Vail Resorts is buying Peak Resorts.

[TheArchitect]

Alterra, please buy Jay and Burke in reaction to this. Please? I have the Ikon pass again this year. Next year's pass purchase is going to be harder choice now without Jay and Burke on Ikon.

 

[Tdizzle]

benny?

Poor Stowe? Stowe was ruined years ago.

 

[Tdizzle]

Sad day for this Hunter midweek rider

 

[BenedictGomez]

Sad day for this Hunter midweek rider

This wont affect a "Hunter midweek rider" much at all. You'll pay a few hundred more per year than your Peaks midweek pass, but get access to a zillion more resorts.

 

[Edd]

This wont affect a "Hunter midweek rider" much at all. You'll pay a few hundred more per year than your Peaks midweek pass, but get access to a zillion more resorts.

The diehard homers at local mountains are affected though. A few hundred more is stretching the budget for some folks. The comments on Wildcat’s Instagram page are making that clear.

A guy like me is going to spend less in the end.

 

[BenedictGomez]

The diehard homers at local mountains are affected though.

Yeah, the people that literally only ski at 1 place ever will pay more, but realistically I have to imagine they are relatively few in number.

 

[deadheadskier]

Yeah, the people that literally only ski at 1 place ever will pay more, but realistically I have to imagine they are relatively few in number.

I don't think that group is insignificant. Small for sure. Most ski bums would fall into that group. They really only ski their home mountain midweek as they are too busy working over the weekends and the holidays to ski then. So, large multi-mountain passes have little appeal.

I'd think it would be a nice gesture for companies like Vail to offer a midweek one mountain locals pass for short money.

Between the loss of midweek passes combined with rising day ticket costs, it doesn't appear the industry is really pushing to expand participation.

Sent from my XT1635-01 using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[jimmywilson69]

Yeah, the people that literally only ski at 1 place ever will pay more, but realistically I have to imagine they are relatively few in number.

you would think that, but its not true for the local feeder hills. Like there are hundreds of people that only ski at little Roundtop in PA and are diehard about it because it used to be cheap. Those people freaked out in April, when Peaks slashed all of the snowtime discounts and forced their hand into a Peaks Pass.

I go to VT and Go out west, so this is a good deal for me and Epic is much much better offering than a Peaks only scenario. Even if it does mean mine pass price will have gone up $200 in 2 years. So what, now I can ski up North and out west and the skiing is "included"

I do worry about the long term viability of this, and BG's concerns are legit.

 

[Jully]

Between the loss of midweek passes combined with rising day ticket costs, it doesn't appear the industry is really pushing to expand participation.

Sent from my XT1635-01 using AlpineZone mobile app

Attitash and Wildcat still had ticket prices in the $80 range and you could beat the window price substantially midweek with Liftopia. Those resorts were some of the last > 1500 vert places with prices like that in New England.

 

[Jully]

Will be interesting to see what Vail does with local management. As long as Wildcat's management more or less stays in place, I care a lot less about this whole thing.

What do Kirkwood skiers think of Vail's management so far?

 

[JimG.]

Vail closes all of their ski areas by mid-April.

So does this mean there is no longer any late season option for Vail/Peaks/Epic passholders?

That would suck for K passholders like myself.

 

[Edd]

Epic offers a Military Pass which is crazy cheap. I’d previously thought it was for active and retirees only but it appears to be for veterans also, which I am. This post from Wildcat may be implying I could get a refund if I trade in the Peak Traveler for an Epic Military. If true, that would blow my mind.

 

[mbedle]

Vail closes all of their ski areas by mid-April.

So does this mean there is no longer any late season option for Vail/Peaks/Epic passholders?

That would suck for K passholders like myself.

Vail is changing that plan, starting with Breckenridge and keystone this year. It will be interesting to see how the change the opening / closing schedule for wildcat next year.

 

[drjeff]

I don't think that group is insignificant. Small for sure. Most ski bums would fall into that group. They really only ski their home mountain midweek as they are too busy working over the weekends and the holidays to ski then. So, large multi-mountain passes have little appeal.

I'd think it would be a nice gesture for companies like Vail to offer a midweek one mountain locals pass for short money.

Between the loss of midweek passes combined with rising day ticket costs, it doesn't appear the industry is really pushing to expand participation.

Sent from my XT1635-01 using AlpineZone mobile app

Nice gesture, certainly. Especially to start off as being a "good" new member of the community.

I also have a hunch, that many of those midweek only passes that locals and the retired crew often flock to, will show with the scan data that indeed they may only be used at 1 mountain all season, however they're used frequently enough all season long that their net cost per day amount at the end of the season is far lower than many other passholder demographics on a proportional basis.

This is certainly not a clear cut, easy issue to address, since at the end of it all, the ski industry is a business after all...

 

[Tdizzle]

This wont affect a "Hunter midweek rider" much at all. You'll pay a few hundred more per year than your Peaks midweek pass, but get access to a zillion more resorts.

A few HUNDRED dollars more. I'm a local. I ride like twice a week. Maybe take 1 or 2 overnight trips a year to Smuggs. I have a gang of friends who do the same. I few HUNDRED dollars more hits hard.

 

[thebigo]

Vail is changing that plan, starting with Breckenridge and keystone this year. It will be interesting to see how the change the opening / closing schedule for wildcat next year.

When did keystone and breckenridge close this year?

Edit: May 27, per this site: https://www.snowpak.com/colorado/breckenridge/opening-dates

Coupled with cheap flights to denver from bos, april school vacation at Breckenridge may become a yearly routine.

 

[slatham]

Vail is changing that plan, starting with Breckenridge and keystone this year. It will be interesting to see how the change the opening / closing schedule for wildcat next year.

This change was only due to the loss of A-Basin and the early/late skiing it provided. Vail realized that for the Colorado local they had to counter this, and Keystone early with its snowmaking, and Breck late with its elevation was the plan. I would not interpret this as a company-wide, national effort to offer early and/or late skiing. There was certainly no added length to Stowe's season, and they had the snow to do so!

 

[mbedle]

When did keystone and breckenridge close this year?

Breck was June 9th and the plan for next year is to open keystone a lot earlier to compete with a-basin.

 

[slatham]

Vail is changing that plan, starting with Breckenridge and keystone this year. It will be interesting to see how the change the opening / closing schedule for wildcat next year.

This change was only due to the loss of A-Basin and the early/late skiing it provided. Vail realized that for the Colorado local they had to counter this, and Keystone early with its snowmaking, and Breck late with its elevation was the plan. I would not interpret this as a company-wide, national effort to offer early and/or late skiing. There was certainly no added length to Stowe's season, and they had the snow to do so!

 

[mbedle]

When did keystone and breckenridge close this year?

Breck was June 9th and the plan for next year is to open keystone a lot earlier to compete with a-basin.