Sugar Mountain Resort

Sugar Mountain Ski resort did not warn us of hazardous conditions on the slope resulting in injury and destroyed clothing items. On Monday, 12/26/16 Garrett Ward and I went to Sugar Mountain Resort, LLC to ski.

We brought our own equipment and paid $112 for 2 half day lift tickets. The conditions didn't seem ideal but since we're experienced and the resort was open for business, we assumed everything would be fine. On our very first run of the day, Garrett went down Gunther's Run. Garrett is an experienced skier with 15 years on the slopes under his belt.

He was not even half way down Gunther's Run when he hit one of the many large ROCKS that was protruding from the snow in the MIDDLE of the trail. There was not any caution sign, tape or warnings of this boulder sticking out of the snow nor were we warned of these hazardous conditions when we purchased the tickets. The rock obviously caught him off guard catching one of his skis and throwing him into free-fall down the mountain. He slid a good distance on purely dirt and rock since the sides of the trail did not have any snow on them.

None of these areas were roped off to prevent skiers from hitting them. I had chosen a different trail for our first run and so I was waiting at the bottom for him. I looked up to see him slowly walking over to me clearly in pain and distress wearing a completely ripped coat, carrying his skis with mud all down his backside. He had cuts all down his spine and ruined his $200 down ski jacket.

I have photos of his coat and back. Later that day, Garrett expressed that his chest and lungs hurt. He finally went to the doctors on 1/4/17 because it still hurt to breath. Luckily, he didn't break anything.

We immediately went to the Resort Administrative office on 12/26 to request a refund since we only did one run and did not want to risk doing another in those conditions. We also wanted to express our concerns about the lack of safety precautions taken that day. The ladies at the desk had us fill out a complaint form assuring us over and over that the General Manager Gunther "takes these very seriously and reads each and every one personally" and also thanking us for being so calm. We returned home the next day only to find a letter in the mail from "customer service" telling us that "a skier should know his own abilities and limitations", that they always have a base of "10"-35" on their slopes (false!) and that there is a "no refund policy".

I've since called the Admin offices on 12/28, 1/4/17, 1/9/17 and 1/10/17 in an attempt to speak with the General Manager. I've left messages every time except for on 12/28 when one of his assistants informed me that "the General Manager has a policy of only speaking to customers via email, not over the phone so you can write him an email". I've emailed him on 12/29/16 and 1/4/17 and have never received a response in any form aside from the one original letter that we received from "customer service", which I've kept in case we need to reference it. I then took to social media in an attempt to get a response from the resort.

Come to find out that another customer, Corey, was at the Resort the same day as we were and he too went to the Admin office after one run to demand a refund because the conditions were so bad. They refunded him his money! He said it was probably because he made a scene which we did not do and so we weren't refunded. I had even asked the ladies that day if there was someone else that I could speak with besides the GM in order to be refunded and they told me "no, the GM has to handle all refunds".

This was clearly untrue since they refunded Corey. This morning 1/11, I finally received a return phone call for the first time from a resort Admin (still not the GM) and she's threatening me! I have the voicemail saved. She said that if I call anymore they will consider it harassment and will pursue legal action.

All we want is a refund of $112 since we received no value that day. Instead of speaking with us and apologizing, Sugar Mountain avoids us and acts as if we've done something wrong.

I've since checked Yelp and you should read all of the complaints on this resort! We will never return but will continue to push for a refund and apology.