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Epic Ski is shutting down!

ski diva

Administrator
Staff member
For those of you who lurk or are members of Epic Ski, here's some news: the site is going offline on April 27.

Epic Ski has always been the biggest of the ski sites, and was a great source of information and fellowship for both men and women. Some of you may recall that Vail bought Epic a few years ago, and promised to keep it going. Sadly, that's not the case.

I've always wondered if Vail bought the site for the Epic name and member list, since that's the name for Vail's lift pass products. Who knows.

Whatever, the case...... RIP, Epic Ski.
 
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Christy

Angel Diva
I didn't know, or at least I didn't remember, that Vail bought them.

That's a shame. I think you might have been onto something.
 

bounceswoosh

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Kinda saw this coming when they ... well, yeah. I don't know if this was an unintended side effect of their staffing decisions, or this was the idea all along.
 

bounceswoosh

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Also "Hosting Provider"?? Really?

Ah, I see they are referring to Huddler, not to VR. That's a different spin. Although of course with enough money and time, one could migrate content elsewhere.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Ah, I see they are referring to Huddler, not to VR. That's a different spin. Although of course with enough money and time, one could migrate content elsewhere.
For what it's worth, Huddler will soon no longer exists as a software platform for any website. Apparently at least one of the companies that was hired to do a conversion now refuses to consider doing the same work again. The Huddler software evolved to include loads of features but my sense is the design was not well disciplined.
 

ski diva

Administrator
Staff member
For what it's worth, Huddler will soon no longer exists as a software platform for any website. Apparently at least one of the companies that was hired to do a conversion now refuses to consider doing the same work again. .

This makes no sense to me. Vail has extremely deep pockets, and it seems to me that if they cared enough, they'd put some money behind it so the data could be exported to another platform. Apparently they don't.
 

bounceswoosh

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
This makes no sense to me. Vail has extremely deep pockets, and it seems to me that if they cared enough, they'd put some money behind it so the data could be exported to another platform. Apparently they don't.

Heck, by the time they got their ducks in a row to fund it, Huddler will have shut its doors.
 

newboots

Angel Diva
I (mostly) quit hanging around on Epic when I grew more familiar here. Everyone who has tried both knows why. But, what a source of information! There are so many years of information, discussions, reviews, p*ssing contests. . .
 

Jenny

Angel Diva
I (mostly) quit hanging around on Epic when I grew more familiar here. Everyone who has tried both knows why. But, what a source of information! There are so many years of information, discussions, reviews, p*ssing contests. . .
I never joined epic, only lurked occasionally. But I feel badly for the people who were long-time members. I think how I'd feel if anything happened here . . . (@ski diva, you aren't going anywhere, right?)
 

ski diva

Administrator
Staff member
I never joined epic, only lurked occasionally. But I feel badly for the people who were long-time members. I think how I'd feel if anything happened here . . . (@ski diva, you aren't going anywhere, right?)

No. We're not going anywhere.

Heck, by the time they got their ducks in a row to fund it, Huddler will have shut its doors.

But don't you think they've known about this for a while? I think something could've been done.
 

bounceswoosh

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
But don't you think they've known about this for a while? I think something could've been done.

Oh, of course. "Where there's a will" and all that.

Epicski is such a tiny part of what VR does. I can't imagine that even if the team wanted, they could get the attention of anyone in a position to do anything about it.
 

newboots

Angel Diva
It's sad about all that will be lost. I think about the friendly advice I've received, and the Bob Barnes explanations that are like a drink of water in the desert.

I'm so happy that we are here, though.
 

CarverJill

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I guess I posted my question in the wrong place @ski diva. Its good to see some of the explanation here. I had no idea Vail bought it, how crazy. Clearly thats the issue. I didn't spend much time there but still understand that a major resort could never run a ski forum. Is the whole forum going down so the archives won't be able to be accessed? If so that's sad. I'm sure so much time and energy was put into the forums content by dedicated members. I'm so thankful for this place and the time and energy you put in Wendy. Hopefully things stay the same <3 .
 

SnowHot

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I was site manager for EpicSki for several years before they cancelled our contacts in October 2015. If there is nothing else that is clear, its that Vail is huge and the right hand has no idea what the left hand is doing until several months down the road.
Mountain News is the division that runs Epic and OnTheSnow. They have a certain budget to work with and migrating the site was not(likely) in the budget.
Vail, as a corporation, will have no idea that this site was shut down until they start getting angry emails from members, if that even happens.

When I was site manager I was given perimeters on what I could do to engage with sites like SkiDiva. I was happy to start Pugski and have a personal responsibility to have better synergy with sites like this. That is what it means to have a personal objective instead of a corporate objective.

I am saddened by the lost content on EpicSki...that is truly a loss that can not be recovered.
 

ski diva

Administrator
Staff member
I was site manager for EpicSki for several years before they cancelled our contacts in October 2015. If there is nothing else that is clear, its that Vail is huge and the right hand has no idea what the left hand is doing until several months down the road.
Mountain News is the division that runs Epic and OnTheSnow. They have a certain budget to work with and migrating the site was not(likely) in the budget.
Vail, as a corporation, will have no idea that this site was shut down until they start getting angry emails from members, if that even happens.

When I was site manager I was given perimeters on what I could do to engage with sites like SkiDiva. I was happy to start Pugski and have a personal responsibility to have better synergy with sites like this. That is what it means to have a personal objective instead of a corporate objective.

I am saddened by the lost content on EpicSki...that is truly a loss that can not be recovered.

I have no doubt you're entirely correct, Tricia.

Truly, it's a tragedy that all that amazing content will disappear. It's like someone is burning down the most amazing ski library on the planet and then blocking the street so the fire department can't put it out. What a shame.
 

newboots

Angel Diva
Hey everybody-

At this time of disaster at EpicSki, let's pause for a moment of gratitude for what we have.

We can support theskidiva.com by becoming "Angel Divas," that is, making a $25 donation to help defray the costs of our beloved forum.

From my phone I don't know how to link to it but I bumped the thread that tells how to help. (@moderator?)
 

ski diva

Administrator
Staff member
Hey everybody-

At this time of disaster at EpicSki, let's pause for a moment of gratitude for what we have.

We can support theskidiva.com by becoming "Angel Divas," that is, making a $25 donation to help defray the costs of our beloved forum.

From my phone I don't know how to link to it but I bumped the thread that tells how to help. (@moderator?)

Thanks for this. The link is here. All your support is greatly appreciated.

BTW, I posted about the EpicSki shutdown in my blog today. You can read it here.
 

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