2017-2018 Season Passes

TheArchitect said:

The MAX pass goes up in price from $629 on 5/1 but does anyone know how much it traditionally has gone up from that early price? I'm considering getting one but I'd like to wait longer to make the decision if I can.

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I believe it went up $50 last year after the first deadline. I could see them bumping it to $699 this year though.

Jully said:

I believe it went up $50 last year after the first deadline. I could see them bumping it to $699 this year though.

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Maybe they'll bump it twice along the way to get to $699. I wonder if they'll go right to $679 on 5/1 and leave it there.

You're right! Sorry for my reading comprehension failure. I've edited the original post.

Seems like it's hard to compare to last year, as the pass features have changed this year. The ironically-titled "Classic" option didn't exist before, which is why I made my mistake. Early purchase of last season's "Value" pass, which was blacked out, was $719. Last year's "Ultra" pass, which was unrestricted for Okemo, Sunapee, and Crested Butte, plus 3 Killington days, was $1529. The peak pass, which was similar to this year's Ultimate pass, but included 5 Crested Butte days was $1239.

Source for last year's pricing: http://mountaintimes.info/early-birds-save-big-on-next-seasons-passes/

cdskier said:

Actually, looks like Classic is unrestricted from what I'm reading. Ultimate adds 3 free Killington lift tickets, access to non-skiing activities (Adventure zone, Bike Park, Ice House, etc), and some other additional resort discounts.

How does this compare to last year? This seems a bit cheaper than I remember, although I don't follow Okemo that closely.

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sankaty said:

You're right! Sorry for my reading comprehension failure. I've edited the original post.

Seems like it's hard to compare to last year, as the pass features have changed this year. The ironically-titled "Classic" option didn't exist before, which is why I made my mistake. Early purchase of last season's "Value" pass, which was blacked out, was $719. Last year's "Ultra" pass, which was unrestricted for Okemo, Sunapee, and Crested Butte, plus 3 Killington days, was $1529. The peak pass, which was similar to this year's Ultimate pass, but included 5 Crested Butte days was $1239.

Source for last year's pricing: http://mountaintimes.info/early-birds-save-big-on-next-seasons-passes/

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So it seems it went both kind of down and up. For Value people it went up only because there's no more blacked out option available. For either Ultra or Peak purchasers it went down (but you also lose the Crested Butte benefit...not sure how many took advantage of that though).

This is a bit interesting... "3 complimentary Killington lift tickets, vaild December 1, 2017 - April 15, 2018." So you can't use those Killington tickets that are included with the "Ultimate" pass either early season or late season. If someone wants to ski a few days at K, I'd go with the Classic pass + the Max Add-On. Actually, Ultimate people that want a Max Add-On kind of get screwed because they get 3 days at K (with restrictions) vs the 5 days at K (with no restrictions) that a Classic + Max Add-On user would get.

Jully said:

I believe it went up $50 last year after the first deadline. I could see them bumping it to $699 this year though.

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Thanks. Do you happen to know when the second deadline is?

I ended up going for a Pico pass with the MAX add-on. Comes out to $728 pre tax. I've already skied twice at Pico since getting it, so the $100 extra vs. the standalone MAX pass has already paid for itself.

Very pleased with that option.

4aprice said:

Max Pass renewed :beer:

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

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Bit the bullet for myself and the wife. Really was too good to pass up.

TheArchitect said:

Thanks. Do you happen to know when the second deadline is?

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That I do not remember. Maybe someone else on here does?

Jully said:

That I do not remember. Maybe someone else on here does?

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It's not a big deal. Thanks for the reply, though.

Just pulled the trigger on Peaks Ranger passes for my son and I (well he gets the 6 and under Scout pass)
Will start using it Saturday at CM
We'll buy my wife's before our trip to Wildcat in Mid April

http://www.killington.com/site/tickets/winter_passes/season_passes

Killington seems to not be offering a blackout pass this coming year. Also they say they dropped the price for a full pass by $240, but they dont give you the $100 beast bux anymore so its really only $140 lower. Anybody that had a blackout pass last year apparently have to pay over $200 more for a full pass now even if they dont ski holidays. Seems strange that they are raising prices when most places are lowering them.

skiur said:

http://www.killington.com/site/tickets/winter_passes/season_passes

Killington seems to not be offering a blackout pass this coming year. Also they say they dropped the price for a full pass by $240, but they dont give you the $100 beast bux anymore so its really only $140 lower. Anybody that had a blackout pass last year apparently have to pay over $200 more for a full pass now even if they dont ski holidays. Seems strange that they are raising prices when most places are lowering them.

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I saw that. Very interesting move. Seems to screw over a lot of people, but also help the unlimited peeps a decent amount too. The Epic Pass has certainly altered the market already with both SB and K now changing prices.

Jully said:

I saw that. Very interesting move. Seems to screw over a lot of people, but also help the unlimited peeps a decent amount too. The Epic Pass has certainly altered the market already with both SB and K now changing prices.

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Perhaps yes, but my guess is K figures Stowe will be EPIC full pass only and that makes their price competitive at least to the local market. Obviously for those venturing west, EPIC will be a larger lure. They likely also dropped the blackout hoping to recover some $$ from some of those folks opting to step up to a full pass. Does make a Max Pass more tempting to those interested in a blackout. 20 unlimited days at 4 areas in close proximity with K/pico/Okemo/Stratton.

Sent from my XT1650 using AlpineZone mobile app

skiur said:

http://www.killington.com/site/tickets/winter_passes/season_passes

Killington seems to not be offering a blackout pass this coming year. Also they say they dropped the price for a full pass by $240, but they dont give you the $100 beast bux anymore so its really only $140 lower. Anybody that had a blackout pass last year apparently have to pay over $200 more for a full pass now even if they dont ski holidays. Seems strange that they are raising prices when most places are lowering them.

