Day tickets going through the roof in Vermont

[crank]

Sounds like fun. I imagine that you are not the 'average' skier or rider or earn the median U.S. household income considering those plans. The author's point was the cash and time limitations prevent most from using resorts throughout the network.

No, we are obviously ski fanatics who are excited to get the most out of our passes!

I wonder though ow many skiers buy an Ikon or Epic with their primary motivation being to use it as a season's pass at their "home" hill. For example, skiing Stowe on Epic is like half what a Stowe season pass used to cost.

 

[cdskier]

No, we are obviously ski fanatics who are excited to get the most out of our passes!

I wonder though ow many skiers buy an Ikon or Epic with their primary motivation being to use it as a season's pass at their "home" hill. For example, skiing Stowe on Epic is like half what a Stowe season pass used to cost.

Essentially that's what I do with Ikon. Sugarbush is my home hill. Last year I did also use my Ikon 1 day at K. Otherwise it was forty-something days at SB on my Ikon pass for me last year.

 

[boston_e]

Golf is an interesting comparison. With golf, there's a huge range of prices (just like with skiing). There are absolutely some courses that cost a lot of money to play. Then there are others that are very cheap. For example where I live in NJ, you can play at the county courses for $35 on the weekend as a county resident (plus a $40 registration fee that is valid for the season). You can also skip the registration fee if you plan to play only once, but then your daily weekend rate goes up to $60/day. So if you plan to play at least 2 days, it makes sense to register and pay the $40.

The point though is that there again are options depending on what you want to pay. If you want to play at a fancy course (or ski a big name resort), you'll pay high daily rates. You can't expect to be able to play any course you want for a low daily rate, but options at low price points DO exist.

Are season passes available at the county courses near you? And if so, I am curious what do they cost?

The few that I looked at near me, the number of days you would have to play to make the pass a better option was very different from skiing season passes. In my example above you would have to play appx 25 days or so to "justify" a season pass vs an Ikon or Epic pass you are probably "justifying" in 8 to 10 days.

 

[Zand]

I never took a trip west until the Max Pass came out. When Ikon came out it became two trips per year. While I'm sure I would've gone to Colorado or Utah by now had the passes not existed, there's no way I would've made my way to Jackson (and in this upcoming year's case, Big Sky).

The first year i bought Max, my plan was to get a Killington pass but decided to go the Max route and it totally changed the way I ski.

 

[cdskier]

Are season passes available at the county courses near you? And if so, I am curious what do they cost?

The few that I looked at near me, the number of days you would have to play to make the pass a better option was very different from skiing season passes. In my example above you would have to play appx 25 days or so to "justify" a season pass vs an Ikon or Epic pass you are probably "justifying" in 8 to 10 days.

I don't believe so. They only use a daily rate model in our county for the county-owned public courses.

 

[drjeff]

Are season passes available at the county courses near you? And if so, I am curious what do they cost?

The few that I looked at near me, the number of days you would have to play to make the pass a better option was very different from skiing season passes. In my example above you would have to play appx 25 days or so to "justify" a season pass vs an Ikon or Epic pass you are probably "justifying" in 8 to 10 days.

With respect to the golf thing, one of the benefits that either private club membership or even a membership at a semi private facility (you can be a member for the season but the general public can play there as well) is access to more tee times (unlike skiing where a resort can handle thousands of people on any given day, with a golf course you're looking at maybe 24-30 people per hour off the 1st tee) so that added access that you're buying is a big selling point.

For example, at the private club I belong to, I can just show up whenever I want, with no tee time, and the reality is that withing 15-20 minutes at most, I am out on the course playing. The semi private course not to far from my club, has it that their members can call and book tee times 10 days in advance, whereas the general public can only book tee times 5 days in advance, and just showing up to play without a tee time at courses like that, especially if it's say a busy weekend morning, could end up with a 1 to 2 hour wait to before you can get out on the course, so sometimes that added availability to access that a golf membership gets you, while not part of the actual per round cost, certainly adds value

 

[Ski2LiveLive2Ski]

I don't buy this last argument. How many people in the past just randomly on their own decided to try skiing? Probably very few. Even when day tickets were $30-40, by the time you add rentals and lessons you were still easily over $100 which was a lot of money for many people say even just 10-20 years ago. Most people are introduced to the sport by someone else (family, friends, etc). So those family/friends should be the ones telling them how/where to get the best deals to try it out.

I did it all on my own started winter of 1980-81 when I was 15. Talked my non skiing mom into taking me and my sisters for 2-3 lessons at Spring Mtn - a bump 30 min from home - and later that season she took me to Blue and I got some used rental gear there - no ski brakes you put your boots through cables to keep skis from running away. Then next season I had my license and started driving to Blue Mtn and other Pocono places a few times a year, often for cheap night skiing. Funded it all by working minimum wage jobs.

