Triple Digit Lift Tickets

steamboat1 said:

Didn't realize there was a road on top of Spruce.

Click to expand...

SMH. The god of taking everything literally makes an appearance. He didn't mean literally 2 minutes, you jackass. Nor did he necessarily mean an actual road. It's a freaking expression. Jesus titty effing Christ, you suck at life on an astronomical scale. THAT you can take literally. Just once, can we have a thread with out you splitting hairs (that's an expression, no one is trying to cut hairs in half) about everything that gets said?

C-Rex said:

SMH. The god of taking everything literally makes an appearance. He didn't mean literally 2 minutes, you jackass. Nor did he necessarily mean an actual road. It's a freaking expression. Jesus titty effing Christ, you suck at life on an astronomical scale. THAT you can take literally. Just once, can we have a thread with out you splitting hairs (that's an expression, no one is trying to cut hairs in half) about everything that gets said?

Click to expand...

eeekkk.
Can't we all get along out here on the internets?

Whoever is the first to break $100 in the East will have a lot of PR work to do. Stowe is a fashion statement is pretty close to accurate. They have some great marked and unmarked stuff and their snowmaking, lift, and other upgrades almost justify the cost of a ticket sadly. I thought Stratton was the highest for a while in New England after they went 6-pack crazy and that was justifiable.


I'm very happy to be a student for 6 more years in terms of passes and tickets. This was my first year getting a season pass and I broke even on it in December. I haven't paid window yet and there is now reason with things like Liftopia and Google. Big thanks to the guys who always post in the "Skiing on the Cheap" thread too. Last I calculated it between lift tickets and hotel/B&B expenses I had saved over $1,700 this year.

If Stowe goes over $100 they need a bubble chair lift like Mt. Snow!! I choose Mt. Snow over other southern VT ski areas for that reason alone. Ok, its the closest to me but why drive further and not have a bubble chair??? That thing is amazing.

I would pay for a Canyons ticket in Utah because they have one too.

MadMadWorld said:

Stowe is a fashion statement. I know people that have season passes there just because they can. I don't think they ever get there money's worth.

Click to expand...

Maybe for some. There is still a huge "locals" contingent of skiers at Stowe. My brother-in-law and his wife are both passholders. (both are local school teachers). As ludicrous as pass and day ticket prices are, they certainly have gotten their money's worth this year.

I just got back from 2 days up there. I did *not* pay window rate.

I guess the way to spin $100 tickets is that that's the clientele you want. In that case, you can actually start increasing sales by charging more. I read about it in economics. I forget what it's called but the same principle with other luxury items like watches, shoes, jewelry

C-Rex said:

SMH. The god of taking everything literally makes an appearance. He didn't mean literally 2 minutes, you jackass. Nor did he necessarily mean an actual road. It's a freaking expression. Jesus titty effing Christ, you suck at life on an astronomical scale. THAT you can take literally. Just once, can we have a thread with out you splitting hairs (that's an expression, no one is trying to cut hairs in half) about everything that gets said?

Click to expand...

What an ass.

Nick said:

I guess the way to spin $100 tickets is that that's the clientele you want. In that case, you can actually start increasing sales by charging more. I read about it in economics. I forget what it's called but the same principle with other luxury items like watches, shoes, jewelry

Click to expand...

"X" resort is more expensive so it must be better, let's go there instead!

Stowe has the best skiing in the east. Period.

Highway Star said:

Stowe has the best skiing in the east. Period.

Click to expand...

The prices are not high because the skiing is good. And there of plenty of other mountains whose skiing rivals Stowe but whose prices do not.

Highway Star said:

Stowe has the best skiing in the east. Period.

Click to expand...

Troll away.

Know this: once you get past the 100 mark, look out! We're somewhere around 120 on the peak days. This formula of cheap passes and uber expensive day tickets is going to have an effect on the future growth of the sport for sure. Vail resorts is leading the fight.

Twism86 said:

If Stowe goes over $100 they need a bubble chair lift like Mt. Snow!! I choose Mt. Snow over other southern VT ski areas for that reason alone. Ok, its the closest to me but why drive further and not have a bubble chair??? That thing is amazing.

I would pay for a Canyons ticket in Utah because they have one too.

Click to expand...

