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Epic and Iconic One Wasatch transit plans revealed

thetrailboss

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I was surprised how "locals" of a mountain that place is. One long-time skier told me he thinks it's 80% local Utahns, maybe more. I believe him too, as it seemed everyone I shared a chair with was local. Ogden's playground.

There’s no bed base as you saw. A very odd place.


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crazy

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Snowbasin definitely feels like a locals mountain. They got some additional traffic from being on the Mountain Collective Pass (including me last season), but not a whole lot. Talking to people there, apparently the secret has come out, so to speak, about the excellent terrain and short lines at Snowbasin, so it has become a LOT more crowded in the last few years. It will be interesting to see the EPIC effect.

My guess is that most of the additional traffic at Snowbasin next season will be locals who ski Park City who are checking off their new Snowbasin days. Other than people vacationing at Park City and deciding to see Snowbasin for a day, I do not see that many destination skiers all of a sudden deciding to fly to Utah to ski at Snowbasin. It's an excellent mountain, don't get me wrong, but there is no lodging near the mountain, and if you're going to drive to get to/from the mountain, the snow and terrain is arguably better on the Wasatch Front.
 

thetrailboss

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Snowbasin definitely feels like a locals mountain. They got some additional traffic from being on the Mountain Collective Pass (including me last season), but not a whole lot. Talking to people there, apparently the secret has come out, so to speak, about the excellent terrain and short lines at Snowbasin, so it has become a LOT more crowded in the last few years. It will be interesting to see the EPIC effect.

My guess is that most of the additional traffic at Snowbasin next season will be locals who ski Park City who are checking off their new Snowbasin days. Other than people vacationing at Park City and deciding to see Snowbasin for a day, I do not see that many destination skiers all of a sudden deciding to fly to Utah to ski at Snowbasin. It's an excellent mountain, don't get me wrong, but there is no lodging near the mountain, and if you're going to drive to get to/from the mountain, the snow and terrain is arguably better on the Wasatch Front.

I think that a lot of folks visiting PCMR with Epic passes will go try Snowbasin. I doubt that many will make the long trek to Sun Valley. Sun Valley is amazing, at least it was in the Summer of 2017 when I visited. Big mountain with good vertical and pitch. But a hike from SLC.
 

HowieT2

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I think that a lot of folks visiting PCMR with Epic passes will go try Snowbasin. I doubt that many will make the long trek to Sun Valley. Sun Valley is amazing, at least it was in the Summer of 2017 when I visited. Big mountain with good vertical and pitch. But a hike from SLC.

i luv sun valley, have an old friend who’s lived there for 30 years. but it doesn’t get snow, this season notwishtanding. There’s a reason its called sun valley. And it’s a pia to get to.
 

thetrailboss

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i luv sun valley, have an old friend who’s lived there for 30 years. but it doesn’t get snow, this season notwishtanding. There’s a reason its called sun valley. And it’s a pia to get to.

I wondered if they didn’t get a lot of snow. They have a lot of snowmaking.


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machski

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I wondered if they didn’t get a lot of snow. They have a lot of snowmaking.


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Skied there decades ago in 1991 when they first started installing their snowmaking system. Then it only covered about 14 or so trails, though TTB. We went in Feb/Mar (my dad had won the trip) and they were in a snow drought. They had about 2 feet on the ground of powder but no base below so only the snowmaking runs were open. We had fun (Big continuous Vertical unlike anything in the East) but they definitely need their snowmaking system. It has saved them too in the summer from wildfires crossing onto the resort as they have run just water through the guns continuously.

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crazy

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I wondered if they didn’t get a lot of snow. They have a lot of snowmaking.

Personally, I haven't skied at Sun Valley, but I have heard excellent things. Uncrowded, lots of vertical, awesome town with a lot of history (the country's first chairlift). The downside is that they get less than 200 inches of snow a year, so the rely on their snowmaking more than most resorts in that part of the country. It's still a fantastic place to go if you love groomers and you hate crowds.
 

thetrailboss

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This says a lot about JHole:

The mountain recorded an all-time-high 715,100 skier visits for the 2018-19 season, surpassing the previous record of 634,500 set last year.

The resorts contend that Ikon isn’t entirely to blame for the problems. Yes, the pass attracted more skiers than expected, says Anna Cole, communications manager at Jackson Hole, but the larger number of skiers merely highlighted existing pinch points. “I think what we learned this year—and we’re still learning and will be analyzing all this data—is that there are more improvements to be made to our infrastructure,” she says. “Especially when you have record-breaking snow and record-breaking visitation.”

