Boyne going BIG again with Doppelmayr at Big Sky

[urungus]

From what I understand, back in the 1930s and 1940s at the dawn of the modern ski era, pay-per ride was common practice and people would buy books of tickets.
eg this article mentions $1 per ride at Stowe https://vtdigger.org/2021/02/28/the...king-idea-led-to-the-rise-of-skiing-in-stowe/
and this one mentions 10 cents per ride at Aspen, times have changed LOL

Aspen's skiing history: an evolving timeline - Aspen Journalism

In February 1880, B. Clark Wheeler 'skis' into town from Leadville on Norwegian snowshoes to complete the first survey of Ute City. He renames the town Aspen.

aspenjournalism.org

 

[chuckstah]

From what I understand, back in the 1930s and 1940s at the dawn of the modern ski era, pay-per ride was common practice and people would buy books of tickets.
eg this article mentions $1 per ride at Stowe https://vtdigger.org/2021/02/28/the...king-idea-led-to-the-rise-of-skiing-in-stowe/
and this one mentions 10 cents per ride at Aspen, times have changed LOL

Aspen's skiing history: an evolving timeline - Aspen Journalism

In February 1880, B. Clark Wheeler 'skis' into town from Leadville on Norwegian snowshoes to complete the first survey of Ute City. He renames the town Aspen.

aspenjournalism.org

I remember getting one ride tickets at Mad River, maybe 30 plus years ago. Can't remember how much, but on a shitty day we would just get a one ride. Nobody would ever check it, so we would parlay it into a few runs until we were either done, or they finally validated it.

 

[BodeMiller1]

Still trying to wrap my head around pricing based on how busy the resort thinks they'll be. I understand caping # of tickets sold and vacation weeks, but it's gotten out of hand.
Same with hotels, a 30% increase because of leaf peepers?
When a hotel tells me "you have to check out and back in to get the best rate". Same room maybe you can park 20' closer to the front door I blame the internet.

Not sure what the vertical is out there on the lift, but the pricing is silly.
Can you smoke up like Killington

 

[bigbob]

I remember getting one ride tickets at Mad River, maybe 30 plus years ago. Can't remember how much, but on a shitty day we would just get a one ride. Nobody would ever check it, so we would parlay it into a few runs until we were either done, or they finally validated it.

Attitash used to have a system where you bought points and depending on the lift it deducted so many points per ride or you could buy a day ticket.

 

[drjeff]

Like it or not (and as a small business owner I get it, as a skier, I don't like it) the ski industry and the hotel industry as Bode mentioned, are businesses, and businesses where the vast majority of the time they have excess capacity. So in those times of high demand, where they're actually at, or even above, capacity, they will look to maximize their profits during that minority of the time. Basic supply and demand economics stuff

 

[Smellytele]

Like it or not (and as a small business owner I get it, as a skier, I don't like it) the ski industry and the hotel industry as Bode mentioned, are businesses, and businesses where the vast majority of the time they have excess capacity. So in those times of high demand, where they're actually at, or even above, capacity, they will look to maximize their profits during that minority of the time. Basic supply and demand economics stuff

In days past they knew that weekdays were less busy so they would give deals (2fer's, half price wednesdays etc.). Now they just charge a premium to ski busy days. While it kind of works the same way the optics is what sucks.

 

[drjeff]

In days past they knew that weekdays were less busy so they would give deals (2fer's, half price wednesdays etc.). Now they just charge a premium to ski busy days. While it kind of works the same way the optics is what sucks.

I also think that for many resort operators, especially those who are part of some multi resort pass product, the notion that there are already really good deals out there (via the multi resort pass product) is definitely there, so the need to offer further deals isn't there, and for those who don't want to get the mutli resort pass, possibly, for SOME, the desire to get in on the deal that the pass offers will inspire them to get such ans such a mukti resort pass the following season.

I am guessing that in a dream scenario from an operations standpoint, that most every resort out there would love if people would have to make reservations (even if there were an unlimited number per day) a few days ahead of time, with no walk ups, as that way from a staffing situation as well as quantity of food and beverage to have on hand, they would have a very good idea as to how much staff ans supplies they actaully need to have on hand on any given day. I am glad that this reservation concept from the Covid era didn't stick around on a widespread basis though from the skier/consumer perspective. I get it from the business operations side though....

 

[BodeMiller1]

The predicting demand to staff at the most cost effective level is an interesting point. When I worked in Banking the saying was,you can't schedule tellers so you don't have a line on Friday afternoon. Now every one tries to do just that. In manufacturing, just in time parts arrival. In customer service, call centers. In accounting, shared services. Instead of having a book keeper at each location doing lots of functions. You have a person posting checks all day, etc. you loose your the personal relationship with the customer and the job sucks. It causes customers unnecessary agrivation. Butt, it saves money money.

