Indy Ski Pass

KustyTheKlown · Feb 24, 2021

at bolton lindsay deslaurier (owner/president) was greeting everyone on line at the ticket window and was super friendly and enthusiastic to every indy person and asked everyone whether they'd been to bolton before

urungus · Feb 24, 2021

jaytrem said:
I think TGR is only filming at Saddleback.

TGR have been filming at Berkshire East the last couple days and have posted a few photos on their Facebook page. I happened to be there yesterday when they were shooting people launching jumps off the rock in the middle of Exhibition.

KustyTheKlown · Feb 24, 2021

yea they announced that they'd be shooting at jay, magic, cannon, bolton, berkshire, and a sixth place that hadn't been announced yet. so the context of his comment is that they are 'only filming at saddleback' out of the new additions, saddleback and waterville

JimG. · Feb 24, 2021

abc said:
To me, Waterville and Windham are the two mountains I don't get. Yet they have their devote followers. People who ski almost exclusively in "their" mountain.

So it's surprising to me when Windham joined Vail. Now Waterville joining Indy is even more odd. The kind of clientele for these mountains aren't the kind that would take to the road to other mountains very enthusiastically, much less to other lessor known Indy mountains.

Windham crowd fits perfectly with Vail crowd...that is all.

machski · Feb 25, 2021

urungus said:
Mountains leaving the Indy Pass may help keep next seasons price down. I suspect several mountains joined for COVID-related reasons. For instance, Jay may decide to leave when the border finally reopens and they regain access to the Canadian Market.

Jay confirmed on FB they fully intend to be on the 21-22 Indy Pass.

xlr8r · Feb 26, 2021

I think what is going on is that there are essentially three types of ski customer.
1 - The people who own a house near a mountain and ski there 10+ days a year. These people will buy a season pass whether it is for just their mountain or a multi mountain pass, that includes their mountain. These people will rarely buy a day ticket
2 - The people who ski 10+ days a year, but are not tied to 1 mountain, these people are now buying multi mountain (Epic, Ikon, Indy) passes and very few will deviate from the mountains offered on their pass. These people also rarely buy day tickets
3 - The people who buy day tickets, these people only ski a few days a year.

Places like Waterville must have come to realize that they are missing out on a large customer base in type 2 that otherwise would not go there unless they were on a multi mountain pass. Just look out west pretty much every destination out there is also already on a multi mountain pass. If you want to be a destination resort, you cannot avoid multi mountain passes anymore, and if they do not want to deal with Vail Resorts or Alterra, Indy is the rising other option.

Killingtime · Feb 26, 2021

xlr8r said:
I think what is going on is that there are essentially three types of ski customer.
1 - The people who own a house near a mountain and ski there 10+ days a year. These people will buy a season pass whether it is for just their mountain or a multi mountain pass, that includes their mountain. These people will rarely buy a day ticket
2 - The people who ski 10+ days a year, but are not tied to 1 mountain, these people are now buying multi mountain (Epic, Ikon, Indy) passes and very few will deviate from the mountains offered on their pass. These people also rarely buy day tickets
3 - The people who buy day tickets, these people only ski a few days a year.

Places like Waterville must have come to realize that they are missing out on a large customer base in type 2 that otherwise would not go there unless they were on a multi mountain pass. Just look out west pretty much every destination out there is also already on a multi mountain pass. If you want to be a destination resort, you cannot avoid multi mountain passes anymore, and if they do not want to deal with Vail Resorts or Alterra, Indy is the rising other option.

Pretty good analysis. I was solidly in group 1 until I sold my home in Killington. The only time I tried anything different was with the Max Pass. Remember that? Kind of the early version of the Ikon Pass. Now I'm Indy/NYSki3 with an occasional day pass to fill in here and there. Next year hopefully Epic/Indy and in group 2. I do miss Vermont because of the covid restrictions but all in all it has been a good winter with just the two passes.

