The old ski pass switcheroo trick has been going down for decades as well as resorts efforts to deter potential fraudsters and Mt. Bachelor in Oregon is fed up with the the recent uptick in the illegal activity is cracking down.
Pretty straightforward concept, someone legitimately pays for a season pass and then illegitimately shares it to get other people up on the mountain for free. This can be done several ways from simply lending your pass out when your not using it or the super sneaky method of sticking it in a glove or something like that and dropping it off to a buddy waiting below the chairlift once you’r through the liftline so you can both ride the same day on a single pass (particularly effective for resorts with upper mountain lifts that don’t check passes).
Central Oregon Daily reports Mt. Bachelor is going on the offensive to combat the problem and spoke with lift operators who said the resort is offering cash bonuses to employees who catch perpetrators. Rumors are the bounty is set at $75.
No official confirmation that Bachelor is paying out employees who catch people using other peoples passes but I know for a fact this has long been an effective incentive at other resorts. Mt. Bachelor spokesperson Stacey Hutchinson wants folks to know guests who chose to fraudulently use a pass that is not their own will be asked to leave and could face penalties.
Penalties include being escorted from the mountain, paying the current day’s ticket price, paying a restitution fee and being handed off to authorities over “theft of service”. Bachelor says if someone agrees to share their pass, both the borrower and the sharer will face consequences.
Moral of the story, if you’r thinking of pulling a fast one at Mt. Bachelor, you might wanna think twice.
