I recently read with interest a post to the Letters to the Editor section of Summit Daily News urging Keystone Resort to keep their night skiing operations. I’m not sure if Keystone has definitive plans for this or not, but I wholeheartedly agree with Craig from Centennial’s call for folks to lobby Vail resorts associates to keep those operations in place.

Hurtling down a slope at night in subzero temperatures was actually one of my earliest skiing experiences upon arriving in Colorado in the mid-80s. Eldora was my local mountain back then, and I often took advantage of their night skiing with friends and relatives. We loved it. I vividly recall having a blast skiing down Jolly Jug with powder billowing around me, back when I rode skis and before I really knew what to do with a foot of powder. It was awesome! We would laugh and splash around in cottony pillows of white, tinged a garish green by the sodium lights.

Although I haven’t taken advantage of the night skiing operations at Keystone in the few years since I became a Keystone Plus pass holder, I often see the resort gleaming like a beacon from my back patio on those evenings it’s open. I attribute my lack of participation mainly to the chill that my now older bones find harder to fend off. Nevertheless, I’ll be quite frustrated if my as of yet untapped ability to night ski is taken away.

But what worries me even more than night skiing FOMO (fear of missing out) is how this possibility highlights the resort’s continued pattern of night skiing service shrinkage while ticket and pass prices grow. I’m sure curtailing those operations makes economic sense for Vail Resorts, that the revenue the activity brings in falls short of the costs that they pay out. But given that the high cost of ski tickets is partly due to the operational expenses of resorts, it stands to reason that if they reduce or eliminate night skiing operations, the price of passes that include night skiing benefits should also decrease. Right?

But of course, it’s not gonna work that way. This is an example of shrinkflation and demonstrates the stealth with which that version of inflation is employed by some corporations. Same price, fewer services. This is no different than the ice cream carton  or tic tac examples that the presidential candidates discussed recently on the campaign trail.

So how does one push back against shady practices such as these? Well, one way is to stop attending Vail resorts as a form of dissent. Of course, it’d take a lot of us doing that to make even the tiniest dent in Vail’s profits. And in doing so, those who did forfeit their pass to protest that corporation’s oligarchic tendencies would also lose their ability to ski some of Summit County’s best terrain. That seems more than a little like cutting off your nose to spite your face.

Another option, as Craig suggested, would be to bring the issue into the light of day. One of the things that has historically shown some success in embarrassing corporations into changing their plans has been letting them know “we see you, we see what you’re doing, and we’re mad as hell about it”. Consider the Bud Light fiasco over one of its advertisements. While the issue in question that pissed some folks off was petty and prejudicial, the public pushback on it certainly changed Anheuser Busch’s advertising approaches. Those protesters used the right strategy for the wrong reason, but still.

Here’s an idea. We could let Vail know we see what they’re doing by gathering on the Keystone slopes in numbers too large to ignore for a night of peaceful protest and skiing. It’d be an opportunity to show Vail that we’re incensed over their version of shrinkflation. In a kind and respectful way, we can inform the lifties and ski patrol folks that we’re there on that particular night to highlight and oppose Vail’s rising ticket prices and shrinking services. Those workers, folks who have little to no way of changing their employer’s policies — other than their fledgling unions (which we should support) — can send the message to corporate management that their customer base is not cool with the economic slight of hand we’re being subjected to. Such a demonstration of customer indignation might just nudge the corporation towards policies that are a little more pro-consumer and less centered on profits at the expense of all else.

So now, the only thing we gotta figure out is the date for this nighttime protest skiing. I vote for any day when night skiing is operational but isn’t blacked out on my Keystone pass.

Tony Jones' column "Everything in Moderation" publishes biweekly on Thursdays in the Summit Daily News. Jones is a veteran of the IT industry and has worked in the public and private sectors. He lives part-time in Summit County and Denver. Contact him at eimsummit@gmail.com.