EPIC 2021-2022 Announcement =Pass cost cut 20%

[boston_e]

It's not necessarily "tied to" an Epic mountain. It's all about which mountain you prefer.

If your favorite is one of the above, it really doesn't matter what IKON options are 'superior' or not. Which IKON mountain is "superior" than Stowe? Bush?

And what if your favorite mountain is Okemo? Does it matter Killington/Pico is "superior"?

Of course someones favorite mountain is up to each person and what they personally consider superior.

I would guess though that more people not tied to a specific resort through property or otherwise, would think that the Ikon selection of mountains in New England are better resorts overall than the Epic selection.

 

[abc]

I would guess though that more people not tied to a specific resort through property or otherwise, would think that the Ikon selection of mountains in New England are better resorts overall than the Epic selection.

I kind of disagree. Okemo is VERY popular. Long before Vail took it over, it's been one of the busiest mountain. A lot of casual skiers really dig the ego inflating terrain there. And the manicured runs also conducive to casual cruising.

Granted, just as many find Stratton their favorite for the same reason. Only that it's not any "better".

What I see IKON has is more diversity of terrains and geography. I personally find that factor superior. But I don't know if I can project that onto the average skiers.

 

[dblskifanatic]

I kind of disagree. Okemo is VERY popular. Long before Vail took it over, it's been one of the busiest mountain. A lot of casual skiers really dig the ego inflating terrain there. And the manicured runs also conducive to casual cruising.

Granted, just as many find Stratton their favorite for the same reason. Only that it's not any "better".

What I see IKON has is more diversity of terrains and geography. I personally find that factor superior. But I don't know if I can project that onto the average skiers.

Mount Snow also very popular as well as Hunter. Sunapee for Boston peeps. Stowe has its own luster since it used to be too costly before now more affordable. If they get their shit together at Wildcat and Attitash that will help and it is an unknown at this time.

Ikon has Stratton and Sugarbush for those high volume skiers then 5 days total for Killington/Pico. Then you have the Loon Zoo and the trek to ME for additional 5 day resorts.

Not sure if Killington 5 days has enough appeal may be it does. Sugarbush vs Stowe? They have their fans. Stratton vs Okemo? They also have their fans. Southern NH option probably goes to to Epic but Boston North (loon) has a five day option.

Then there is the full Ikon which changes the 5 to 7.

 

[deadheadskier]

Location, location, location

Mt Snow, Hunter and Okemo are as popular as they are primarily for that reason.

Put Sugarbush or Sugarloaf in the same neighborhoods and there's no question in my mind both would be more popular than Hunter, Snow or Okemo. Superior snow, size and terrain variety. All the same reasons why Killington is more popular than Snow and Okemo.

 

[dblskifanatic]

Location, location, location

Mt Snow, Hunter and Okemo are as popular as they are primarily for that reason.

Put Sugarbush or Sugarloaf in the same neighborhoods and there's no question in my mind both would be more popular than Hunter, Snow or Okemo. Superior snow, size and terrain variety. All the same reasons why Killington is more popular than Snow and Okemo.

I agree!

 

[cdskier]

Location, location, location

Mt Snow, Hunter and Okemo are as popular as they are primarily for that reason.

Put Sugarbush or Sugarloaf in the same neighborhoods and there's no question in my mind both would be more popular than Hunter, Snow or Okemo. Superior snow, size and terrain variety. All the same reasons why Killington is more popular than Snow and Okemo.

Location certainly is a factor to a degree. But I'm not 100% sure that SB would be more popular than Okemo if they were both in the same neighborhood. There's certainly a good deal of people that love their groomers and would complain that a place like SB doesn't have enough of them and would sooner ski Okemo (heck even look in the SB thread this year there were some complaints about not enough groomed trails). I think SB and Okemo both cater to very different clientele and types of skiers (and it isn't based purely on location).

 

[deadheadskier]

Location certainly is a factor to a degree. But I'm not 100% sure that SB would be more popular than Okemo if they were both in the same neighborhood. There's certainly a good deal of people that love their groomers and would complain that a place like SB doesn't have enough of them and would sooner ski Okemo (heck even look in the SB thread this year there were some complaints about not enough groomed trails). I think SB and Okemo both cater to very different clientele and types of skiers (and it isn't based purely on location).

Could be true for Sugarbush. Though as I mentioned, Killington is more popular than Okemo and Killington isn't all that great of a mountain for people who like groomers. They do have more than Sugarbush though.

 

[cdskier]

Could be true for Sugarbush. Though as I mentioned, Killington is more popular than Okemo and Killington isn't all that great of a mountain for people who like groomers. They do have more than Sugarbush though.

Been a while since I've been to K, but I recall K having substantially more groomed terrain than SB. Just looking at the current report, K lists 72 groomed trails last night and I've seen other days with their count well into the 80s. For SB, 60-65 would be a high number of groomed runs on any given night. Mid-week they're typically in the low 50s. Sure K doesn't have Okemo level grooming, but certainly more than SB. K has other factors that draw the crowd as well (nightlife vs Okemo).

And I say this as someone that loves SB and drives the extra hour to SB over either K or Okemo all the time in a normal year as I personally do think it is superior. I just don't think it is as clear cut as you originally said that SB would be more popular than Okemo if they were both in the same location. There are a lot of casual skiers out there that would choose Okemo's terrain over SB's. This forum is biased towards a more advanced skier that favors the more challenging and diverse terrain than the general population.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

K has many more groomed options than SB. multiple t2b groomer routes from most chairs

last weekend i skied cruise control. somehow i had not skied cruise control since i was a kid. i guess because it is sort of tucked away between bear and needles eye pods. i had no idea that sun deck was up there. super chill little spot.

