Share your lift line wait time experiences

[scott43]

Telluride: ZERO...

 

[LegacyGT]

Mount Snow, VT on President's weekend.
Could get in one run or two with limited waiting after the lifts opened. By 8:30 the line at the Bluebird was 5-10 minutes. By 9:30 the Bluebird wait was about 45 minutes with 15-20 minute waits at the other high speed lifts. North Face lifts had virtually no line (North Face lift lines used to be more predictable but I've seen a huge range this season with no real explanation about when and why the lines will get long). On Sunday the line for the 2 Sunbrook chairs was up the hill with such a large crowd that there was no way for the people at the end of the "line" to know which lift they were waiting for. To get away from it all, I spent one afternoon at Haystack (at the closed Hermitage Club) and skinned up in about 45 minutes. I could count the other skiers on one hand.

 

[dovski]

Whistler, President's Weekend
For the most part waits were quite reasonable thanks to the new high speed lifts and Gondola Vail added. Unfortunately on Saturday Feb 16, the new Blackcomb Gondola was having issues. Between 9 and 11 am (especially 9:45 to 11) it had multiple pro-longed stoppages. It took us close to two hours to upload and was incredibly painful. We essentially lost close to half a day of skiing. When I reached out to Whistler customer service to make them aware of the issue the response was quite disappointing. While there were multiple back to back stoppages of over 10 minutes, none met their magic number of 15 minutes to be seen as a customer experience issue. They kept explaining to me that:

1. It was a busy weekend - we knew that it was President's day that s why we were there
   
2. That 9:30-10:30 was the busiest time to upload - we knew that too but this was not the issue as the lift was not running properly
3. That there were alternate lifts we could have taken - we paid a premium for ski in ski out and the alternative was a combination of 4 lifts or 3 lifts and a shuttle bus

Simply put they were making their problems mine and not really addressing the fact that their lift was not working properly. They also kept on passing me on to different folks and the constant message was "we will be sure to pass on your feedback and look forward to welcoming you back to the mountains". This actually made us feel worse about the experience as it was clear they really did care about our concerns.

Very sad experience since Whistler is an amazing place, but this bad lift experience coupled with an even worse customer service experience really soured on us on the place. If someone had just apologized up front for the terrible experience and owned that their lift was not working properly it would have been much better. A comp day would have been nice, but if they had been smart they could have proactively handed out a lunch/drink voucher to everyone who had been stuck in the lift line for over an hour and all would have been good. Clear missed opportunity to win hearts and minds of their customers.

The real problem was that they have a new high speed gondola and are still working out the kinks. If you do ski Whistler this year recommend you be careful with the new Blackcomb Gondola as it is clearly quite temperamental and Whistler needs to fine tune the operation.

 

[Sibhusky]

I don't know about drink coupons. I got to hang on a chair the other day for forty minutes that was having electrical issues and they handed me a drink coupon. Big whoop. Non-alcoholic? I'll probably pass it to someone who buys their own lunch, it has no value to me.

 

[dovski]

I don't know about drink coupons. I got to hang on a chair the other day for forty minutes that was having electrical issues and they handed me a drink coupon. Big whoop. Non-alcoholic? I'll probably pass it to someone who buys their own lunch, it has no value to me.

Not sure if my experience was a one off or just the way Vail/Whistler operate, but did not feel they really cared about my experience. When you consider the cost of a lift ticket plus the overall cost of a ski vacation I would think they would want to do more to ensure their customers do not leave with a bad taste in their mouth. I know from experience that at Boyne and Alterra resorts they are very proactive at addressing sub par experiences. Had this happen when we had a bad snow year and Boyne decided to give everyone 80% credit towards the next years seasons pass even though contractually they did not have to. They did this for every pass holder without even asking. At Crystal Mountain (now owned by Alterra) they automatically give you a free lift ticket if you show up and the parking lot is full. In both cases these resorts go the extra mile for their customers which really builds loyalty. I am now torn as I love skiing at Whistler but feel like they know that which is why they do not feel motivated to care about my bad experience, sort of a they will come back anyway attitude.

 

[Sibhusky]

If I'm standing there in a lift line and there's alternatives, I'm going to resort to those alternatives, not hope for a free ticket for anything. I'd rather ski a different section of the mountain or leave than wait anything close to two hours (or frankly 20 minutes) to upload. I don't know the layout there, but why not just get out of line and go to a different lift, especially since you could apparently get to the same or equivalent terrain? You've got limited time. Their comps aren't returning time to you. I get it, you think they don't care. But if they cared, they'd be shutting off selling tickets over x bodies a day, maybe meaning you booked plane tickets and now can't buy ski tickets. But you got to ski if you wanted.

We've got a Pugski guy here this week, he arrived Saturday evening. The weather has been brutal. He may have skied Sunday, I did, but most left by noon. Yesterday had very limited lifts open, ultimately just the lifts you'd use if you are like a level 3 skier. Yes, they had cheaper tickets, but he's probably bought tickets in advance and I don't know their refund policy, I bet the discounted price was no lower than he's paid by buying in advance. Today looks to be a repeat, half the lifts will be closed. Maybe there's one or two chairs that access the lower part of the mountain. So, he's on day three, he's barely been even able to ski even if he wanted to. Not the mountain's fault. Let's say they refund his tickets entirely. He's still traveled here and can't ski. Does he cancel his hotel, rent a car, and drive somewhere else? All that hassle is way more than his tickets.

You got to ski. You had alternatives. Yes, they weren't ideal. But it sounds like you weren't hanging on a lift for hours waiting for rescue, you could leave the line and go pee or find a different part of the mountain to ski. This is a risky vacation. Maybe they should have sounded more sincere, but this worry about meal tickets seems ludicrous to me.