Ski2LiveLive2Ski · Feb 26, 2021

xlr8r said:
I think what is going on is that there are essentially three types of ski customer.
1 - The people who own a house near a mountain and ski there 10+ days a year. These people will buy a season pass whether it is for just their mountain or a multi mountain pass, that includes their mountain. These people will rarely buy a day ticket
2 - The people who ski 10+ days a year, but are not tied to 1 mountain, these people are now buying multi mountain (Epic, Ikon, Indy) passes and very few will deviate from the mountains offered on their pass. These people also rarely buy day tickets
3 - The people who buy day tickets, these people only ski a few days a year.

Places like Waterville must have come to realize that they are missing out on a large customer base in type 2 that otherwise would not go there unless they were on a multi mountain pass. Just look out west pretty much every destination out there is also already on a multi mountain pass. If you want to be a destination resort, you cannot avoid multi mountain passes anymore, and if they do not want to deal with Vail Resorts or Alterra, Indy is the rising other option.

There is also a type 2.5 that buys other discount products, including single mountain and multi mountain discount cards (e.g., cheaper rates and every 3rd visit free), the PA Ski & Ride Card that got you one day at each of 6 Mts, the 4th-5th graders ski free with paying adult cards in some states.

That was me until the last 3 seasons when I was first lured into a season pass by a killer deal at Blue Mt ($99 for each of my 2 6th graders and $399 for me - so we all skied a 1000 foot mt 95 min from home all season for under $600 total); and then got Epic last 2 Seasons.

Basically I go with whatever the best deal will be that gives me the skiing I want to do. Blue and then Epic made that a season pass for the first time in my 4 decades of skiing.

xlr8r · Feb 26, 2021

Personally I think Indy and formerly MAX have it right in limiting the number of days to each mountain to 2-5 visits. The true season pass to one mountain should then cost a premium over that and offer perks to those buyers. Offering true unlimited at such a low cost is what is causing a lot of the crowds and unhappy loyal passholders and longtime customers.

abc · Feb 26, 2021

xlr8r said:
I think what is going on is that there are essentially three types of ski customer.
1 - The people who own a house near a mountain and ski there 10+ days a year. These people will buy a season pass whether it is for just their mountain or a multi mountain pass, that includes their mountain. These people will rarely buy a day ticket
2 - The people who ski 10+ days a year, but are not tied to 1 mountain, these people are now buying multi mountain (Epic, Ikon, Indy) passes and very few will deviate from the mountains offered on their pass. These people also rarely buy day tickets
3 - The people who buy day tickets, these people only ski a few days a year.

Places like Waterville must have come to realize that they are missing out on a large customer base in type 2 that otherwise would not go there unless they were on a multi mountain pass. Just look out west pretty much every destination out there is also already on a multi mountain pass. If you want to be a destination resort, you cannot avoid multi mountain passes anymore, and if they do not want to deal with Vail Resorts or Alterra, Indy is the rising other option.

Good analysis!

But when it comes to Waterville, I'm not sure joining Indy is achieving that goal. Majority of Indy mountains aren't "destination" resorts after all. Waterville clientele maybe interested in skiing at Breckenridge for free, but will they plan a trip to China Peak CA?

machski · Feb 26, 2021

xlr8r said:
Personally I think Indy and formerly MAX have it right in limiting the number of days to each mountain to 2-5 visits. The true season pass to one mountain should then cost a premium over that and offer perks to those buyers. Offering true unlimited at such a low cost is what is causing a lot of the crowds and unhappy loyal passholders and longtime customers.

Yes, Max was a great add on or even standalone product. Would have been nice to have an extended days option similar to Mountain Collective (50% off addtional days after base days used up) in the event one wanted a slightly longer trip to a single area. Otherwise, that seemed right. Up and until it could compete with Epic. So we can all hate Vail again

machski · Feb 26, 2021

abc said:
Good analysis!

