Anybody else holding back this year?

[Riverskier]

I ski one day a week (plus bonus days throughout the season), every week, from October through May, every season. Conditions be damned! I am one who truly has a blast every day on the hill. I may view things differently if I didn't have a pass, but for that very reason I would never be without one. At 11 days, right on track for my typical 30-35.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

Who pays the daily rate? I refuse to!

yea even at Alta and snowbird I paid liftopia rates and only spent about $60 a day.

 

[xwhaler]

I spend all Fall working to secure cheap/prepaid vouchers so I can go out on marginal days, 3 hr sessions close to home etc. just to get the legs moving.
When my avg ski day at the end of the yr costs around $20 I have no problem skiing hardpack on limited terrain for a few hrs.

It also allows me the ability to spend good $ on a powder day if one of my non-voucher mtns is getting the goods.

I look at vouchers as almost like a season pass---the difference being it afford me the flexibility to go different places depending on terrain, conditions, social aspect, and how much time I can get out that day.

Having lost a half dozen days early season due to weather my only concern now is using up the vouchers I have!

 

[abc]

but my point is that I'm surprised that the posters of this ski forum don't have more season passes or prepaid/sotc options. i plan this stuff in july

I do (discount hunting). It's rare I pay window price AT ALL.

However, discounts during the holiday period are harder to come by, AND still more expensive than non-holiday period.

Couple with the "usually" poor condition, AND crowded slopes, it's just not worth bothering.

Many choose to get passes that are blacked out during the holiday period too. The price differential is huge!

 

[crank]

I admit to being a fair-weather skier. More of a good conditions skier than a fair-weather skier I guess. The point is I usually don't bother going unless there is a good deal of natural snow. I have not skied in the east this year. I have 5 days in in UT and have another 16 planned 10 in CO and 6 in WY. If it ever snows here I have 2 MCP days at Stowe to use and I really would like to use them.

I was hoping to get over 30 days this season, but I refuse to drive and pay for and ski limited terrain in crappy conditions.

 

[farlep99]

aside from sugarbush this past weekend, no. but my point is that I'm surprised that the posters of this ski forum don't have more season passes or prepaid/sotc options. i plan this stuff in july so I'm ready to ski no matter what the weather throws my way. if you ski more than 10 days a year, then you should have somekind of cheap skiing arrangement. I assume everyone on this board skis >10 days.

I think this illustrates the point that a lot of the pass options in the NE are pretty shitty. Unless you're committed to 1 area because of a house/condo/etc then season pass options aren't really that great. Not to compare the two, but if everyone here was based out west i think everyone would have a pass. Hell there are plenty of people here who have passes out west just based on the value they provide for a few trips a year. Nothing like that in the east value-wise. This isn't really a complaint, it's just supply & demand. The Stowe "locals" pass is $1300+. That cracks me up.

Skiing is expensive i guess.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

I think this illustrates the point that a lot of the pass options in the NE are pretty shitty. Unless you're committed to 1 area because of a house/condo/etc then season pass options aren't really that great. Not to compare the two, but if everyone here was based out west i think everyone would have a pass. Hell there are plenty of people here who have passes out west just based on the value they provide for a few trips a year. Nothing like that in the east value-wise. This isn't really a complaint, it's just supply & demand. The Stowe "locals" pass is $1300+. That cracks me up.

Skiing is expensive i guess.

Max pass was specifically designed to fill that niche. Between max pass, Champlain valley card, and ride and ski NE, I have prepaid days or BOGOs at every place I could possibly want to ski in the east. That's $900 ($700 max, $160 Champlain, $40 NE), and will come out to $22.50 a day based on a 40 day season.

 

[medfordmike]

I have skied about the same number of days but all have been on my pass, free voucher/ticket connected somehow to my pass, or some other discount. I only had one marginal day of snow conditions early on where I questioned if I wasted my time and $. However, one consistent thing has pretty limited terrain generally relative to the size of the mountain until this past weekend at Mt. Snow which had a lot open and nice conditions too. In some ways it was the first day that felt like a normal ski day albeit late December. My pass takes the edge off. It I had to pay full price for Killington this last Friday for example I don't know if I would have gone. It is not just the lift price but burning through a vacation day. I usually use 7-10 vacation days for skiing a year and that can be the harder decision for me than buying a ticket.

