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HUNTSVILLE -- An incident at Snowbasin resort Tuesday has skiers and snowboarders up in arms about the alleged harassment of two Layton snowboarders by resort officials.
A recording of the incident shows the Layton men being stopped on a slope by two resort officials. One official threatened to take the snowboarders' passes for moving too quickly on a "slow" run. The snowboarders argued that they were on a main run rather than a bunny slope and that they were not warned about their speed beforehand.
"There is a slow sign up there, and this is a slow-skiing zone," the official said.
"Wow, that is not this is a little ridiculous," one of the snowboarders said. "You're harassing us because we're young."
Harassment at Snowbasin - Extended & Unedited from Garden Stories. on Vimeo.
The above video contains unedited language including profanity; view at your discretion."I've never been harassed like this at another mountain," he later said, adding that directing expletives at the pair "was way too far."
The official apologized to the pair, and Snowbasin later posted on Facebook about the incident, saying they "are frankly embarrassed by this situation and have taken measures to prevent this type of incident occurring in the future."
The apology garnered hundreds of comments after it was posted Wednesday afternoon, with some saying it was not a true apology and many wondering what measures the company had taken to prevent similar incidents.
"Loyal customers deserve to know what measures have been taken," commented Rocky Bingham, a Harrisville resident.
The resort's posting did not negate the actions of the employees, according to some.
Others, though, put faith in the resort and pointed out that the official apologized for his language.
I'm just glad this kind of thing was finally caught on tape, 'cause it has definitely happened to me three or four times in my six years of season passing.
–Ryan Stuart, Facebook commenter
"I am sure proper employee coaching and customer recover efforts are underway," commented Ogden resident Mike Brice. "No need to skewer a great community institution."
Many commenters pointed out that the incident will serve as an important lesson in public relations, as technology and the exploding use of social media has led to the video of the engagement going viral in the 24 hours since it was first posted. The two videos of the incident were viewed almost 50,000 times in the day following the first posting.
"I'm just glad this kind of thing was finally caught on tape, 'cause it has definitely happened to me three or four times in my six years of season passing," commented Syracuse resident Ryan Stuart. "Now maybe they'll do something about it."
Snowbasin does not have a comment at this time, according to resort spokesman Jason Dyer.
Email: sgrimes@ksl.com
