2008-09 Season Pass comparison

[hardline]

Christ, I *wish* we had passes like that around here. But careful, ASC haters will be all over that predicting the total and absolute failure of Vale, BreckenRidge, etc...

i dont know how the front range resorts have such cheep passes. its crazy.

 

[tcharron]

i dont know how the front range resorts have such cheep passes. its crazy.

Sheer size.

 

[deadheadskier]

i dont know how the front range resorts have such cheep passes. its crazy.

If I had to guess? Far smaller percentage of season pass holders than in the east....much more destination travelers paying full clip on day tickets.

 

[hardline]

If I had to guess? Far smaller percentage of season pass holders than in the east....much more destination travelers paying full clip on day tickets.

but event then. different companies offer combo passes. its a complete pass war out there. you break even on a pass in the front range in like 5 days. they are deffinatly not give the pases away they are competing for bussiness so i don't think your theory hold true but i could be wrong.

 

[deadheadskier]

It's definitely a funky yield management formula they got out there, especially the front range of Colorado where you really only have two competing companies; Vail (beaver creek, breck, keystone, a basin) and Intrawest (copper . winterpark/maryjane) Aspen and Steamboat really aren't attractive day trip options.

I guess there they see that there are only about 3 million people within day trip distance and the average skier only skis 6/7 days. Their day passes at $80+ (specifically there to gouge destination travelers) might scare some day trippers to only go 4 times, but if they offer a $400 pass, more will eat that up. So, it becomes a $320 revenue per customer stance vs $400. Incremental dollars with F&B, lodging, gear etc, must be a big factor in the formula as well.

Different economics hear in the east where most areas have upwards of 30 million people within 2-5 hour drive.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

i dont know how the front range resorts have such cheep passes. its crazy.

My cousins live in Boulder and alot of Boulderites who are generally fair weather skiers buy the passes and end up only skiing about 10 days a season...it's not like here in the east where most season passholders ski at least 20-30 days..

For instance my season pass for Blue mountain is going to be a bit over $500..if I would have purchased it in June it would have been a bit under $500..and I feel that $1200 for a season pass at Stowe or $1600 for a season pass at Jackson Hole is a better value than $500 at Blue..Due to the amount of days I ski Blue mountain..my pass is paid off by Christmas and I actually spend less money on my season pass than I'd spend at the bar if I wasn't skiing. In everyday life there are certain expenses I can avoid out of being cheap..no aligator shoes, shots of patron and no luxury car but I don't want to skimp on $$$$ when it comes to skiing. Except for gear since online has such good deals..

 

[tjf67]

Stowe is one of the few resorts that's worth the charge..If I lived in Burlington..I'd buy a pass at Stowe..

Dude you are out of your chicken. If I lived in burlingtn Jay would be the first hill I would buy a pass at. Sugarbush second.

 

[tjf67]

Btw

Great information thanks for puttin it together

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Dude you are out of your chicken. If I lived in burlingtn Jay would be the first hill I would buy a pass at. Sugarbush second.

Different strokes for different folks..Stowe is 43 miles from Burlington..Sugarbush about 50 miles and Jay Peak..65-70 miles I believe. The problem I have with Jay is that there's a long flat runout and the lifts(especially the tram and flyer) are often on windhold due to exposure. Plus because the glades are on the trail-map..they get alot of traffic. I've had great fun skiing the Face Chutes at Jay Peak and some interesting natural snow runs like Green Beret and Kitzbuhl but Stowe is a far better mountain..IMHO...One thing I dislike about Sugarbush is that you need to take two lifts to get to the top..with Stowe..you hop on the quad and 6 minutes later, you're at the top and from there you can ski 3/4 of the mountain..or hop on the Gondola and you can hit the rest of Mansfield..and the connector lift to Spruce and Big Spruce now being a high Speed Quad is sa weet. Back in college I was always a Stowe fanboy.

My Freshman year they had the Big Pass which was good for Sugarbush and Stowe..then they ended that and my 2nd year of college the options were a Stowe only pass or a huge pass which was good for Sugarbush/MRG/Jay Peak...I thought about buying both passes but ended up just buying a Stowe pass and skiing the other mountains a handfull of times with friends. For me there's no place in the east I'd rather be skiing than Stowe..