Put the bong down.

jimk said:

I went to Aspen around New Year's time. Great place, great mtns, great experience, but they don't want your/our business. It's almost like they don't want day tripper/economy skiers. At Snowmass there pretty much is no day lodge, at least not at The Snowmass Mall/Village where I entered the trail network. I had to boot up outdoors and leave my stuff under the overhang of a building when I went out to ski. Discount advance purchase price was $297 for three-day ticket. However, if IRRC even Aspen sells a four or five ticket package that averages about $60 per day if bought early preseason. They are also part of the ground breaking Mtn Collective deal from Liftopia which could get you down to about that price too. What they really want though are the ski weekers/multiday skiers buying into the total vacation package deal.

Same with Vail Resorts. Day ticket is triple digits, but season pass is ~400 to numerous big resorts.

These are bizarre times, but if you do your shopping you shouldn't have to deal with too many triple digit tickets. The way I justified Aspen was to stay in a $65 motel 25 miles down valley and cook food in the microwave.

Click to expand...

Aspen was selling a 4 pack at the Denver ski expo this year for around $240, but I didn't get it. It's pretty hard to get discounted lift tickets once the season begins for any aspen resort, and I looked pretty hard. Most of the deals on liftopia were tickets+loding combined, or lift ticket+dining. I ended up getting a military "discount" for $93 (+5 for RFID pass). But there was 3 feet of fresh snow so I didn't complain TOO much
But yea, if you're gonna ski aspen, plan way ahead of time (Before ski season starts)

timm said:

The prices are not high because the skiing is good. And there of plenty of other mountains whose skiing rivals Stowe but whose prices do not.

Click to expand...

In the east? Nonsense. I'd listen to arguments for a "few" could rival, but "plenty" is ridiculous. IMO, I'd probably rank it #1 too.

This thread on breaching the $100 mark comes out every year. The take-away from every edition of this thread is that the resort foolish enough to breach that barrier will hear a giant sucking sound as skiers exit for another ski area.

It's only a matter of time before Stowe offers a $100 ticket and, when that happens, given the terrain and snow it gets, I'd give them the honor. The funny thing about these threads about pricing is that, despite the price of their tickets, the high end resorts usually get pretty crowded. I've skied Stowe on their premium vacation days when presumably their ticket prices are highest (and some passes are blacked out) and that's when the crowds on the Forerunner are thickest. The longest lift line I have ever been in was in Whistler during Christmas vacation when tickets cost CAN$110. Wasn't there some photo going around the net recently about how the Christmas vacation lines at Vail were so long, you could actually see them from space? Point is, regardless of what we think, there's a market out there that's willing to bear the price and from the looks of it, that market is huge. In fact, I'll go on full-businessman mode here and say that the pricing of these places is inefficient. If you have a crowd when your price is at $110, then your tickets are probably still under-priced. Raise the price of the ticket to cut down on the crowds and you can probably strike a good balance between profit-making and crowd management. In fact, you should do this to maximize your use of your assets.

Lastly, you would think that, by the way these threads go, the most popular resorts would be the ones that charge the least and vice versa. But, in the X number of years that I've been posting here, I've never heard of Stowe, Whistler, Vail, Aspen or Deer Valley going begging for skiers. In fact, it's the opposite with places like Magic or Whaleback needing grassroots campaigns to drive skiers to those mountains.

I doubt breaking the $100 barrier would hurt Stowe in the least. Clearly they are not trying to attract locals with their pricing policy.

Charging $100 or more may actually be attractive to the demographic they cater to. There are plenty of people out there who want everyone to know how expensive their lifestyle is. The ticket price isn't really all that meaningful anyway, since a large portion of their market is likely ski-and-stay anyhow (speculation on my part). A higher "retail" price on the lift ticket only adds to the perceived value of the stay.


Sent from my iPhone using AlpineZone mobile app

Sure, what the market will bear.....:roll: Can't argue with sales...the season passes are the way to go.

Smellytele said:

eeekkk.
Can't we all get along out here on the internets?

Click to expand...

What? Too much?

I really wouldn't be surprised if Stowe breaks the $100 mark next year. And I don't think it'll hurt them in the least. Most of their target demographic won't bat an eye, and the rest of us will still go as long as we can find deals.

I think resorts are just trying to get people to commit ahead of time. If walk up prices were cheap, people would plan a trip, and then if the weather didn't cooperate they'd just cancel. But with high walk up prices, people are pushed to buy in advance, and then it doesn't matter what mother nature does, the resort already has your money. Think about how many times you've heard people say they were going to go skiing and then changed their mind last minute? It happens a lot. Especially with the less dedicated crowd, I'd imagine, make up the largest portion of total sales.