Vail Buys Stevens Pass!
June 4th 2018 Vail Resorts announced the purchase of Okemo Mountain, Mount Sunapee on the east coast and Stevens Pass, Crested Butte out west.
Growing up in the Seattle area as a kid I spent many days on Stevens Pass as it was my home mountain during my teenage years. Many days skiing and teaching on the slopes there with a season pass trying to save enough money to buy lift tickets for my spring vacation to Utah, Idaho or Whistler.
These days I split my time between Seattle and Creekside, I now call Whistler Blackcomb my home mountain and spend most of my ski days on it's slopes. So in September of 2016 when Vail announced they were purchasing WB I had my fair share of fear and trepidation. I questioned, would Vail screw up my favorite Whistler? Would they jack the prices so I could no longer afford to snowboard there? Would they clog the lift queue (Canadian for lift line 😉 ) with Texans wearing jeans for ski pants? Now after 2 seasons of Vail's control over WB I think I can answer those questions fairly.
On Monday as the news broke I was enjoying some coffee at my go to shop in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood. I stuck up a conversation with the barista who part-times as a Stevens Pass ski instructor and backcountries in the slopes close to the ski area. As I broke the news to her I could see the same questions I had 2 years prior start to flood her thoughts. In the days after she has expressed those fears and speculated on devastating impact Vail will have at the pass. Fears of massive condo construction and filling her favorite backcountry lines with quad chairs and Texans wearing their ski-jeans.
So what can I tell her from my experience of Vail buying my home ski area? Will it be all bad? will it be all good? Turns out it will be a little of both. But one thing is for sure Vail is a ski company that knows how to run ski hills and it knows why and what skiers like. What about for Stevens Pass? Expect seasons pass to be cheap and day passes to be ridiculously expensive. Expect upgraded lodges and the finest lifts available. And finally expect the weekend lift lines to be longer and while you are there in line say hi to that Texan in front of you wearing jeans it just might be the best conversation of your whole day.
Oh and your Stevens Pass season pass will be good at Whistler Blackcomb and 64 other ski areas around the globe!