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

less greedy management with fewer anal interests/attitudes, more acclumated(sp?) towards the outdoors. Have lived out in the country...where most eastern management has been in paved over suburbia with very little appreciation and knowledge of benefits of unspoiled country.

Steved

wow:-d

 

[deadheadskier]

Dude you are out of your chicken. If I lived in burlingtn Jay would be the first hill I would buy a pass at. Sugarbush second.

based on terrain/conditions or on price?


I'm almost as big of a Stowe homer as steeze, that said, with the current pricing I would side with your choices though in reverse order due to commute time.

Actually, what I would probably get is a Smuggs pass for $489 or possibly a bash badge plus for $169 and a Mt. Ellen pass for $599, then a few day tickets to Jay, Stowe and MRG through a ski club. I hate the slow lifts at Smuggs and would miss out on Lincoln Peak at Sugarbush, but sometimes storms track more south to the Bush and sometimes more north to the Stowe/Smuggs area. It would be nice to have that flexibility to go were the snow has fallen deeper on a given day.

 

[bigbog]

;-);-)

wow:-d

HaHa...Steeze you caught me in my weekly Boyne tirade.....deleted!, but the feelings are the truth. You're looking for RATIONALE(If I can even spell it!;-)) from mgmnt that has to deal with electric and water costs in New England....and usually has an anal attitude towards what a resort should be in the environment. They're most all real estate barons....would love to pave everything over and convert it to property....

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

HaHa...Steeze you caught me in my weekly Boyne tirade.....deleted!, but the feelings are the truth. You're looking for RATIONALE(If I can even spell it!;-)) from mgmnt that has to deal with electric and water costs in New England....and usually has an anal attitude towards what a resort should be in the environment. They're most all real estate barons....would love to pave everything over and convert it to property....

When I lived in Bozeman..all the Big Sky employees always bitched about the Boyne management. They were uber strict and uber cheap both with their employees and with running lifts during the week..

why the edit??? Do you work for Boyne?

 

[tjf67]

based on terrain/conditions or on price?


I'm almost as big of a Stowe homer as steeze, that said, with the current pricing I would side with your choices though in reverse order due to commute time.

Actually, what I would probably get is a Smuggs pass for $489 or possibly a bash badge plus for $169 and a Mt. Ellen pass for $599, then a few day tickets to Jay, Stowe and MRG through a ski club. I hate the slow lifts at Smuggs and would miss out on Lincoln Peak at Sugarbush, but sometimes storms track more south to the Bush and sometimes more north to the Stowe/Smuggs area. It would be nice to have that flexibility to go were the snow has fallen deeper on a given day.

I base it on condition terrain and price.

 

[nycskier]

The Gore Whiteface combo pass would be so awesome if they threw in a few days at Belleayre on it too.

SInce they are all owned by New York State I can't see why they can't have Belleayre on the pass too, or at the very least throw in ski 5 or 10 days at Belleayre as a bonus.

It would make it a real draw for the NYC people. I know a lot of folks who live in the City might go for Whiteface pass instead of a Vermont resort pass if they knew on the Whitface pass they could ski a couple days at a mountain that was closer to home.

 

[deadheadskier]

The Gore Whiteface combo pass would be so awesome if they threw in a few days at Belleayre on it too.

SInce they are all owned by New York State I can't see why they can't have Belleayre on the pass too, or at the very least throw in ski 5 or 10 days at Belleayre as a bonus.

It would make it a real draw for the NYC people. I know a lot of folks who live in the City might go for Whiteface pass instead of a Vermont resort pass if they knew on the Whitface pass they could ski a couple days at a mountain that was closer to home.

maybe the consensus is that if they include Belleayre it would draw traffic away from it's brothers up north?

 

[tjf67]

The Gore Whiteface combo pass would be so awesome if they threw in a few days at Belleayre on it too.

SInce they are all owned by New York State I can't see why they can't have Belleayre on the pass too, or at the very least throw in ski 5 or 10 days at Belleayre as a bonus.

It would make it a real draw for the NYC people. I know a lot of folks who live in the City might go for Whiteface pass instead of a Vermont resort pass if they knew on the Whitface pass they could ski a couple days at a mountain that was closer to home.

ORDA is in charge of gore/whiteface. That is the reason for the combined pass. I would argue that if the City folk came to the hills up here in the ADK that would buy the pass and no longer go to vermont. Not complaining though Vermont needs you guys