Oregon senator calls Fast Tracks “antithetical to equity in the outdoors”

Snowbird opens on Wednesday, December 1. Photo: Snowbird

PARK CITY, Utah — On Tuesday, Park City-based POWDR, which owns mountain resorts including Snowbird and Copper Mountain, announced a new feature, called Fast Tracks, that allows guests to pay a fee to upgrade to express lift access.

The base price at Snowbird is $69 per day, although it will increase on high-demand days.

The express lanes will be applied on the Peruvian, Gadzoom, Gad 2, Little Cloud, Mineral Basin and Baldy lifts.

“Unlike our counterparts in other areas of the hospitality and event industry, the ski industry has yet to embrace the concept of providing options for guests to upgrade their experience,” said Wade Martin, co-president of POWDR.

On Wednesday, Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon told POWDR Chair and Founder John Cumming in a letter that the company should “abandon its plans to adopt this new pass system.”

“Snow sports are already expensive enough that equity issues have been persistent, and financially disadvantaged families have long been unfairly priced out of access — something a Fast Tracks policy is sure to only make worse,” Sen. Wyden said in the letter.

“A two-tiered system of access to public lands based on financial ability is antithetical to equity in the outdoors, leaving those who cannot afford to pay for the pass being literally sent to the back of the line.”

POWDR owns Mount Bachelor in Oregon, which operates under a U.S. Forest Service Special Use Permit. Snowbird similarly operates via that permit.

Ben Kraja, who manages permits for the U.S. Forest Service’s Salt Lake District, told The Salt Lake Tribune the implementation of Fast Tracks is legal.

“There is Forest Service policy and permit requirements that exist to ensure equal access and nondiscrimination in programs and services provided to the general public,” Kraja told The SLT. “So in this instance, the Fast Tracks program is equally available to everyone for that price. So as long as they’re not discriminating about who they’re selling that Fast Tracks pass to, then they’re within policy.”

“We’re in favor of providing access to folks recreating… but we also want, you know, ski areas and folks that have those long-term, 40-year-term permits to be a successful business operator because they’re a partner to us.”

POWDR released a letter today in response to some of the uproar, and said any passholder can get a full refund.

From the letter: “The Fast Tracks concept has been in operation at our Copper Mountain, Colorado, resort for almost 20 years.  First introduced in January of 2002 for lodging guests only, the offer was made widely available to anyone skiing the following season, in February 2003.  Since that time, it has gone through a number of variations and optimizations informed through guest feedback.  Product and experiential enhancements were successfully implemented at Copper Mountain and the concept was expanded to other resorts and reintroduced as Fast Tracks.

What we have learned through our recent experience with the product at Copper Mountain is that it is utilized by less than 2% of total daily skiers due in large part to our careful calibration and limiting access to ensure a quality experience for all guests.  The product is additionally managed with lift loading protocols, which provide for rotation between traditional, Ski School and Fast Track lines.  As a result, the impact on lift line wait times across our mountains is negligible.”

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The move comes in the wake of Disney’s World decision to eliminate its free Fast Pass system, in favor of a new paid line-skipping system.

Also, in today’s news from Bloomberg: “Uber Technologies Inc. is now allowing some users in Brazil to pay more for shorter wait times, as high gas prices have led to a dearth of drivers.”