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View Full Version : PR trouble at the Loaf



skierdon
02-08-2009, 06:26 PM
http://www.sugarloaftoday.com/chat/viewtopic.php?t=2415

In a forum very similar to this, a Sugarloaf passholder had his season pass revoked (with refund) because he commented on the press release and published comments of mountain management in regards to the very tragic recent death of young girl on the slopes. I'll let others read before I share my opinion on the offending comments that were made, but the fact that a resort is responding this way to comments made in a public non-affiliated forum is shocking.

Boyne manager Steve Kircher chimed in and these were some of his comments, which I find equally shocking:

"Hopefully, this forum can be one of less irrational conspiracy theory and more objective feedback and dialogue. If it does not it will become shut out, as a source of information and those who participate will be not welcome to enjoy that great mountain."

In my mind, this sets a dangerous precedent. Can my Sugarbush pass be taken away if I criticize the snowmaking capabilities or the inefficient lift ticket guns? I don't feel like this is even a possibility, but who knows..... are we safe to express our opinions in this forum?

Needless to say, word has spread like wildfire in national ski forums, facebook, blogs, etc. I think Mr. Kirchner and Boyne are about to get an education in Web 2.0.

Buried in this controversy is the sad fact that a young girl lost her life doing what we all love, so please keep that in mind when chiming in.

Lostone
02-08-2009, 07:41 PM
Moved to Misc.


I think that by trying to stifle a bad attitude, they have guaranteed themselves a ton of really bad publicity and a number of bad attitudes. :roll:

Tin Woodsman
02-08-2009, 11:00 PM
That really is a shocking response. and then they go and compound it by making a pretty blatant threat against anyone else who doesn't comply with the company line.


Shiiiiiiit, I would have been banned years ago from SB if Win was that sensitive.

freeheel_skier
02-09-2009, 07:56 AM
WOW :shock: Unbelievable!

I guess it is one thing to redact the comments but to loose skiing privileges over this....too much :shock:

smootharc
02-09-2009, 08:16 AM
....as there's an absolute firestorm on this issue. See TGR, AZ, EpicSki, et.al.

The Loaf/Boyne....are taking a wild ride down a slippery slope right now. A death. A SEEMING PR spin/lawyer speak quote from the mountain. They get called on it by a poster. They spank the poster, who has already retracted his suggestion as others on board mention his suggestion was in poor taste with poor timing.

The mountain first goes on defense, then on offense, now they're on a hastily patched together defense/justify/semi-apology mode. They ain't looking good right about now...

And all this occurs while the entire set of facts and information haven't even been gathered and correlated.

Sad day for the girl's friends and family. And a sad day for Sugarloaf. Nobody is coming out of this one unscathed.

vonski
02-09-2009, 09:21 AM
I had heard about this tragic accident just after it had happened being that the girl was originally from Connecticut. I had also seen the article or a similar article online somewhere. I was personally amazed that the mountain Sugarloaf, had even made a comment about the conditions and that they simply had not stated that this aspiring young girl had a tragic accident. Also to state that she lost control of her skis was not necessary. I found the comment from Ethan Austin to be rather insensitive and a total CYA type of comment. Why even bring up the conditions? Why not merely state it was a skiing accident. Why state she lost control of her skis? We all live with that possibility of crashing everyday when we ski, and to state that it was not due to conditions, was a horrible comment by Sugarloaf management in the first place. My blessings and prayers to the family of the young girl and to all of us who ski. But this is simply outrageous in my opinion, and I certainly will not ever ski at Sugarloaf. Ethan Austin should be called out for his comments in my opinion so he understands how insensitive he was!!!! especially in that this was the official comment to the paper.

Hawk
02-09-2009, 01:11 PM
....as there's an absolute firestorm on this issue. See TGR, AZ, EpicSki, et.al.

The Loaf/Boyne....are taking a wild ride down a slippery slope right now. A death. A SEEMING PR spin/lawyer speak quote from the mountain. They get called on it by a poster. They spank the poster, who has already retracted his suggestion as others on board mention his suggestion was in poor taste with poor timing.

The mountain first goes on defense, then on offense, now they're on a hastily patched together defense/justify/semi-apology mode. They ain't looking good right about now...

And all this occurs while the entire set of facts and information haven't even been gathered and correlated.

Sad day for the girl's friends and family. And a sad day for Sugarloaf. Nobody is coming out of this one unscathed.

Smootharc, the sad truth is that there might be a firestorm on the message boards but the faithful at those mountains are blindly loyal. Sugarloaf especially. Those people will not leave their mountain for any reason.

This is also isolated to SL. The Boyne coolaid is very strong and most people will just shrug this off at the other resorts. I was at SR for 17 years before ASC pissed me off enought to leave. I know those people well. Just go to the Sunday River Board. There is absolutley no mention of this.

Anyway we do not know what was said behind the schenes. This kid may have realy cooked his own goose in a PM or e-mail that we did not see. What is shown on the cross post is not enough to get him booted.

happygirl
02-09-2009, 09:24 PM
I think everyone should be able to state their opinion as long as its not threatening to anyone. Sometimes people don't know when to draw the line. This forum is a very nice one.