in NH and the person that originally brough this up. Certainly strange!

ILOVE2SKI

https://www.newenglandskiindustry.com/viewstory.php?storyid=1143

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