 

[SkiFanE]

I'm on day 25ish, have a pass. If I had to pay walk up rate every time - id probably have 4 (from late December snow storm). I still have a blast most days - but the conditions usually didn't make the ticket price worth it if I had to buy.

 

[dlague]

I spend all Fall working to secure cheap/prepaid vouchers so I can go out on marginal days, 3 hr sessions close to home etc. just to get the legs moving.
When my avg ski day at the end of the yr costs around $20 I have no problem skiing hardpack on limited terrain for a few hrs.

It also allows me the ability to spend good $ on a powder day if one of my non-voucher mtns is getting the goods.

I look at vouchers as almost like a season pass---the difference being it afford me the flexibility to go different places depending on terrain, conditions, social aspect, and how much time I can get out that day.

Having lost a half dozen days early season due to weather my only concern now is using up the vouchers I have!

You and I have talked about this and for the amount of many season passes you are right - it affords you the flexibility to go different places and the cost is spread out. We added the season pass at Cannon (cheap for me and my son) which got us from skiing 30-35 days to actually hitting 51 days last season. We still skied 19 different ski areas last season.

We are however about 2-3 days behind last years pace.

 

[abc]

if everyone here was based out west i think everyone would have a pass. Hell there are plenty of people here who have passes out west just based on the value they provide for a few trips a year.

I have MCP. Already got 9 days. But none of them in the northeast.

A bad day out west still beats a good day in the east. 60% of Snowbird is what? How does that compare to Stowe?

Really, when I say I save the money not spending on Christmas skiing the WROD in the east, I'm thinking more of the money for going out west! My priority on my ski budget has always been: 1) as many vacation days I have available going out west; 2) as many weekend days wherever the best snow is in NY/VT?NH (or have best deal) on any given weekend; 3) Spring skiing at dirt cheap daily price (not just lift ticket, lodging too). As you might notice, paying top dollar during Christmas-New Year isn't on that list.

So, I'm not so much "holding back" this year as I'm just doing my usual of not skiing the WROD at premium price.

 

[Whitey]

I spend all Fall working to secure cheap/prepaid vouchers so I can go out on marginal days, 3 hr sessions close to home etc. just to get the legs moving.
When my avg ski day at the end of the yr costs around $20 I have no problem skiing hardpack on limited terrain for a few hrs.

It also allows me the ability to spend good $ on a powder day if one of my non-voucher mtns is getting the goods.

I look at vouchers as almost like a season pass---the difference being it afford me the flexibility to go different places depending on terrain, conditions, social aspect, and how much time I can get out that day.

I've got Ride & Ski cards, have for 5+ yrs now. I do the same as you, search for deals to try and help get the price down. I've filled up exclusively at Irvings just to get the coupons/discounts some winters. I may regret not doing the max pass, considered it but didn't pull the trigger.

I am usually using some kind of discount when I ski, but even with that it only takes the edge off of the price by so much.

Just hasn't been "worth it" yet to go out and spend the $ on skiing yet this year (even at a discount). Not sure if that means the conditions haven't justified it yet or my threshold of pain for spending money on skiing has lowered. Or maybe some combination thereof. . .

 

[MG Skier]

I have been holding back as well. However, I can't take much more. I will get out this weekend no matter what. It might be the local hill...Wachusett, but I will get out no matter what. I just cant get excited about 6 hours in the truck on a busy crowded holiday weekend.

 

[KevinF]

I'm at about the number of days I should be at. Yesterday was my 14th day on snow. 13 at Stowe, one for my race league.

Precisely one of those days was abysmal; I was at Stowe the day after a rain event and it was like trying to ski on marble. Except marble would have been softer.

At any rate... Maybe I have a warped idea of "ok conditions", but I've had fun all 14 days. Yes, I'd like the woods to be open, and yes, I'd like there to be a bump run somewhere, and yes, this weather is frustrating... But my legs give out before I get bored.

I'm probably more of a technique junky than most are, but our limited terrain has been great for working on things. Nothing that's open is challenging, but I try to make it challenging by skiing it as well as I can. Will 250k (and counting) of "practice vertical" pay off at some point? I guess we'll find out.

I also would be bored out of my mind doing nothing on the weekends. I don't know how I'd pass the time if I wasn't skiing.