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This seems to be attractive pricing and I wonder if this is due to Vail economics. I would rather have $100 in my pocket than built into the pass price. I think things are starting to get competitive for sure!

Magic Mountain 17-18 passes now on sale
https://www.magicmtn.com/tickets-passes

If you have child ages 6-17 who goes to school in Vermont, you can get their pass for $99 and your pass for only $199, both passes include 3 free lift tickets at each of the other 12 members of the "Freedom Pass Alliance" http://s288603809.onlinehome.us/freedompass/
Fantastic deal IMO

Out of state the early bird cost is $229 and $499 respectively, with the same Freedom Pass benefits

skiur said:

http://www.killington.com/site/tickets/winter_passes/season_passes

Killington seems to not be offering a blackout pass this coming year. Also they say they dropped the price for a full pass by $240, but they dont give you the $100 beast bux anymore so its really only $140 lower. Anybody that had a blackout pass last year apparently have to pay over $200 more for a full pass now even if they dont ski holidays. Seems strange that they are raising prices when most places are lowering them.

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This was from Mike S taken from kzone.


With regard to changes in our season pass products, though, many of you seem caught off guard, and I want to let the group know that I’m listening. Hopefully I can offer up some of the context for our decision making, and while I don’t expect everyone to agree with me, at least this way everyone (on each side of this existential debate), will have the same background.

This spring, we went into season pass planning with the intent of offering the same product mix as last year, and with incremental price increases similar to increases we’ve made each of the past several years. But as we began to compare our planned offerings to our competitors, there were two main differences. First, other areas had already announced lowered “unlimited” pass prices, and secondly, many other resorts eliminated blackout passes as part of lowering their all-access pass prices.

Much of our competition in Vermont has moved to Unlimited Passes in the $800-900 range, and if we didn’t react our Unlimited Season Pass at over $1100 would have been the price leader in the North East market by far, and our blackout pass at $800 would have been priced higher than many competing resorts’ all-access passes.

This was a scenario which I do not believe would have played out well for our long term success, so we explored other options. Unfortunately, models where we reduced prices on all passes just did not work financially.

So the result is we have a lower-priced Unlimited Pass that is competitive within the marketplace but needed to take the blackout pass out of the mix to make this work. We looked at the data and realized that many blackout pass holders also bought a few K-tickets each year to supplement their blacked-out periods, and in many cases ended up spending more money than is required to jump up to the new lowered Unlimited Pass price.
Many of the pass holders looking at a slight price increase next winter will see significant added value from being able to ski any day of the season, plus additional premium perks and benefits afforded to Unlimited Pass holders. I need not remind you that no other resort is as committed to offering such a long season and making snow whenever we can.

I understand that if you have bought a blackout pass in the past and have zero interest in skiing during holiday periods that you’re probably not excited about the decision to combine the blackout and Unlimited products, but this was the best way for us to reduce prices across the board to keep in line with market conditions while still providing a mix of products that work for the majority of our pass holders.

In looking at sales and skier visit numbers, trends show that our busiest days have changed over the years, and many mid-winter Saturdays are now typically busier than holiday periods that we have historically blacked out. One solution we discussed involved changing the blackout pass days to black out more Saturdays during the winter but we figured that would not be well received by most. We also looked at the floater day usage and determined that those were being used on the busiest of blackout days meaning the pass wasn’t being effective at reducing crowding and many blackout pass holders actually didn’t mind skiing on busy days. Knowing that demand existed for access on those busy days, a less expensive Unlimited Pass made the most sense to bridge the gap.

We intentionally kept the Midweek Pass as an option for folks who ski often but try to avoid the crowds, and K-Tickets, e-Tickets, Express Cards and Spring Passes are all returning to provide a range of supplements should some of our midweekers want additional access without committing to the Unlimited Pass.
The reality is that the majority of our pass holders are receiving a substantial price decrease as our Unlimited Pass has historically outsold the blackout pass.
I want to be very clear that Powdr did not push us to make the changes we made, and that our decisions were made right here in Killington, Vermont. We had to respond to our changing Northeast marketplace – both from competition resorts, but also from trends in how our guests consume our products, that’s just how this business works.

Every time the marketplace changes (think Liftopia, then killington.com/tickets, or the M.A.X. Pass), we adjust what we do. It would be foolish to think we can offer any prices we want and still survive in this competitive industry. An Unlimited Pass cost $999 when I started here 15 years ago and I think it’s pretty cool that we’re able to offer you an even lower rate for winter 2017-18.

With all that said, this winter has been one of my all-time favorites here at Killington, and I want to close by thanking this group for its passion and dedication to Killington. I realize that with your passion comes both vocal criticism and praise, and I always appreciate when a user who believes in what we’re doing chimes in to refute a detractor, or to play advocate for us.

Let’s have a great spring and keep charging toward June.

Mike

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MAX pass sure is alluring, would be a wise move financially. Especially as Steamboat and Bachelor are most likely trips out west next year.

Question is, can I settle down like that, even though it's still a lot of choices? This would cover 3/4 of the skiing I want to do next year. Gonna have to consult the wife.

Want to see if Mt Bohemia is offering a $99 season pass again with 3 free days at Magic and Bolton..

trigger pulled for ours

me - Epic Local pass
daughter - Summit Local College pass

looking forward to some fun next season

Max pass officially renewed for 2017/2018 season.

-w

Pulled the trigger on Peaks a few weeks ago. Still turning Max over and over in my head. $629 is a lot, but it is just so appealing.