 

[cdskier]

I did it all on my own started winter of 1980-81 when I was 15. Talked my non skiing mom into taking me and my sisters for 2-3 lessons at Spring Mtn - a bump 30 min from home - and later that season she took me to Blue and I got some used rental gear there - no ski brakes you put your boots through cables to keep skis from running away. Then next season I had my license and started driving to Blue Mtn and other Pocono places a few times a year, often for cheap night skiing. Funded it all by working minimum wage jobs.

Yes...but the key here is that you didn't start by going to a big mountain. You started at a local feeder hill. And Spring Mountain (assuming I found the right one) is still a great example of the type of place where someone that has never skied before but wants to try it out should go instead of paying ridiculous prices at a big resort.

Even for adults on the weekend a Learn to ski package is only $80. That includes everything a first time skier/boarder needs.

 

[Ski2LiveLive2Ski]

Yes...but the key here is that you didn't start by going to a big mountain. You started at a local feeder hill. And Spring Mountain (assuming I found the right one) is still a great example of the type of place where someone that has never skied before but wants to try it out should go instead of paying ridiculous prices at a big resort.

Even for adults on the weekend a Learn to ski package is only $80. That includes everything a first time skier/boarder needs.

View attachment 52134

Yep. Started my twins at Spring too. They had a great Sunday night deal that include lift, lesson and rental for like $30 per kid starting at 4pm. We did that 6x their first season.
Then on to Shawnee for 2 years taking advantage of their "kids under 42" ski free with paying adult"
Followed by PA skipass for 4th and 5th graders.
Then $99 6th grader pass at Blue.
Epic Local grades 7 & 8
Now Epic for me and Indy for all of us.

 

[Mum skier]

No, we are obviously ski fanatics who are excited to get the most out of our passes!

I wonder though ow many skiers buy an Ikon or Epic with their primary motivation being to use it as a season's pass at their "home" hill. For example, skiing Stowe on Epic is like half what a Stowe season pass used to cost.

Thats pretty much how it worked for us. First year we bought Epic they were just negotiating with the Sunapee/Okemo owners and we were told I think 5 days would be available, which was enough to convince us. But a couple months later it became unlimited once the sale went through and without meaning to we had a cheap season pass to the mountain we went to the most, with the benefit of long weekend trips elsewhere in the east and western resorts included for the once a year big trip.
I feel bad for the wildcat and Attitash skiers, the weekend we did there last year showed the neglect they were getting. But overall for a family of 4 it has completely changed the cost commitment.

 

[Cobbold]

I never took a trip west until the Max Pass came out. When Ikon came out it became two trips per year. While I'm sure I would've gone to Colorado or Utah by now had the passes not existed, there's no way I would've made my way to Jackson (and in this upcoming year's case, Big Sky).

The first year i bought Max, my plan was to get a Killington pass but decided to go the Max route and it totally changed the way I ski.

When I became aware of the max pass, I thought wow this can’t be real, I must be reading this wrong or their is something in the fine print, was afraid to pull the trigger, but yeah super passes changed how I ski.

 

[jimk]

I have a nice little 9 hole public golf course that is a par 35. I play it once a week with some buddies and we walk with our own pull carts for the senior rate of ~$13 per round. Love it.

 

[thetrailboss]

No, we are obviously ski fanatics who are excited to get the most out of our passes!

Yeah as I said, those are awesome plans. I must confess I am jealous!

I wonder though ow many skiers buy an Ikon or Epic with their primary motivation being to use it as a season's pass at their "home" hill. For example, skiing Stowe on Epic is like half what a Stowe season pass used to cost.

That is a good question. Anecdotally here in SLC I can tell you that folks don't see their IKON pass as a Solitude Season pass with a few days at other areas. They see it is as a pass that is good to multiple local areas.

 

[boston_e]

When I became aware of the max pass, I thought wow this can’t be real, I must be reading this wrong or their is something in the fine print, was afraid to pull the trigger, but yeah super passes changed how I ski.

Do you find you ski more because of the super passes? Or did something else change?

 

[Smellytele]

I notice I ski more days with a mega pass but a lot of days ski less runs per day

 

[Kingslug20]

Tonys? My buddy rides there sometimes.

NY safety Track

 

[Kingslug20]

Super passes totaly changed everything. We ski way more and for way less. Kind of sounds like a good deal to me.

 

[boston_e]

I notice I ski more days with a mega pass but a lot of days ski less runs per day

Sure but is that different from a single mountain season pass?

 

[Ski2LiveLive2Ski]

I never found a single mountain pass appealing as I prefer variety.

I only ever did it one year, because the closest decent mountain to me offered a $99 deal for 6th graders, so my twins and I got 3 season passes for a total of $600.

And I still skied a lot less than with Epic, as skiing the same place over and over was less interesting. Never did it more than one day per weekend. Last year I got 41 days in on Epic Local.

Sure but is that different from a single mountain season pass?

 

[Smellytele]

Sure but is that different from a single mountain season pass?

For the most part I guess not but as S2L L2S said I also like variety and get more days in when I can go to multiple places at a decent rate. I used to go to multiple places when I didn't have a multiple mountain pass but not as often.