By Andrew J. Pridgen

A couple weeks ago, the marketing office at Squaw Valley came up with a strange and context-free Instagram rant about silencing the “trolls and haters” on their “corner” of the internet. By way of background, the post was sparked by a number of incidents of questions on the social medias (as well as inquiries to the Squaw front office directly) about the Squaw and Alpine’s reticence to open terrain.

Though several dry years in a row have prevented the resorts from turning every lift, a snow year that is shaping up to be the best, if not most tumultuous, in the Basin this century and perhaps the wettest year in California since ‘82-’83, has raised questions among longtime Squaw skiers whether the private equity firm-owned resort isn’t sandbagging with its terrain accessibility.

By now you may have perused Truckee resident and a former Squaw employee Erik Hurst’s critical letter to the front office, which seems to have been the smoking gun. On January 22, Hurst sent an email to Squaw CEO Andy Wirth calling out the front office for a number of transgressions, most notably, a consistent culture of deceit.

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