Resort/Mountain Employees: Is this a Standard Procedure?

EastShoreDrive

EastShoreDrive

Member
A friend of mine works full-time year round in the admin department (not as a liftie or seasonal) for a mountain in the northeast. Yesterday they went to pick up their pass because the mountain is opening up and she was told she was going to have to wait. She asked how long until she could get her pass and the response was "I don't know, it is a management decision, last year it was around Christmas." She asked her supervisor about this and their response was "it is just the way they do things around here, last year I had to buy a ticket to ski with my family right before Christmas." So now she has to buy full price ("no discounts") tickets until management decides to give out the employee passes. Is this typical of most mountains? Has anyone else had an experience like this? To me it makes absolutely zero sense and is a complete failure by upper management. Especially because a pass was touted as part of the incentive package when she took the job. I would be really interested in some input from other resort employees. Thanks for the help!
 
She is a full-time non-seasonal employee. So she goes in and works 9 to 5 each day, every week of the year, no matter if the mountain is open for skiing or riding. Think of it as your normal desk job that just happens to be at a mountain. She is NOT a liftie or any of the other seasonal positions. Apparently all of those people who have office jobs need to wait until the lifts spin for a while before they can have their pass. It is not one of those things were a kid gets a job doing the dishes just to get a pass and then bails after a week or two.
 
Yeah I dunno thats pretty shitty. I've only ever worked as seasonal staff, but could always get my season pass before lifts opened so i could ski first chair first day.. In a few different resorts/countries.
 
Pretty standard for resorts not to let employees ski with limited terrain open. Mammoth opens tomorrow but employees cant ride till the weekend.
 
That's harsh dude. The last couple years my lady friend was working at the ski hill and I got a free spouse pass for the whole season because of her, and I was free to pick it up before she worked a shift that season or the hill opened.
 
Vail resorts policy is for year round employees they can ski but blacked out usually on opening weekends for their resorts and for seasonal employees full time.......good question, it depends on when you are starting but every year that varies based on the demand if they need you. So I am seasonal and I just went ahead and bought a pass, I will get reimbursed once I start my first day of work. That policy your friend deals with is pretty harsh compared to Vail. I mean your fully employed so there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to ski.
 
Where I work it will be a full staff pass (i work part time seasonal) before the season starts! (I also get 40% off food and a bunch of other things)
 
hated working for resorts year round jobs that let you ski everyday, rather pay for a pass then be told when i can ride
 
Thank you for the input everyone, very much appreciated! It seems like there is a mixed bag of policies out there. In this case my friend is getting a pretty shitty deal.
 
It's pretty common on weekends across many resorts that push for early openings on limited terrain. Allowing staff and dependents access when there is extremely limited terrain greatly diminishes the value for the paying guests.
 
article 9, section 17, paragraph 4 of the Mountain Resort Association's handbook clearly states that all full time, unrestricted employees are eligible for a season pass prior to the actual opening of said resort

lol what do you think we can do for your friend? if her supervisors and managers say that is how it is than its that simple (and unfortunate)
 
Grouse?

At my mountain we get looked after real good. If you're working, you get a pass, otherwise you can't get up to work. And we get 40% off all food, free drinks, and 20% clothing and outerwear and stuff.
 
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