Platty 🏂🎿😃 sweet hill in West Cats NY

Cornhead said:

In fact, I'm probably outdoors more in the Winter than any other time of year, yes I'm weird.

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I definitely spend more time outdoors in the winter than I do in the summer. In the summer I'm usually hanging in the AC. If I lived on a lake it would be different. Seeing how I need to drive to do my swimming, I don't spend nearly as much time outdoors.

I'm an addict too, with theoretically unlimited vacation (the limit is the amount of work I have to do) but only 10 or 20% of my days are midweek.

Waaayy off topic but Cornhead I got to tell you...

I was at Thanksgiving with the family telling the awesome tale of Snow Ridge and I mentioned you.

My 8yo daughter just can not get over the fact that I know a guy named Cornhead. She is telling all her friends.

"And you know what? Daddy doesn't even think it's weird!" I showed her your NYSB avatar too... she was like... WTF?

Harvey said:

I'm an addict too, with theoretically unlimited vacation (the limit is the amount of work I have to do) but only 10 or 20% of my days are midweek.

Waaayy off topic but Cornhead I got to tell you...

I was at Thanksgiving with the family telling the awesome tale of Snow Ridge and I mentioned you.

My 8yo daughter just can not get over the fact that I know a guy named Cornhead. She is telling all her friends.

"And you know what? Daddy doesn't even think it's weird!" I showed her your NYSB avatar too... she was like... WTF?

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Too funny! My 12 year old son and I hiked the Giant Ledge/Panther Mountain with Scotty and Cornhead a few weeks ago and he is still asking me why Bob is nicknamed Cornhead.

Harvey said:

Benedict - What expenses would you cut to lower the pass price? What mountain has a lower pass price that you think provides a better or equal experience?

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As you likely know I love Platty, but as you probably also know I am in the very small minority in terms of what I seek from the overall ski experience. As for your first question, I don't know enough about their top-line or their expenses to be able to answer that sufficiently. But I do agree with Scotty at least in so much as their price seems to be disjoined relative to their competition given the total services/amenities they offer and the fact that Platty is farther away / less convenient for the vast majority of the market. What percentage of adult Platty skiers do you think are on a full season pass? I could be wrong, but my guess is it's probably lower than most. These mathematical bell curve pricing questions are difficult, and again, I could be wildly incorrect, but my guess is they'd do financially better volumetrically with a lower price, while not significantly cannibalizing single day sales. My 2¢ speculation.

ScottySkis said:

Once snowmaking ocean can operations start then the can recovery after non snow event in a week of cold temperatures on maybe 10 trails

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I'm very eager to see the impact of this. Shouldn't this be the first season we really start to see the benefits of the giant pond, additional guns/fans, and pipe infrastructure?

ScottySkis said:

150 cheaper and no snow making

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Just when I was agreeing with Scotty, he went and took a big hit.

I agree with BG totalaly and would not want lack of snowmaking there. I just saying I could justifying buying pass their with cheaper pass but am happy and wait ing for more snowmaking this year and u see better recovery this year then I spend that more$ next winter. Love seeing them being success full.

BG: That was my point... it's really hard (for us) to know what the pass price should be. I'll bet a donut that the best person to make that call is the guy who is making it. I believe that Plattekill's continued existence is not due to the most price sensitive skiers.

How do you feel about the day ticket price?

My guess is 10% of ticket revenue is from passholders.

No on the pond. It will not be a factor this year. As marcski mentioned other snowmaking improvements, slow and steady, are mattering.

JimG. said:

Too funny! My 12 year old son and I hiked the Giant Ledge/Panther Mountain with Scotty and Cornhead a few weeks ago and he is still asking me why Bob is nicknamed Cornhead.

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When I was a kid, I thought the funniest thing in the world was that my grandfather had friends named "Liver Lips" and "Dump Rat". Actually, I still think that's hilarious.

OK, I'm pretty sure I've posted the origin of "Cornhead", at least on Harvey Road. People on ski forums assume that it has to do with Spring corn snow, a logical assumption. I do love me some soft April bumps, but alas, this is not the origin.

I was about 23 yrs old, living with a girl with a 3 yr old Son. One day I was picking him up from the sitters. The child seat was in the middle of the back seat. Kenny, aka Kenny Cornhead, after this fateful day, had a red Winter jacket with a hood. When I saw him in the rear view mirror I said, "You look like a little Conehead with that hood on." He immediately scowled, and said, "I am not a Cornhead, YOU'RE A CORNHEAD!" After the "Cornhead Incident", I would come home, Kenny would say, "Hi Bob", then wait the perfect amount of time, and then add, "Cornhead!".

I was going to school at the time, living above a bar, and tending there for income. Perfect job for that, other than easy access to booze, and no days off between school and work. I wonder why that relationship didn't last? Anyway, the regulars in the bar began calling Kenny "Cornhead", or "Kenny Cornhead". Some friends of ours were teaching Kenny to say, "Spare me". I was tending bar, my girlfriend, and Kenny, came downstairs into the bar. The bar was pretty dead, one regular at the bar glanced over his shoulder while pouring his red and white as they walked in. Without turning completely towards them the regular said, "Hi Cornhead", to which Kenny replied, "Spare me Cornhead". I asked the guy what it felt like to be cut down by a 3 yr old. He was a neat kid, he liked playing the Stray Cats on the jukebox.