All we need is a time machine and we can save skiing.

 

[kbroderick]

Agree. The team to the top is what actually put that place on the map for most skier's/riders. To charge that much on top of a crazy ticket price has gone a bit too far. Might as well just make the entire joint part of Yellowstone club and call it good.

I dislike the upcharge for a single lift on principle especially as it would have made it really difficult for me to have gotten in the small number of tram rides I have (2, maybe 3) while there for races.

With that said, there's a whole lot of terrain without touching the tram, and from a practical standpoint, paying $40, $80, or even $120 over the course of a visit isn't going to make much difference in the total cost, but it stands a reasonable chance of helping limit wait times without packing the limited terrain so full that you can't actually ski it.

 

[Smellytele]

So is the tram rate even for season pass holders?

 

[drjeff]

So is the tram rate even for season pass holders?

As I understand it, they have multiple tiers of season passes, some of which have no tram rides included, some of which have a set number of tram rides for the season included, and 1 has unlimted tram rides for the season. So they basically have a "pay to play" system in place for their season passholders

 

[Smellytele]

As I understand it, they have multiple tiers of season passes, some of which have no tram rides included, some of which have a set number of tram rides for the season included, and 1 has unlimted tram rides for the season. So they basically have a "pay to play" system in place for their season passholders

That sux

 

[SkiingInABlueDream]

Unless one is on a very tight budget I can't imagine going to Big Sky and not springing for at least one tram lap. Just seems like a necessary part of BS to me. (Edit. Unless conditions or weather suck) I agree it's a shitty money grab but the ppl running the place know what they've got
do they let ppl hike up there? guessing no

 

[jaytrem]

I wonder if they still plan to build the chair that almost goes to the top? It would be between Dakota and Shedhorn, and be a much shorter hike to the top.

 

[thetrailboss]

The reason for the upcharge is purely based on crowd control. I first skied Big Sky in March 2021. Then the wait time for a single tram ride was about 40-60 minutes. Locals were not at all happy. Big Sky responded that summer by implementing the upcharge for 2021-2022. From what I saw on my next visit, it made a difference.

All of the locals with whom I spoke said that the crowds were directly correlated to going IKON. Chalk this up as another cost incurred by the industry going the discount multi-pass route--along with paid parking, crowds, lift cutting privileges at a cost, etc.

 

[machski]

The reason for the upcharge is purely based on crowd control. I first skied Big Sky in March 2021. Then the wait time for a single tram ride was about 40-60 minutes. Locals were not at all happy. Big Sky responded that summer by implementing the upcharge for 2021-2022. From what I saw on my next visit, it made a difference.

All of the locals with whom I spoke said that the crowds were directly correlated to going IKON. Chalk this up as another cost incurred by the industry going the discount multi-pass route--along with paid parking, crowds, lift cutting privileges at a cost, etc.

They can say that Trailboss but it is a load of crap. Went there even before the MaxxPass came out and on overcast, lower vis days there was almost zero line for the tram. Sun came out, even without new snow, the line blew up to minimum 45 minutes. Granted back then all other lifts were basically ski on but that was also when Moonlight was a separate area on a totally separate ticket.
Are there more crowds at BigSky today? You bet. Is that solely the result of the iKon pass. Hell no. Much of the added crowd has to do with the Capital Boyne is dumping in, other developers are dumping in, the airport has tripled it's amount of service and doubled in size since we first went out over a decade ago. Oh, and iKon now requires reservations to BigSky meaning they can control the amount of flow from that product. But naturally, locals and others love to just blame iKon. BigSky would be much busier than the past without iKon, it has hit the map and is a fairly easy drive from a built up airport. Would all that money have flowed in if no iKon? Unsure, but Bot e started down this road with BS long before iKon was conceived.

 

[machski]

Just off the heels of opening the new Tram and midway thru building the new Explorer 10 pax, 2 stage D-Line Gondola, Boyne and BS are set to replace the Six Shooter on the Moonlight side with a 8 pack Bubble D-Line this summer. Holy crap!

 

[jimmywilson69]

The investment by Boyne there is nothing short of amazing. I wonder what kind of Deal doppelmayr has given them on all of this work

 

[thetrailboss]

Big Sky to Build World’s Longest Eight Seat Chairlift

Big Sky will become the first US ski area to replace a six place chairlift with a larger machine next summer on the north flank of Lone Peak. Replacing Six Shooter, the new North Side 8 will be the…

liftblog.com

 

[thetrailboss]

I'm going to leave this here. Source: Liftblog.com