I got an email from Jon Slaughter last night. He’s the marketing director at Sugar Bowl and, like you, he’s been beat up with both the news and the reaction to it from his customers.

But, along the way, there have also been silver linings. So he shared some with me and offered up an idea: “What if we started to collect all these in one place and give ourselves a bit of a moral boost?”

I love it. If you have any – text, tweets, or otherwise – please send along (contact@slopefillers.com) and I’ll add them below. I’ll start with the ones Jon sent.

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Sugar Bowl

“Just want to say thank you to all of you at sugar bowl from our family of 5 (and our two dogs who hang in the car while we ski). You all are the best and we totally appreciate the tough decision you made, all the work that you’re doing now to keep the possibility of reopening an option, and we know that you’ll do everything possible to reopen. That said, if you can’t reopen we understand entirely and would never expect or ask for a season pass refund – we’d certainly be bummed and more than anything we’d miss the experience and family atmosphere that you create. Good luck, hope to be there again this year but if not, we’ll be buying season passes again for next year.”

“Thank you for your reply. We understand and appreciate all that you are doing to help keep us all safe. With that said, my son and I do hope to get back up there in the mountain and ski with the great people of Sugar Bowl!!!”

First, let me say what a pleasure it was to be able to serve. Those of you who came to ski. Who came to relax and enjoy a vacation. I understand those of you who are bummed. At the fact of not getting a full season on your season pass. But, thanks about
the seasonal employees Who came here to serve you. We are now without a job. Trying to figure out how we are going to get our bills paid. What has happened is nobody’s fault. Well, nobody on this continent. Please, all I ask is that you think about your ticket operators, ski school, kids club and restaurant employees. The housekeeping, the maintenance, the retail workers, the bus drivers and of course the front desk staff. While you will get to ski again someday. We the seasonal employees of Grand Targhee . Don’t know what this new day brings. Nor, how to pay our bills that come every month. Instead of being upset at the fact of not being able to ski anymore this season. Look back and think about the memories you made with your family and friends this year. And think about those of us who helped make that possible. Be blessed!

Grand Targhee

Great work Targhee employees! Shoshone lift operators For keeping our kids safe. Ski Patrol for keeping the rest of us safe. From Lyft maintenance to the parking lot crew great season. 

I had the best season and I’m so thankful to have such an amazing place to enjoy the snow and time with my family! Thank you GTR for making a good decision! Even with all that snow falling!

Good to see our local ski hill being proactive about our SAFETY, HEALTH and WELL-BEING instead of just profiting off the very little time left of the ski season. Not an easy decision they made but kudos to thinking of the people.

So sad to see the season end early, but am looking forward to some hiking when things open up. Sorry about all the negativity in the comments — I’m sure it was a hard decision to make. And it certainly won’t save the resort any money. And I think the local vibe is really good — I have a great time chatting with friends and strangers when I come up!

Thanks to all the mountain operations , F&B, housekeeping , maintenance , shuttle drivers, HR, and the equipment operators for shutting her down. I’m super sad to be leaving and hope to see everyone next winter! Peace n Love targhee tribe

Thanks for making the hard decision and choosing to protect your staff who have to come in close contact with the public and thus, protecting the community that live in the valley. Thanks Targhee! Looks like you’ll also weed out some of the more entitled clientele which should make for an even better 20/21

Thank you guys for an amazing year

Thanks for giving me 2 of my best days of the season! God speed

Great call. And I was headed there this week. Greatly disappointed but this is much bigger than my ski days. See you in 2021.

Red Lodge

Congrats on a great year! You were blessed with great snow in Feb and early March which we were able to enjoy. I know this is a tough decision for you and of course we are disappointed, but I look back at the season and thank all of you for doing such a good job with operation management and hospitality. I am already looking forward to 20-21 season!!

Thanks for this decision. From an RN in Billings, let me tell you it was the right one. I am sure that no doubt, it was a tough with how incredible this season has been. Let me preface by saying I have been a passholder for many years, and plan to be this coming season as well. Please do not worry about refunding any “unused” portion of my pass this year, or whatever other plans you had in store. I am glad to consider it a contribution it to operations, paying staff wages, or however you see fit. Thank you! Take care of yourselves and others.

Completely the right decision, even if it is a tough one. I am also thrilled to see you will be paying employees during this shutdown. Thank you!

It’s a tough one, but this is the correct decision for the health of the community and especially Red Lodge employees. Super classy to be paying them through this closure. Thank you for the clear communication and ski you next year!

Thank you for making public health a priority so everyone can enjoy future ski seasons.

Thanks for making this difficult decision. Your decision to close for the season goes a long way to protect our community and our summer tourism season. Count on us purchasing 20/21 season passes as soon as they go on sale.

About Gregg & SlopeFillers
I've had more first-time visitors lately, so adding a quick "about" section. I started SlopeFillers in 2010 with the simple goal of sharing great resort marketing strategies. Today I run marketing for resort ecommerce and CRM provider Inntopia, my home mountain is the lovely Nordic Valley, and my favorite marketing campaign remains the Ski Utah TV show that sold me on skiing as a kid in the 90s.