But when it comes to Waterville, I'm not sure joining Indy is achieving that goal. Majority of Indy mountains aren't "destination" resorts after all. Waterville clientele maybe interested in skiing at Breckenridge for free, but will they plan a trip to China Peak CA?

No, but I have friends who had the Indy pass this year and live in NH. Literally, WV added on got announced and they were in the car and at WV that morning skiing on their Indy pass. They would not have otherwise. Still think WV might miss on joining?

abc · Feb 26, 2021

machski said:
Yes, Max was a great add on or even standalone product. Would have been nice to have an extended days option similar to Mountain Collective (50% off addtional days after base days used up) in the event one wanted a slightly longer trip to a single area. Otherwise, that seemed right. Up and until it could compete with Epic. So we can all hate Vail again

Mountain Collective was definitely a sweet product. I was on it for 2 years until Ikon came out. Ikon was priced so low it literally pulled the rug from underneath MC.

Ski2LiveLive2Ski · Feb 26, 2021

xlr8r said:
Personally I think Indy and formerly MAX have it right in limiting the number of days to each mountain to 2-5 visits. The true season pass to one mountain should then cost a premium over that and offer perks to those buyers. Offering true unlimited at such a low cost is what is causing a lot of the crowds and unhappy loyal passholders and longtime customers.

Best situation is having both models available. Epic/Ikon model which clearly pleases the largest amount of people, and Indy model which pleases those you describe. So those who don't like the impact of Epic/Ikon can ski elsewhere.

2planks2coasts · Feb 26, 2021

abc said:
Good analysis!

But when it comes to Waterville, I'm not sure joining Indy is achieving that goal. Majority of Indy mountains aren't "destination" resorts after all. Waterville clientele maybe interested in skiing at Breckenridge for free, but will they plan a trip to China Peak CA?

Probably not China Peak, but a great many do plan fly-out trips to WA/ID where the big mountain, destination type Indypass resorts are concentrated. Look at the Indy FB page. Plenty of easterners asking for beta on Silver, Tamarack, White Pass, etc.

Zermatt · Feb 26, 2021

Unpopular opinion. Make skiing expensive again, and I'm not talking about day tickets.

xlr8r · Feb 26, 2021

Epic and Ikon have already claimed every major mtn in Utah and Colorado. Indy has found a niche in Washington and Idaho. Indy said they want to create clusters of mountains on their pass, which currently is the Northeast, Washington/Idaho, and the midwest. In the midwest Indy seems to have the prominent resorts over Ikon and Epic, like Lutsen, Granite, Crystal, Spirit, Caberfae etc. I think Indy could create another cluster around Tahoe as places like Sierra, Mt Rose, Homewood, are all free agents.

KustyTheKlown · Feb 26, 2021

xlr8r said:
Epic and Ikon have already claimed every major mtn in Utah and Colorado. Indy has found a niche in Washington and Idaho. Indy said they want to create clusters of mountains on their pass, which currently is the Northeast, Washington/Idaho, and the midwest. In the midwest Indy seems to have the prominent resorts over Ikon and Epic, like Lutsen, Granite, Crystal, Spirit, Caberfae etc. I think Indy could create another cluster around Tahoe as places like Sierra, Mt Rose, Homewood, are all free agents.

powder mountain is major. it has more skiable terrain than anyone else. they are independent, but not on indy. beaver mountain utah is on indy.

jaytrem · Feb 26, 2021

2planks2coasts said:
Probably not China Peak, but a great many do plan fly-out trips to WA/ID where the big mountain, destination type Indypass resorts are concentrated. Look at the Indy FB page. Plenty of easterners asking for beta on Silver, Tamarack, White Pass, etc.

I've still got my plane ticket for my WA/ID trip next month. Good chance I'll cancel and stay east, but will do it another year.

KustyTheKlown · Feb 26, 2021

and yea, i was gonna combine my ikon and my indy to do tamarack brundage beaver mountain big sky and whatever the other indy places in Montana are. have a friend who just relocated to bozeman so that trip is inevitable after covid.

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