Okemo Mountain Skigebiet Guide

I have been coming to Okemo since I was just able to walk and I love my memories of this place. Now I have brought my son here and all I can say is that I am extremely disappointed. Vail resorts has turned a fun family experience into a soulless corporate slog. Completely disregarding ticket prices (not that it should be disregarded) the experience as a whole has ruined what was my favorite mountain. During the week half of the lifts are closed because they don't want to spend the resources to run them for the reduced volume of skiers. This limits the terrain available to beginner skiers to mountain rd and various minor tributaries. They steal your bags if you leave them in the lodge, something everyone has always done in the history of skiing, across the world. They scanned my pass while I was standing at the bottom of the magic carpet in shoes waiting for my son to come down from his practice runs, charging me a full day's worth of my 4 day pass. That was eventually resolved after an hour's hassle and involving the resort manager when they "magnanimously" offered me a "free pass", although it was simply returning the day they had stolen from me without cause. The staff is unfriendly (with a few exceptions of course), the atmosphere is gone, and I won't be coming back. I will avoid all Vail resorts in the future. I will try to do my little part to keep the soul of my passion alive, to keep skiing fun and family friendly, to halt the corporate takeover that has made skiing in the USA so expensive that I can fly to Europe, pay for lodging and life tickets and food, and still spend less than a week on an epic pass at Vail resorts where I have free lodging and cook my own food.