It's been about 30yrs since I've seen Kenny Cornhead, he is long an adult, I hope he is well.

Oh, my avatar on HR is a pic from my first visit to New Mexico, my Sis and I were going to go horseback riding, turns out I was over the weight limit, 220 lbs, IIRC. The horse head was carved into the top of a fence post at the corral, I thought it looked cool.

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I was a long time pass holder at Plattekill (me plus 3 kids). The price, as with all prices, has been rising steadily. Love everything about Platty but this year I did not go for the season passes. Last year I did ok (11 days for me) but with this year's increase it didn't make sense to lock into a pass even though I will continue to spend many days there. I just didn't save that much from even rack pricing. All three of my favorite mountains (Platty, MRG and Magic) have the same problem, short season and often limited terrain even when open, makes the pass commitment a tough one. I am a shareholder at Mad so I am a full believer of putting my money where my passion is. Hopefully all of the special ski places will survive, they are irreplaceable and are a reminder of what skiing really is.

Cornhead! Awesome new avatar, Neve (8yo) will see it tonight!

Very solid post selski.

selski said:

Last year I did ok (11 days for me) but with this year's increase it didn't make sense to lock into a pass even though I will continue to spend many days there.

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What is the break even point in days on season pass vs day ticket?

selski said:

All three of my favorite mountains (Platty, MRG and Magic)...

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selski said:

Hopefully all of the special ski places will survive, they are irreplaceable and are a reminder of what skiing really is.

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Look for some news on this next week on NYSB.

Harvey said:

How do you feel about the day ticket price?

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A bit too high. I make that judgement via the fact Platty is usually pretty empty, even on weekends.

I'd lower the price from $59 to $50, and once again, I'd go for volume. It still wouldn't be crowded, but for every additional $50 sale effected, you'd negate ~5.5 tickets worth of that $9 spread. Belleayre charges $64, so $50 would be a meaningful 28% discount from their prices, and might add the proper motivation for people to drive the ~22 extra minutes each way DIRECTLY PAST (literally) their hill.

Again, just spitting & speculating here as I have no access to their data to play with in Excel, but when the "product" you're selling isn't a physical good, the lack of capacity (i.e. fannies on snow) bothers me.

BenedictGomez said:

A bit too high. I make that judgement via the fact Platty is usually pretty empty, even on weekends.

I'd lower the price from $59 to $50, and once again, I'd go for volume. It still wouldn't be crowded, but for every additional $50 sale effected, you'd negate ~5.5 tickets worth of that $9 spread. Belleayre charges $64, so $50 would be a meaningful 28% discount from their prices, and might add the proper motivation for people to drive the ~22 extra minutes each way DIRECTLY PAST (literally) their hill.

Again, just spitting & speculating here as I have no access to their data to play with in Excel, but when the "product" you're selling isn't a physical good, the lack of capacity (i.e. fannies on snow) bothers me.

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The average customer at Plattekill is probably different than average customer at Belleayre. Maybe a better comparison would be Platte vs Hunter? I realize Hunter has the monster snowmaking and 2 high speed lifts, but Hunter and Plattekill offer similar expert terrain vs Bell or even Windham.

You could say Belleayre is underpriced for what they are offering. I have no problem with that.:grin:

It is about 10.5 days on full price tickets if you buy in the spring.

BenedictGomez said:

A bit too high. I make that judgement via the fact Platty is usually pretty empty, even on weekends.

I'd lower the price from $59 to $50, and once again, I'd go for volume. It still wouldn't be crowded, but for every additional $50 sale effected, you'd negate ~5.5 tickets worth of that $9 spread. Belleayre charges $64, so $50 would be a meaningful 28% discount from their prices, and might add the proper motivation for people to drive the ~22 extra minutes each way DIRECTLY PAST (literally) their hill.

Again, just spitting & speculating here as I have no access to their data to play with in Excel, but when the "product" you're selling isn't a physical good, the lack of capacity (i.e. fannies on snow) bothers me.

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The day trippers to Platty are not bothered by that extra $9, so I don't see discounting that being a draw. The day trippers are good skiers looking for what Platty delivers on when mother nature lends a hand; otherwise they're at Hunter.

x10003q said:

The average customer at Plattekill is probably different than average customer at Belleayre. Maybe a better comparison would be Platte vs Hunter?

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Definitely true, but so too is the average customer at Plattekill probably different than the average customer at Hunter or Windham. All 4 places carve out a niche relatively well, IMO.

x10003q said:

You could say Belleayre is underpriced for what they are offering.

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Eh..... you could say that if you like, but I think you'd be kind of crazy if you did. :-o

Scruffy said:

The day trippers to Platty are not bothered by that extra $9, so I don't see discounting that being a draw.

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Obviously; but the day trippers who aren't at Platty, quite possibly are.

BenedictGomez said:

Eh..... you could say that if you like, but I think you'd be kind of crazy if you did. :-o

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So what should the price be?

x10003q said:

So what should the price be?

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Dunno. How much can they afford to pay me to ski there?

BenedictGomez said:

Dunno. How much can they afford to pay me to ski there?

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$1.25 is the most I ever made, though not technically paid by the ski resort.Pinnacle of my SOTC achievements, don't expect to top it.

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Scruffy said:

The day trippers to Platty are not bothered by that extra $9, so I don't see discounting that being a draw. The day trippers are good skiers looking for what Platty delivers on when mother nature lends a hand; otherwise they're at Hunter.

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+1