Good news for Indy pass holder

[BenedictGomez]

Hit Shawnee last year twice using the Indy Pass. I think Shawnee is like $70 normally for a weekend ticket. Pass almost paid for itself with that. First time I showed up there I looked around and said wtf am I doing here. Wound up having a blast. Good friends to ski with and chilling at EZ Bumpps with some beers. The place was way better than I thought it would be.

That's where I learned how to ski & it's ski my favorite Pocono mountain. Is it as challenging as Camelback or Blue Mountain? No. But there's fun stuff to do & the clientele is best in the area. Mostly families & lots of cute kiddies in the beginner areas. Best of all, you dont have to deal with all the BENNYs & the hoards of teens who think they're better than Bode Miller who you encounter at Blue Mountain & Camelback. Shawnee's staff is great too, and who doesnt love being greeted with chocolate chip cookies upon arrival? I should go there more.

 

[Killingtime]

That's where I learned how to ski & it's ski my favorite Pocono mountain. Is it as challenging as Camelback or Blue Mountain? No. But there's fun stuff to do & the clientele is best in the area. Mostly families & lots of cute kiddies in the beginner areas. Best of all, you dont have to deal with all the BENNYs & the hoards of teens who think they're better than Bode Miller who you encounter at Blue Mountain & Camelback. Shawnee's staff is great too, and who doesnt love being greeted with chocolate chip cookies upon arrival? I should go there more.

Its a special place for me now too. Its the first place I went to after selling my home in Killington last year. My wife was literally in tears when we drove up to Shawnee. After a few runs she started to have a good time and by the end of the day I knew everything was going to be ok. The people there are great too. The greeters at the base area were asking me what I thought and if I had any suggestions to make the place better. I told them its terrific just the way it is, except maybe get a better selection of local beer in the bar. Definitely going back.

 

[2planks2coasts]

I used my IndyPass at Shawnee as well this past season. Had grand plans for an WA indy road trip Hurricane, White Pass, Mission Ridge in April, but by mid March they were locked down. Took the GFs nephews to Shawnee to ride the WROD on their last day open. Not a place I'd normally take a trip to, but good fun and definitely in the spirit of the Indy pass.

As someone who loves Plattekill and The IndyPass, I would be happy to see that match happen, but I totally understand why Platty might not think it's the best deal for them. Hoping they add a CO mountain and maybe one of the smaller Tahoe resorts. DSR or Diamond maybe...

 

[Killingtime]

I used my IndyPass at Shawnee as well this past season. Had grand plans for an WA indy road trip Hurricane, White Pass, Mission Ridge in April, but by mid March they were locked down. Took the GFs nephews to Shawnee to ride the WROD on their last day open. Not a place I'd normally take a trip to, but good fun and definitely in the spirit of the Indy pass.

As someone who loves Plattekill and The IndyPass, I would be happy to see that match happen, but I totally understand why Platty might not think it's the best deal for them. Hoping they add a CO mountain and maybe one of the smaller Tahoe resorts. DSR or Diamond maybe...

Good deal. Sorry about you trip. I think a lot of us have a similar stories, unfortunately. I'm definitely down with the Indy when it goes on sale in September. The question now is Ikon or Epic to pair it with. So many choices....

 

[2planks2coasts]

........The question now is Ikon or Epic to pair it with. So many choices....

Indeed. I'm generally anti big corporate passes, every man has his price though. IKON is giving nurses a pretty hefty discount, so that might sway me. Previously had Powder Alliance with a loveland Season Pass. There's some overlap between Powder Alliance and IndyPass in the west. A similar amount of overlap with the Freedom Pass (via a Ski Cooper season pass) in the east. Not really a bad thing, as all of those possible combinations give you 70+ total mountains to play on!

 

[p_levert]

Interview with IndyPass founder: https://skiing.substack.com/p/podcast-16-indy-pass-founder-and

It's interesting, but rather long.

A few highlights, if you don't want to listen to the whole thing:

- average number of days a season pass holder uses his pass: 10 (from Natl Ski Area Assn)
- average number of ski-days per season for non-season pass holders: 4 (NSSA)
- number of days an IndyPass holder uses his pass: 4 or so
- so ski areas got around $50 per visit, and they were good with that
- max. number of days for anyone on IndyPass: 16
- Fish expects to have 60 resorts, up from 52, on Sept 1
- Indy uptake is highest in Washington (30% of passes), then Minnesota, followed by NY, MA, Conn

 

[jaytrem]

- max. number of days for anyone on IndyPass: 16

That's surprising low even with the short season. You would think at least one person would go crazy with the pass.