 

[dovski]

I don't know about drink coupons. I got to hang on a chair the other day for forty minutes that was having electrical issues and they handed me a drink coupon. Big whoop. Non-alcoholic? I'll probably pass it to someone who buys their own lunch, it has no value to me.

Not sure if my experience was a one off or just the way Vail/Whistler operate, but did not feel they really cared about my experience. When you consider the cost of a lift ticket plus the overall cost of a ski vacation I would think they would want to do more to ensure their customers do not leave with a bad taste in their mouth. I know from experience that at Boyne and Alterra resorts they are very proactive at addressing sub par experiences. Had this happen when we had a bad snow year and Boyne decided to give everyone 80% credit towards the next years seasons pass even though contractually they did not have to. They did this for every pass holder without even asking. At Crystal Mountain (now owned by Alterra) they automatically give you a free lift ticket if you show up and the parking lot is full. In both cases these resorts go the extra mile for their customers which really builds loyalty. I am now torn as I love skiing at Whistler but feel like they know that which is why they do not feel motivated to care about my bad experience, sort of a they will come back anyway attitude.

If I'm standing there in a lift line and there's alternatives, I'm going to resort to those alternatives, not hope for a free ticket for anything. I'd rather ski a different section of the mountain or leave than wait anything close to two hours (or frankly 20 minutes) to upload. I don't know the layout there, but why not just get out of line and go to a different lift, especially since you could apparently get to the same or equivalent terrain? You've got limited time. Their comps aren't returning time to you. I get it, you think they don't care. But if they cared, they'd be shutting off selling tickets over x bodies a day, maybe meaning you booked plane tickets and now can't buy ski tickets. But you got to ski if you wanted.

We've got a Pugski guy here this week, he arrived Saturday evening. The weather has been brutal. He may have skied Sunday, I did, but most left by noon. Yesterday had very limited lifts open, ultimately just the lifts you'd use if you are like a level 3 skier. Yes, they had cheaper tickets, but he's probably bought tickets in advance and I don't know their refund policy, I bet the discounted price was no lower than he's paid by buying in advance. Today looks to be a repeat, half the lifts will be closed. Maybe there's one or two chairs that access the lower part of the mountain. So, he's on day three, he's barely been even able to ski even if he wanted to. Not the mountain's fault. Let's say they refund his tickets entirely. He's still traveled here and can't ski. Does he cancel his hotel, rent a car, and drive somewhere else? All that hassle is way more than his tickets.

You got to ski. You had alternatives. Yes, they weren't ideal. But it sounds like you weren't hanging on a lift for hours waiting for rescue, you could leave the line and go pee or find a different part of the mountain to ski. This is a risky vacation. Maybe they should have sounded more sincere, but this worry about meal tickets seems ludicrous to me.

The challenge is when you stay ski-in ski-out on the Blackcomb side the Blackcomb gondola is your main ticket. The other option is taking a very slow chairlift so you can ski to another gondola mid station or taking a shuttle bus to the base of that gondola after which you need to take two additional chairlifts to get to the same place. You can also take a shuttle bus walk to the Whistler Gondola line up take that and then take the Peak to Peak cable car to get to the same spot. The point is any way you cut it these other ways of uploading are painful and defeat the purpose of paying a premium for ski in ski out. Also when you are in line for a lift and keeps stopping and starting when do you make the call to bail and go line up somewhere else? Line-ups at all of these and challenging to herd a family with younger children and ultimately this combination of shuttle buses and waiting for multiple lifts will cost you the same amount of time if not more. At the end of the day this all impacts your experience in a very negative way.

My entire point was not about a meal or drink tickets it was more about acknowledging the problem owning it and just doing something to show customers that they cared and were sorry. In this case they really didn't care. Also to be clear no one controls the weather that is a known risk but resorts do control maintenance and operation of their lifts. The onus is on them to ensure that a brand new lift is operating properly and if it is not they should be telling us to make alternate plans. None of that happened.

So totally understand your point and if it was just me I would have taken off and worked my way through the single lines and skied pretty much anything but when I am skiing with my family that is not a good option. In fact on days like that I would prefer to do something other than ski that keeps my kids entertained and makes for great family time which is what we want on a family vacation. Other resorts do go the extra mile in situations and that matters.

 

[mikel]

Telluride: ZERO...

Telluride last week. I believe this was Presidents Day. What a crowd!

 

[Mike Rogers]

We've got a Pugski guy here this week, he arrived Saturday evening. The weather has been brutal. He may have skied Sunday, I did, but most left by noon. Yesterday had very limited lifts open, ultimately just the lifts you'd use if you are like a level 3 skier. /QUOTE]


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What's going on in Whitefish? Just super cold?

 

[Sibhusky]

Combo of super cold and wind. I skied Sunday, great day, -6°F, but light winds. Next day, slightly colder, but wind chills much much worse. Same today. This has been going on for most of February.

I'm famous for loving single digit conditions, but part of that is that the chairs to the summit are running.

I get that 1) we've had an unusual amount of chair breakdowns this year, including one early season where people were lowered down via rope, and 2) chairs are more likely to have issues when it's very cold. So, not only are guests endangered, but all the patrol, events, maintenance, etc. are also endangered when it's cold. I get that. But it's still cutting into my ski days (and I'm sure their profits if lifts actually don't run.). If they run the lifts, they apparently can break all records for the cash spent at the Summit House, and yet they are frequently not running those lifts. I'm sorry I haven't kept track of the closures.