A week after a website quoted her calling Front Range skiers “riffraff,” Kaye Ferry, executive director of the Vail Chamber and Business Association, resigned Monday.
The controversy that followed the Colorado Confidential website item played no part in her decision, Ferry said today.
“This has been coming for quite a long time,” she said. “I said I would stay through this ski season, and ski season ended yesterday.”
Ferry said she was misquoted by the website, denying she has ever spoken critically of Front Range skiers.
Ferry has opposed to Vail Resorts’ Epic Pass that goes on sale next November. The unlimited ski pass with no black-out dates could cause parking and labor shortages, while making slopes crowded and unsafe, she said.
Colorado Confidential writer David O. Williams said her comments were accurately quoted.
Ferry said she was not forced out because of the controversy.
“I had to argue with my board” to resign, she said. “They weren’t interested in this happening at all.”
Ferry said she lost four close friends, including a longtime boyfriend, in a six-week period last year and decided it was time to reset her priorities.
She said she intends to write more frequent columns for the Vail Daily newspaper and continue her work as a ski instructor in Vail. She also intends to help charities and causes, she said.
“I have a million things I’m going to take on that I’ve never had time to do before,” she said.