 

[p_levert]

That's surprising low even with the short season. You would think at least one person would go crazy with the pass.

I was shocked by that as well. Doug Fish even said that if you can max out your pass in a season (go to every Indy Pass ski area two days) he would give you a free Indy Pass for life. That would be tempting for some retired guy, but you do need to hit Eaglecrest in Alaska to cash in.

 

[2planks2coasts]

I was shocked by that as well. Doug Fish even said that if you can max out your pass in a season (go to every Indy Pass ski area two days) he would give you a free Indy Pass for life. That would be tempting for some retired guy, but you do need to hit Eaglecrest in Alaska to cash in.

Aww man. Certainly someone here is up to that challenge. I could legit do one day at each resort if I planned it out right. Two days would require me to take vacation. Once the AK quarantine is lifted, Eaglecrest shouldn't be that difficult. If you're dedicated enough, ski a day at White Pass or Mission Ridge. Then catch the 9:05 pm SEA-JNU flight. Ski two days, leaving the mountain a bit early on day 2 for the 6pm flight back to SEA.

ETA: Even if nobody does all of them, there should be a contest for the most resorts to win a pass for the next season. Powder Alliance has the Wild West Powder Quest that requires IG check ins at each resort.

 

[p_levert]

Besides Alaska, you also have to do two days at a bunch of 200 vert areas in Wisconsin and Michigan. For that, it would be better to *not* be retired, because at least you could get some work done from the cafeteria.

 

[slatham]

Sorry for a dose of reality. 60 areas x 2 days each = 120 days. For reference there are 136 days between Thanksgiving 2020 and April 11th 2021.

Now you know why he made the offer. He said he did something like 20 areas in 26 days and he was beyond spent.

 

[p_levert]

Sorry for a dose of reality. 60 areas x 2 days each = 120 days. For reference there are 136 days between Thanksgiving 2020 and April 11th 2021.

Now you know why he made the offer. He said he did something like 20 areas in 26 days and he was beyond spent.

Quit being so negative! Besides, some of these are clustered, so you could do as many as 3 in a day.

But, realistically, it would be foolhardy. Assuming you skied 30 years on your lifetime pass, that only saves 30 * 200 = $6,000. By the time you're done flying to Alaska and staying in innumerable hotels in crumby places, you would probably blow through $6K.

 

[2planks2coasts]

Quit being so negative! Besides, some of these are clustered, so you could do as many as 3 in a day.

But, realistically, it would be foolhardy. Assuming you skied 30 years on your lifetime pass, that only saves 30 * 200 = $6,000. By the time you're done flying to Alaska and staying in innumerable hotels in crumby places, you would probably blow through $6K.

While Fish plans on having 60 resorts this year, there are currently only 52. I don't pay for hotels or most flights, mostly because I spend lots of nights in crummy places for work. I think the challenge would be fun!

ETA: Terry Peak is the only one I see that would be way out of the way from visiting any of the others. Most of the rest are within a few hours drive of at least one other Indy Pass resort. Lots of 2-3 resort clusters allowing multi resort days, especially if you utilize night skiing options where offered.

 

[p_levert]

2planks, I appreciate your attitude.

Actually, Terry Peak is not such a challenge. It's a 9 hour drive from Minneapolis and it's a 1k vert area, so not a total waste of your time. So you could do Terry Peak as a 2-day outing starting from Minnesota. In any case, you're stuck going to Minnesota because there's 4 Indy areas in the state, as well as bunch close by in Wisconsin and the UP of Michigan.

FWIW, it's a 6 hour drive from Terry Peak to Red Lodge, which is another somewhat isolated area. Lost Trail Powder Mountain is in Montana, but right next to Idaho, so it can be bagged along with the ID areas.

 

[BenedictGomez]

A bunch of those "resorts" are pretty crappy. Even if retired, why would someone spend numerous thousands of dollars over a period of several months traveling all over America to try to ski each one twice? It's basically the entire ski season at 120 days. A logistical nightmare as well. I think the threat of giving away a "lifetime ski pass" is safe for now. Only way I could see it is if someone does it for publicity, but to think 10 or 20 people a year are going to knock this "goal" off is simply not thinking it through from either a process standpoint or a financial standpoint.

