Tahoe Ski Resort Doubles Down, Will Now Offer Free Lift Tickets To Guests Who Report Employees

Donner Ski Ranch, a small, homey ski area in California near the edge of Lake Tahoe, recently caused a stir online when it asked its patrons to report lift operators caught using their cellphones when they were supposed to be working, sharing a new sign that read “Rat ‘em out!” (with a rat to match).

The initiative was meant to promote safety according to the ski area, but many, if not most, of the hundreds of comments that flooded in on social media were negative. Donner Ski Ranch has continued to double down, anyway. 

Now, the ski area is upping the ante again, offering guests a free lift ticket next winter if they snap a photo of a liftie using their phone on the job and email it to Donner Ski Ranch.

“The sign that started out as a joke became national news. It seems everyone had a lot to say. Good, Bad and Much Hate,” Donner Ski Ranch’s latest post read. “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. We are sorry if you do not believe all resorts should use all means to insure the safety of all guest.”

Donner Ski Ranch then detailed the lift ticket offer.

“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 post read.

Donner Ski Ranch first unveiled the sign last week in a post that drew strong reactions. Plenty of skiers didn’t like the idea.

“Why are you giving your guests a work assignment?” wondered one commenter.

“I came for the powder, stayed for the workplace surveillance,” wrote another commenter, signing their message off with a laughing face emoji. 

At least one comment asked if it was April Fool’s Day. 

Before unveiling the free lift ticket plan, Donner Ski Ranch shared a follow-up post, digging their heels in and sharing a hypothetical story about what they said might happen if lift operators aren’t paying attention: you fall while getting off the lift, and the lift keeps turning because the operator didn’t shut it off. Then, a 260-pound man disembarking from the next chair lands on you, breaking your collarbone. 

“As you are getting loaded into the ambulance you are thinking the resort should do a better job keeping their liftys off of their phones,” the post read, in part. “This was all so avoidable.”

“This is where we are at. This is not about pay or training or supervision or anything else. We can not be everywhere,” the post continued. “If you care the least bit about lift safety RAT EM OUT because this could be you.”

The whole kerfuffle represents a big departure from usual ski area communications, which are normally measured and uncontroversial by design. 

But from calling out a group of bikers who used their bathrooms without buying food or drinks to describing itself as “America’s favorite piss ant little ski hill” in a faux magazine cover, Donner Ski Ranch has proved more than once that it’s an unusual ski area. 

Or, as the ski area put it in another of the posts about reporting lift operators: “Donner Ski Ranch the Scrappy Fiercely Independent Ski Resort That Could or The Land Of Safety Snitches.”

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