Rachel Rubin

Review of Vista Verde Guest Ranch

Beware, Vista Verde did not take safety seriously ...

Beware, Vista Verde did not take safety seriously and does not take care of its guests! I had one of the worst experiences of my life when a Vista Verde employee, who was driving my family on a Ranch snow mobile, ran us into a ditch on the way to cross country ski on Ranch property. The Vista Verde employee drove myself, my husband and our young son off of the marked path and into a ditch; the snow mobile tipped over, and my family was ejected off of the snow mobile. I suffered a severe concussion which has required neurological treatment and over 40 physical therapy and speech therapy sessions over the past year. Vista Verde management, who remain employees, failed to ensure that their driver had appropriate safety gear and equipment, failed to seek any outside medical treatment for me or my family and did not check in with us in the evening or overnight after my head injury. Needless to say, we will not be back to Vista Verde!

Vista Verde wants to make you believe that this was just an unfortunate accident, and that we oops, we fell off the snow mobile. This is NOT the case. The Vista Verde guide, Tom Fagin, was negligent. He was not wearing sunglasses or goggles when he drove the snow mobile. In fact, here is what Vista Verde's accident report, prepared by Steven M. King, Manager of the Adventure Center, stated on March 17, 2016:

"ALL TRAIL SIGNS WERE VISIBLE. While transporting David, Rachel & Jacob to a family ski trip, Tom Fagin, ski guide, MISSED THE TRAIL and went down a snow bank and TURNED OVER THE SNOW MACHINE. All three guests landed on their right side and impacted the snow. David and Rachel impacted each others heads." The report further states, "Tom was not wearing sun glasses or goggles." In fact, we were only approx. 400 yards from the Adventure Center when Tom turned over the snow mobile.

We are quite saddened that Vista Verde has not shown integrity in handling the impact of my traumatic brain injury. What we have learned through my 10 months of recovery is that there is no way to know the full extent of damage in the immediate aftermath of a traumatic brain injury. This injury has had a devastating impact on myself and my family. The bottom line is that we expected more out of Vista Verde.