 

[abc]

Put Sugarbush or Sugarloaf in the same neighborhoods and there's no question in my mind both would be more popular than Hunter, Snow or Okemo. Superior snow, size and terrain variety.

Except if you put SB where Okemo is, it wouldn't have "superior snow" any more.

Don't get me wrong, the terrains of SB or SL are superb. But for the casual skiers, they don't necessarily need better terrain.

On the other hand, everyone can use better snow, which SB has, even more so at Sugarloaf. But that's exactly due to their locations, which happened to be further away from population center.

Wait till self-driving cars become the norm, Sugarloaf will see herds coming!

 

[deadheadskier]

Elevation matters big time. Okemo and Killington are pretty close to one another. 15ish miles by the crow. Far more snow at Killington because of elevation. Same would hold true if Sugarbush was near Okemo. And Sugarbush actually averages quite a bit more snow than Sugarloaf.

I know you have zero self control over your contrarian tendencies, but do some research next time. Thanks

 

[abc]

Elevation matters big time. Okemo and Killington are pretty close to one another. 15ish miles by the crow. Far more snow at Killington because of elevation. Same would hold true if Sugarbush was near Okemo. And Sugarbush actually averages quite a bit more snow than Sugarloaf.

I know you have zero self control over your contrarian tendencies, but do some research next time. Thanks

The east also get more snow than many of the western mountains too! Yet they don't ski anything like the west!

More doesn't always mean better!

SB has "superior snow" because it's further north and the snow are in well "superior" condition! Move it down south, it loses that "superior" condition due to more melt-freeze cycle from the warmer temperature. K has more snow but it doesn't ski any better than Okemo! In fact, it typically ski worse than Okemo.

I know you have zero self control over your tendencies to insult others. But go ski some different mountains to gain some experience instead of just staring at numbers! Thanks.

 

[deadheadskier]

The east also get more snow than many of the western mountains too! Yet they don't ski anything like the west!

More doesn't always mean better!

SB has "superior snow" because it's further north and the snow are in well "superior" condition! Move it down south, it loses that "superior" condition due to more melt-freeze cycle from the warmer temperature. K has more snow but it doesn't ski any better than Okemo! In fact, it typically ski worse than Okemo.

I know you have zero self control over your tendencies to insult others. But go ski some different mountains to gain some experience instead of just staring at numbers! Thanks.

Ok. Sugarbush has better snow because it's North of Okemo and Killington has worse snow also being North of Okemo. Got it

And thanks for the tip on western snow. Geez, nobody would ever know without you dropping that knowledge.

 

[abc]

and Killington has worse snow also being North of Okemo

Okemo and Killington are pretty close to one another. 15ish miles by the crow

Which is it?

Close to one another or north?

 

[deadheadskier]

Which is it?

Close to one another or north?

Google ---->

 

[KustyTheKlown]

killington has better snow than okemo mainly because its 1000 feet higher.

i would say north doesnt start making a huge difference until you are east of the lake, ie, sugarbush and mad river and points north

 

[cdskier]

Some people are way over-thinking this. It was a fake hypothetical scenario of moving a mountain simply to take distance out of the equation for impact on popularity.

 

[abc]

Google ---->

Who needs google when it's spelled out?

Okemo and Killington are pretty close to one another. 15ish miles by the crow.

 

[deadheadskier]

You win. You put Sugarbush and Sugarloaf shoulder to shoulder as one across town in Ludlow and Okemo would still be more popular.

 

[ericfromMA/NH/VT]

I am pretty sure I'll get the Epic pass this year. here's why:

Its me and my 2 kids, both under 13. I live in southern NH.

We've had passes at Ragged for 5 years. Great place, CHEAP passes, 80 minutes from my house, but we are getting bored with it. we had been doing 3-4 trips per year to other places, primarily sugarbush (2 trips 2 days each) and a few other places.

The epic pass lets us use Sunapee as our home mountain (60 mins from my place, i like it) or go to crotched (45 minutes away) for easy day trip for close to home variety. Then, we can go to Okemo, Mt snow, and Stowe- places we've been meaning to go to anyways- and it just costs me gas and the hotel room.

AND I can do solo day trips during the week to attitash, wildcat and Okemo for the cost of gas.

will there be crowds? I'm sure there will be. But we'd be at sunapee/cranmore most weekends, and at the other bigger places on the weekdays 70% of the time. I pull my kids from school to ski. They are both doing well in school and its not a problem.

Yeah, I'm almost doubling what my pass costs will be, but I will have 2 options w/o black out dates real close to home, and free access to a bunch of other places that we will hit, and only stowe has black out dates. I can work around that.

About 3-5 trips to any place other than sunapee and crotched and it will pay for itself.

I just wish Vail had bought Sugarbush instead of Alterra lol, its the 1 place I'll pay for tix and hotel to ski, but we love it so I can deal with that.

IKON just doesn't have a place close enough to me to justify getting it. Loon is the closest, but I'm not going there every weekend.

I'll try this for a year, see how it works. For me, it's a no brainer.

anyone want to tell me why I shouldn't do this?