Next season’s seasonal pass purchasers at both Jackson and Aspen will include a code for a free Ikon base pass, eliminating the “if they can ski at my mountain, I should be able to ski at theirs” complaint. It will be up to the individual skier whether to activate the Ikon part of the pass. But given the convenience and the chance to chase snow at other mountains, many local skiers are likely to end up gritting their teeth as they realize they’ve become Ikon skiers.

That's a pretty sweet deal. I wonder if Alta/Snowbird will follow?
 
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BenedictGomez

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Mary Kate Buckley, Jackson Hole’s new CEO, agreed in an opinion piece of her own. “If Jackson Hole had chosen not to participate in one of those passes skier visits might have dropped to levels at which we could not sustain our operations,” she wrote.

This is a CEO?

You cant say that IKON passes only represent (insert small percentage increase), and then 5 minutes later claim you'll be out of business without IKON. This is a bobble a 22 year old fresh off a Communications degree doesnt make. Yikes.
 

cdskier

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That's a pretty sweet deal. I wonder if Alta/Snowbird will follow?

I'm curious about who is paying for it. Is Alterra making that option available to those resorts as some sort of peace offering? Or are the resorts paying for it (obviously at some significantly reduced rate) to try to appease their own passholders?

And yes, one has to wonder if other partners will follow suit and offer it too. You know the ones that don't are going to start to get pressure from their passholders saying "why are so and so passholders getting a free Ikon pass but we're not".
 

BenedictGomez

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I'm curious about who is paying for it.

I was wondering that myself. I wouldn't think Alterra is in such an aggressive growth phase that they'd just give these IKON passes away for free, but who knows. I think the more logical option is the resorts are paying for it in some fashion, and think it will be a carrot to help them sell more season passes.
 

thetrailboss

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I'm curious about who is paying for it. Is Alterra making that option available to those resorts as some sort of peace offering? Or are the resorts paying for it (obviously at some significantly reduced rate) to try to appease their own passholders?

And yes, one has to wonder if other partners will follow suit and offer it too. You know the ones that don't are going to start to get pressure from their passholders saying "why are so and so passholders getting a free Ikon pass but we're not".

Same questions and concerns.
 

crazy

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I'm curious about who is paying for it. Is Alterra making that option available to those resorts as some sort of peace offering? Or are the resorts paying for it (obviously at some significantly reduced rate) to try to appease their own passholders?

And yes, one has to wonder if other partners will follow suit and offer it too. You know the ones that don't are going to start to get pressure from their passholders saying "why are so and so passholders getting a free Ikon pass but we're not".

Yes, the resorts are paying for it. Perhaps they are agreeing to reduced payments from Alterra to the resorts. More likely they are locking themselves into longer contracts with Alterra, perhaps extending the contracts from 3 years to 5 years, in exchange for the new benefits.
 

slatham

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FWIW....

JHMR season pass is $1,469.

The cams show it is snowing and full on winter.

The mountain is closed!

Next years pass is Nov 28 to April 12th.

505" total snowfall.

193" in Feb.

Wow! But I would be beyond disappointed right now with the mountain closed.
 

thetrailboss

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FWIW....

JHMR season pass is $1,469.

The cams show it is snowing and full on winter.

The mountain is closed!

Next years pass is Nov 28 to April 12th.

505" total snowfall.

193" in Feb.

Wow! But I would be beyond disappointed right now with the mountain closed.

They are similar to Deer Valley--premium price, premium experience, but short season that is defined up front. Folks are complaining about Deer Valley being closed, but they have always done the same thing in the past...regardless of there being 4" or 40" of snow on the ground.
 

thetrailboss

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Yes, the resorts are paying for it. Perhaps they are agreeing to reduced payments from Alterra to the resorts. More likely they are locking themselves into longer contracts with Alterra, perhaps extending the contracts from 3 years to 5 years, in exchange for the new benefits.

I wondered if there was some deal being made to get these passes to folks.
 

skiur

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FWIW....

JHMR season pass is $1,469.

The cams show it is snowing and full on winter.

The mountain is closed!

Next years pass is Nov 28 to April 12th.

505" total snowfall.

193" in Feb.

Wow! But I would be beyond disappointed right now with the mountain closed.

Jackson has to close due towards migratory animals.....I was there closing week once, mid winter up top and late spring down low. Our condo was at the bottom of the hobacks. After beating our legs up all day we had to ski the hobacks back to the condo and it was in the mid 60's down that low.....was pretty tough finding the leg strength to ski thru full on corn moguls in the hobacks.
 
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