Photo: Donner Ski Ranch
The Donner Ski Ranch social media saga continues. A week ago, the “fiercely, passionately, boldly, wildly independent” Tahoe ski area rubbed customers the wrong way when it told social media followers to rat out lift operators for using their phones (cussing at a few dissenters along the way). You can see the sign they posted, above.
A couple days later the resort doubled down and made up a fierce, passionate, bold, and definitely wild example of how those same dissenters could cop a broken collarbone if they don’t snitch. Because it was always going to be your fault anyway. Now, they’re applying that same I’d-like-to-speak-to-the-manager energy to another development — a “joke” that is paying off in continued coverage and PR (I’ll bite). To all those people who say they are above snitching on the hourly lifty, the Donner Ski Ranch was happy to announce that your integrity can be purchased for the low, low price of one lift ticket.
“We are sorry that your moral standards are so high you will not mention an unsafe condition for your safety or the safety of others,” wrote the ski hill on Tuesday. “We are sorry if you do not believe all resorts should use all means to insure the safety of all guests. This season 2026-2027, e-mail a photo of a working DSR lift operator on their cell phone that day and receive a voucher for a free lift ticket. Safety is that important.” The social media post is below.
Donner clearly isn’t backing down, and now they’re throwing the kind of barbs at paying customers usually reserved for emotionally abusive partners looking to shift blame in a fight they started. I’m sorry for your feelings is narcissism 101. Now here’s a lift ticket.
The response is more of the same. I actually haven’t seen a single person argue against the need for any and all safety measures when they visit a resort. But whoever’s running this social media account somehow hears that instead of the resounding “Hey, DSR, we agree, we just think this is a crappy way to go about it.”
“I think you’re missing the bigger picture. Instead of building trust, this approach creates an unnecessary divide between customers and employees. It turns what should be a positive interaction into an ‘us vs. them’ dynamic, and that’s counterproductive for everyone,” one person wrote. “If you’re dealing with legitimate safety concerns, then those issues should be addressed through better training, leadership, and internal processes — not by asking customers to police your employees. That shifts responsibility onto the public and can undermine trust on both sides. Most customers want a good experience, not to feel like they’re being recruited to monitor staff. If safety is truly the priority, there are more effective and professional ways to achieve it without creating suspicion between employees and the people they serve.”
Oddly, DSR is making their lift operations crew appear to be a much bigger hazard to our own safety than anything else. My question? How many broken collarbones do we not know about due to Netflix binging? Logically, a bit of camera equipment at every platform and a zero tolerance policy would create the same accountability without ever having to argue with customers. Hell, they could have gone full Undercover Boss and just hired a couple people to take laps every day and report back to management. The everyday Donner Ski Ranch guest would have been none the wiser and happily more safe than when this all began.
