Passhole or Persecuted? Snowboarder Decries Lifetime Ban From Stowe Mountain Resort S T O RY & PHO TO B Y MOLLY WAL SH
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n a snowy November day in 2018, snowboarder Georges Dionne headed to Stowe Mountain Resort and ripped four or
five runs. Then the fun stopped. Several managers approached and ordered him out of a lift line. “You know you’re not supposed to be here,” one told Dionne, he recalled. So Dionne, who’d had his season pass revoked the previous year for misconduct but had bought another, went home. Stowe police later called him to say he’d be arrested if he returned to the resort, per instructions from the ski area’s management. The next day, he learned of the biggest bummer. A Vail Resorts employee called to tell him he’d been blacklisted from all of its facilities — 18 ski areas in the United States, Canada and Australia owned by the mega-company that purchased Stowe in 2017. The freezeout means that Dionne, a part-time rep for Colorado-based Never Summer snowboards, can’t demo product at any mountains that are part of Vail Resorts’ Epic Pass system, including Vermont’s Stowe and Okemo. The reason? According to Dionne, he used obscenities when he complained about a slow lift in 2017. Seven Days could not independently verify his account because officials at Vail Resorts and Stowe would not answer questions about Dionne’s situation, citing customer privacy. Johnna Muscente, Vail Resorts’ director of corporate communications, did issue a statement that said the company stands by its decision. “The safety of our guests and employees is our No. 1 priority,” the statement read. “Stowe Mountain Resort and Vail Resorts have zero tolerance for behavior that could put other guests or employees at risk. If a guest uses unsafe or threatening behavior, then we take appropriate actions, which could include revocation of lift privileges or access to our resorts, in order to ensure the safety of other guests and our employees.” Dionne insists he was “not in any way intimidating or abusive.” He feels singled out for a punishment too severe for the offense. People have thrown fireworks from the gondolas at Stowe, berated employees and done worse, he insisted.
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SEVEN DAYS JANUARY 16-23, 2019
“The ban for life,” he said, “I’m not sure if there’s anybody else.” The way ski areas police problem behavior can vary significantly from mountain to mountain. Stowe and Vail Resorts post a lengthy responsibility code on their websites advising customers to stay in control, keep off closed trails and respect employees’ right to revoke passes when people demonstrate “reckless or inappropriate behavior.” Other resorts have codes, too, but enforcement varies. Once a sanction is meted out, it doesn’t necessarily come with an appeal process. The systems allow for personal bias to drive unfair outcomes, Dionne claims: “For some reason, the people at Stowe have it in for me, and the people at Vail don’t seem to care.” Dionne believes that Vail Resorts’ rules are cookie cutter and unforgiving. The company’s purchase of Stowe is leading to “homogenization” and rigidity, he said. “It’s a resort,” Dionne complained, and yet, “you can’t throw a snowball.” Dionne’s version of his story, which he’s shared extensively in Facebook rants, has generated many responses, including some slamming Vail Resorts. Sympathetic comments include “Vail sucks!” and “#freeGeorges.” Others have shown no sympathy and urged him to “let it go.” Still, both Dionne’s supporters and detractors seem taken aback by the concept of a multi-resort pass leading to a multi-resort ban. It’s one thing to be booted from the slopes of a Vermont area and another to be banned from mountains around the world, too. “I can’t fathom what Mr. Dionne might have done,” said JJ Toland, director of communications at Jay Peak Resort. Staff there can’t recall telling anyone that they were “such a king shit that we never want to see your face on this hill again,” Toland continued. “That has never happened.” Occasionally, ski patrollers take away a day ticket or temporarily suspend a pass if a customer is skiing or riding recklessly and ignores requests to stop, he added. Other infractions such as pass fraud — in which a season-pass holder allows someone else to use their pass — also might generate a suspension, because it’s theft. But such time-outs are rare, partly because many pass holders are locals or second-home owners who “don’t want to
Georges Dionne
be in the position of being tagged as somebody wanting to steal from their home hill,” Toland said. “It’s a really respectful culture.” At ski cooperative Mad River Glen in Waitsfield, it’s also uncommon for anybody’s pass or ticket to be yanked even temporarily, and it’s unheard of for management to issue a lifetime ban. “I guess the only thing we could say is that if you really annoy us, we won’t let you drink in the bar,” said Eric Friedman, the slope’s marketing director. When a pass is pulled, it’s a temporary
sanction, and “it’s usually for skiing a closed trail or something like that,” Friedman added. “But that’s the extent of it, and I’ve never heard of any example that ever went beyond that in my recollection at Mad River.” Next door, at locally owned Sugarbush Resort, management has on rare occasions told someone not to come back. “If we caught someone stealing skis, we would certainly not welcome them back. And we’ve had that happen,” owner Win Smith said.