 

[4aprice]

Interesting thread, I work in the same field as the op. (Peak season was bad but in normal times I would have gotten a few Sunday's pre Christmas) I have a seasons pass, I have vouchers and bogo's for up north. I haven't gone once and won't be going at the least until the 23rd. (limited terrain, new Hotel and holiday weekend, no thank you) I'm not sure in my case if its a drop in passion for the sport, or just that I have been so spoiled and done so much skiing (50 years on skis and 2 years removed from a 100+ day season) but I just don't want to ski the crap (ie WROD,Pocono Pavement type stuff) anymore. Last year was a real lesson as we had a great eastern season and all I heard about was doom and gloom in the west, and when we thankfully bit the bullet and went out to Utah it was still better then back east. That and this fall/early winter with the west getting pounded (and I'm really happy for them they deserve it after the last couple of years) have the wife and I putting the wheels in motion to make our escape from the east coast. No panic mode here as I have a 10 day trip out to Utah and Colorado planned for late March/early April so regardless of how the eastern season turns out I've got that to look forward to. Certainly in the 50 years there have been good and bad but I do believe this is the worst beginning so far.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

 

[chuckstah]

I am really only holding back on on where I ski, not if I ski. All 15 days so far have been on my pass as opposed to skiing around more. I haven't used a single voucher or purchased a day pass yet. With limited funds to ski the more expensive days need to wait until mountains are near 100% open. On a good note, per day cost on the pass is already less than $30. I can't imagine making it to 16 different lift served areas like last year.

 

[abc]

Last year was a real lesson as we had a great eastern season and all I heard about was doom and gloom in the west, and when we thankfully bit the bullet and went out to Utah it was still better then back east.

The first time I heard the saying of "a bad day out west still beats a good day in the east", I was a bit angry, because it was from my buddy who had moved west. I thought "you don't really need to rub it in!". But by the end of the week (free lodging courtesy of his & his wife's hospitality), I couldn't help but to realize he spoke the truth! Their home mountain wasn't even the best mountain of the west. But it was head and shoulder above the best of the east both in terms of skiable terrain and level of challenge. As for snow quality, well, let's just say there's no point in comparing)

I'm not sure in my case if its a drop in passion for the sport, or just that I have been so spoiled and done so much skiing (50 years on skis and 2 years removed from a 100+ day season) but I just don't want to ski the crap (ie WROD,Pocono Pavement type stuff) anymore.

In my case, it definitely NOT a drop in passion. I ski more days now than I did 10 years ago, if only because I have the time and spare coin.

But spoiled? You bet! Having skied the much better condition out west even in their "bad years", I'm really not too motivated to waste much of my time/money to ski WROD of the east.

 

[millerm277]

Yep. I usually get a couple days before Christmas at minimum. Thursday @ Hunter is going to be my first day of the season. Between the extremely limited terrain and the huge crowds on said terrain, it hasn't made sense to go until the past week or so.

 

[cdskier]

I get the whole concept of buying vouchers and discount tickets and passes ahead of time to allow you to ski multiple areas, but what do all of you that do this do about lodging? Do you live close enough to be able to do these different areas as day trips? Or are you also good at finding cheap lodging every week at the different ski resorts that you go to?

Before I owned a condo in VT, I used to do only a couple long weekend trips up to big ski areas and then otherwise did mostly day trips to the Catskills (mostly Belleayre and later on Plattekill). Living in NJ means a long drive to most big ski areas so I'd have to constantly be getting lodging all the time if I wanted to do what a lot of people here do. To me I never found that to be cost effective, but I'm curious to know if others had better success with that or if they are just luckier to live closer to the New England mountains.

 

[abc]

Actually, both.

Or are you also good at finding cheap lodging every week at the different ski resorts that you go to?

Yep! I hunt for cheap lodging with the same zeal as I hunt for discount lift tickets.

The thing about lodging is I don't stay slopeside. So, once I found a decent base lodging, all the resort within 1/2 hr are fair game. I only need a few, one in each area, to hit any of the mountains within 1/2 of my base lodging. Then, whichever one that has the best deal for the day wins.

Before I owned a condo in VT, I used to do only a couple long weekend trips up to big ski areas and then otherwise did mostly day trips to the Catskills (mostly Belleayre and later on Plattekill).

I actually do something very similar. I live a little bit north of you so Catskill is an easy day trip and even southern VT are (marginally) manageable in a day. When I do go for overnighter, it's usually to the more "worthy" destination such as Stowe/Sugarbush, big K, Jay etc.

Many of the people on here do live close to the bigger mountains so they have the advantage over us flatlanders.