 

[cdskier]

Quit being so negative! Besides, some of these are clustered, so you could do as many as 3 in a day.

I thought about that...but I'm not sure if it is allowed. The FAQ for Indy Pass specifically says you can only redeem one ticket per day (but it isn't clear whether that is one per resort per day or one overall per day). I don't know what kind of tracking there is on the backend that the resorts use to validate whether you can get a ticket that day or not.

If the FAQ means only 1 per resort per day but isn't meant to stop usage at multiple areas in a single day, then 3 per day is definitely doable in some cases (especially since some areas have night skiing as well that helps give you more potential ski hours in a single day).

 

[Killingtime]

A bunch of those "resorts" are pretty crappy. Even if retired, why would someone spend numerous thousands of dollars over a period of several months traveling all over America to try to ski each one twice? It's basically the entire ski season at 120 days. A logistical nightmare as well. I think the threat of giving away a "lifetime ski pass" is safe for now. Only way I could see it is if someone does it for publicity, but to think 10 or 20 people a year are going to knock this "goal" off is simply not thinking it through from either a process standpoint or a financial standpoint.

Yep, I don't think they will be giving a whole lot of lifetime passes away. I'm guessing most people are using it the way I did last year. Its a nice fill-in for when you don't have plans at a large resort and also the days when you are travelling and can fit half a day in at an Indy Resort. This may change as they add larger resorts like Cannon but my opinion is that this will be a second pass for people who have either an Ikon, Epic or a specific mountain pass for the foreseeable future.
As an aside, I heard from Saddleback on their feelings about going to the Indy Pass and they said they looked at it and it just didn't work for them at the moment. I expect Bosquet will sign up this year due to the BE/Catamount connection. Still have fingers crossed for Plattekill.

 

[Smellytele]

I could see Tenney being added in NH, Black or Camden snow bowl in ME. If Burke wasn’t in receivership that would a good one in VT.


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[2planks2coasts]

Yep, I don't think they will be giving a whole lot of lifetime passes away. I'm guessing most people are using it the way I did last year. Its a nice fill-in for when you don't have plans at a large resort and also the days when you are travelling and can fit half a day in at an Indy Resort. This may change as they add larger resorts like Cannon but my opinion is that this will be a second pass for people who have either an Ikon, Epic or a specific mountain pass for the foreseeable future.
As an aside, I heard from Saddleback on their feelings about going to the Indy Pass and they said they looked at it and it just didn't work for them at the moment. I expect Bosquet will sign up this year due to the BE/Catamount connection. Still have fingers crossed for Plattekill.

Many of the Eastern and Midwestern resorts are fairly small. The western resorts are a different story. WP, MR, 49N, Silver, are all legit big mountains, even if they aren't posh resorts. These are not ski for half a day kind of places.

Not seeing many big eastern resorts left to join up. The court appointed administrator for Jay/Burke could certainly decide to join up. The ORDA resorts would be a coup bigger than Cannon. Maybe Titus if they don't get ORDA. Waterville Valley would make a nice addition as well. A few Eastern Canada possibilities too.

I don't intend to win the lifetime pass. I bet I can beat 16 uses though!!

 

[Killingtime]

Many of the Eastern and Midwestern resorts are fairly small. The western resorts are a different story. WP, MR, 49N, Silver, are all legit big mountains, even if they aren't posh resorts. These are not ski for half a day kind of places.

Not seeing many big eastern resorts left to join up. The court appointed administrator for Jay/Burke could certainly decide to join up. The ORDA resorts would be a coup bigger than Cannon. Maybe Titus if they don't get ORDA. Waterville Valley would make a nice addition as well. A few Eastern Canada possibilities too.

I don't intend to win the lifetime pass. I bet I can beat 16 uses though!!

Thanks for the info. I'm hopefully planning my western trips soon and will keep those in mind too. I screwed up a few years ago and took the wife to Breckenridge and now she wants the resorty, over-priced ski town, $20 hamburger experience. Oh well.
Yes, ORDA would be a major, major score. I would be willing to pay extra to have them. They used to be on the old Max Pass years ago. I remember using it for Gore/Belleayre a couple of times. Waterville would definitely be another great NH selection.
I won't make the lifetime pass either. I think I hit 10 days last year. Should have been 11 but Mt Abram closed early due to the Covid19.