JF 12-19-20, or the day that convinced me never to buy an Epic Pass

[EdBacon]

Just got back from Jack Frost. I wish I could talk about the snow conditions but it barely registered. I have never, ever seen the kind of mismanagement, incompetence and downright negligent treatment of a ski area towards its patrons. I understand this year coronavirus has made things difficult and complicated but well run areas can take this in stride and ensure their customers know they care and want their business. Right now JFBB is being run incompetently and covid is always the excuse for bad behavior. Covid *does not let you treat your customers like garbage*. I still expect professionalism and a desire to you know, allow people to have a good time skiing. 

And look, I barely got on the snow at all today. I had the morning and needed to be back in Philly this afternoon. Unfortunately, I spent about 90% of that time in line. This year I did not purchase a season pass. I figured, with covid restrictions maybe it'd be better to cut down on my days out, maybe check out a few other mountains as well. I wasn't sold on buying an Epic Pass so maybe see how JFBB felt this year under Vail and then buy in next season. Plus points if they managed covid in stride. So much for that. The lodge at JF had a total of four ticket windows available. Because "CDC regulations only allows us that many" said a rep trying to assuage people standing in line for up to two hours. No, you can open more customer service space if you're creative and still follow CDC guidelines. You're just lazy and went "well we can only have half the ticket windows open, guess we can't do anything else about it!". Set up tables in the lodge that are socially distanced, but for crying out loud do *something*. This isn't your first day! Apparently these lines have been common, and still no ideas on how to deal with the lines? It wouldn't even be such a problem if Epic Pass holders weren't in line with us! Yes, that's right, you had to go to the ticket windows with the rest of us schlubs to pick up your season pass. Give them all your info, etc. and hold up everyone for the 5-10 minutes per person it took to process and hand out each season pass. Apparently these were supposed to go out by mail, but many didn't receive them. So here we are. No separate season pass/day pass lines. Just all crushed together in the same giant crowd, spreading the rona. And the wait was intolerable. It took 2+ hours today. Online people were saying they waited up to 3 hours. That is not acceptable under any circumstances. And when somebody questioned why there wasn't an "express" line as promised online for people who came with their ticket info prepared, a rep laughed, said "Well they must have pulled your leg!" like it was funny, and walked away. F*@king unacceptable.

Only a handful of trails were open. I didn't even pay attention but they're clearly slow walking trail opening. The conditions were... fine but I mean we just got a foot of snow. Big Boulder is a joke. I thought they might just want to focus on one mountain to make operations easier during coronavirus. But they're not doing anything to keep business at JF as is and running a bunny hill at BB is a joke.

I don't think I've ever had a worse experience at a ski area before. I've had a season pass with Peak at JFBB for three years. I liked it there. Yeah, JF is small, but when the conditions are on and its snowing, and you get it on one of those quiet days where its just locals its a lot of fun, and the bonus days in April are a plus as well. But I just can't in good conscience buy into it again under Vail after seeing how they treated people today. They would have a very long road to improving this situation and it just doesn't look like they're interested. Once they have your money they don't seem to care. It's a shame. 

[Benm]

Haven't even read this wall of text but I know it's gonna b good

[RidgeRacer]

Oh boy. I plan on reading this later on with a yeungling hershey's when I have a minute. I have a feeling it's gonna be good.

[Kyle]

TL:DR for those who don’t want to read that,  JFBB got vailed hard and customer service sucks 

[EdBacon]

Oh and the barcodes they sent us for our tickets via email were useless and we had to read out the confirmation codes to the people behind the ticket windows. Through the glass and a full layer of mask/scarf. You can bet that was an efficient method of transferring info.

I had a better day at Tanglewood yesterday, and they've been closed for eight years. 

Edited December 19, 2020 by EdBacon

[rgrwilco]

My experiences last year were enough to turn me anti vail. This just solidifies it. Glad I went with the Indy pass.


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[Shadows]

Good shit. Sorry to hear though. 

[Benm]

Here. 

Mark.Daubert@vailresorts.com

Runs jfbb in some capacity. 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

What time were the lines that long and were there also liftlines?  Blue doesn’t even have a jacket window..day ticket buys scan their barcode from a smartphone at a kiosk and out pops the day ticket.  Also what did they charge for a morning ticket?

 

I read the whole post...and not even gonna ask how Floyd’s was. 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Also there were tables in the lodge??  Blue has like two benches and that’s it. 

[EdBacon]

7 minutes ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

What time were the lines that long and were there also liftlines?  Blue doesn’t even have a jacket window..day ticket buys scan their barcode from a smartphone at a kiosk and out pops the day ticket.  Also what did they charge for a morning ticket?

 

I read the whole post...and not even gonna ask how Floyd’s was. 

It was like this all morning and when I left around 1pm. It cost $58. 

Floyd's is closed. The whole East Mountain is closed. They have one blue and T-bolt open. Plus the park and a few beginner runs. Usually JF is slower to open, but this year with BB mostly closed, and them having had a lot of snowmaking weather to prepare, they are really behind the curve.

No seating in the lodge. They did say they had food to go but I didn't check to see how that worked.

Edited December 19, 2020 by EdBacon

[Shadows]

Daubert still works there. Wow.

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

16 minutes ago, rgrwilco said:

My experiences last year were enough to turn me anti vail. This just solidifies it. Glad I went with the Indy pass.


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Any local areas on the Indy pass??  I know Greek peak is on it. 

[JFskiDan]

Saw some FB stuff that lines up exactly with what you experienced.  
Really ashame they just dont seem to give 2 fucks about those 2 resorts. 

[Benm]

14 minutes ago, Shadows said:

Daubert still works there. Wow.

Maybe not since a few days ago but that email worked and I corresponded a few months back. 

[rgrwilco]

Any local areas on the Indy pass??  I know Greek peak is on it. 

Greek, catamount, blue knob, Shawnee, magic,


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[poconoceancity]

This is fucking great! I’m so glad we rolled the dice and switched hills

[saltyant]

Wow. I'll stand in line for a lift ticket for up to 4 hours, any longer than that is just too much.

[AtomicSkier]

Just to confirm, if you already have your Epic pass, it’s direct to lift? 

[toast21602]

32 minutes ago, poconoceancity said:

This is fucking great! I’m so glad we rolled the dice and switched hills

Where are you at?

[RidgeRacer]

Where are you at?

I think he was being facetious...but I could be wrong.

[toast21602]

Just now, RidgeRacer said:

I think he was being facetious...but I could be wrong.

Could be right.. I haven't been following but know he talks about stitching to real mountains once the kids get older.

[Ski2Live Live2Ski]

17 minutes ago, AtomicSkier said:

Just to confirm, if you already have your Epic pass, it’s direct to lift? 

Yes - at all Epic mts.

Edited December 19, 2020 by Ski2Live Live2Ski

[poconoceancity]

19 minutes ago, toast21602 said:

Where are you at?

CB

[poconoceancity]

42 minutes ago, toast21602 said:

Could be right.. I haven't been following but know he talks about stitching to real mountains once the kids get older.

We’re in a good spot right now with a 10, 12 and 15 year old that have all been on the snow since 3. I wish I would have switched last year. JF was horrible and I only used my pass at Hunter last fall. In a few years I’ll be retired and probably a Blue regular.