Indy Ski Pass

[RH29]

“we’re thrilled to announce 50+ new resorts for 23/24 including Austria’s largest resort, new Japan destinations, XC resorts, and many more fiercely independent ski areas in North America.”

Austrias largest would be Ski Arlberg ?

Arlberg would be amazing, considering I'm already going there for three days...throw Arosa Lenzerheide on there too for the hell of it and you've just saved me $600 in lift tickets, and funded a trip to Vermont.

 

[AdironRider]

Do you work for the skiway? For those who have not been there, it is a bizarre place. Legit interesting terrain with good coverage served by slow lifts in the middle of nowhere. Maybe a hundred families there one day last year for a race, 10+ hour day, gorgeous lodge but no hot food to be found. Only thing for sale was candy bars and bottled soda. Ended up placing a massive order at the lyme country store.

I stumbled on this story because I have an old friend in the upper valley with a large family. They are a marginal ski family, few days a year, I was going to talk him into the NO BO pass for whaleback/dartmouth and maybe GG but not now.

No don't work there but have been a passholder for three years. Its a hidden gem with some of the best conditions anywhere given their size and budget, and zero crowds.

The food is an outside contractor. The vendor last year was new and typically runs a food truck, and gives zero fucks about racers and their entitlement as any grizzled northern New Englander would. You must have been there on a weekday, which does not typically justify enough business to warrant opening. That said, maybe his attitude will change this year, assuming he can get staff. Restaurants in the UV are getting killed staffing wise as it is still a really rural area with no pool of employees to draw off of.

But the No Boundaries pass is a bad deal for local families. I would wager most families have access to discounted passes via employment with the College, or they utilize the area more than the No Boundaries pass would provide because their kids are in local programs. It is not hard to buy tickets at the Skiway at $35 per day. Kids under 5 ski free. The bunny hill magic carpets are free every day. Lyme resident kids get a free season pass until they are 21 years old. Pretty much every school district within an hour comes 1 day a week and gets 6-8 lessons per season for a whopping 80 bucks. I seriously challenge anyone to find a better deal in ski school anywhere.

The Skiway also never closes an entire side for racing, but will close individual trails and let you know that at the base of the lift. The lifts also don't take 15 minutes unless you count one really bad ride with a lot of stops, which happens everywhere from time to time. Holts is typically under 10 minutes and the Winslow side is 12. Vertical on Holts is also 960 feet or so and not 800.

 

[LonghornSkier]

I highly, highly doubt that Indy is actually giving access to the entire Ski Arlberg region.

More likely is that Indy will give access to one of the sub-areas within the Arlberg (my guess is Warth-Schrocken). One thing that is a bit different about the Arlberg is that it is not one ownership entity. Rather, there are several lift companies that make up the interconnected ski circus. Of those lift companies, Warth-Schrocken is the only one that has it's own, smaller ticket that can be purchased.

Warth also fits the Indy profile, as it's a bit sleepier and slow-paced than the high-end Lech area or the party-centric St. Anton village.

 

[Smellytele]

No don't work there but have been a passholder for three years. Its a hidden gem with some of the best conditions anywhere given their size and budget, and zero crowds.

The food is an outside contractor. The vendor last year was new and typically runs a food truck, and gives zero fucks about racers and their entitlement as any grizzled northern New Englander would. You must have been there on a weekday, which does not typically justify enough business to warrant opening. That said, maybe his attitude will change this year, assuming he can get staff. Restaurants in the UV are getting killed staffing wise as it is still a really rural area with no pool of employees to draw off of.

But the No Boundaries pass is a bad deal for local families. I would wager most families have access to discounted passes via employment with the College, or they utilize the area more than the No Boundaries pass would provide because their kids are in local programs. It is not hard to buy tickets at the Skiway at $35 per day. Kids under 5 ski free. The bunny hill magic carpets are free every day. Lyme resident kids get a free season pass until they are 21 years old. Pretty much every school district within an hour comes 1 day a week and gets 6-8 lessons per season for a whopping 80 bucks. I seriously challenge anyone to find a better deal in ski school anywhere.

The Skiway also never closes an entire side for racing, but will close individual trails and let you know that at the base of the lift. The lifts also don't take 15 minutes unless you count one really bad ride with a lot of stops, which happens everywhere from time to time. Holts is typically under 10 minutes and the Winslow side is 12. Vertical on Holts is also 960 feet or so and not 800.

I have been there when the whole holt side was closed for racing but it was 10 years ago now.

 

[urungus]

I highly, highly doubt that Indy is actually giving access to the entire Ski Arlberg region.

More likely is that Indy will give access to one of the sub-areas within the Arlberg (my guess is Warth-Schrocken). One thing that is a bit different about the Arlberg is that it is not one ownership entity. Rather, there are several lift companies that make up the interconnected ski circus. Of those lift companies, Warth-Schrocken is the only one that has it's own, smaller ticket that can be purchased.

Warth also fits the Indy profile, as it's a bit sleepier and slow-paced than the high-end Lech area or the party-centric St. Anton village.

Hmm, pretty misleading if they are saying they are adding “Austria’s largest resort” but you only get access to a small portion of it.

 

[LonghornSkier]

Hmm, pretty misleading if they are saying they are adding “Austria’s largest resort” but you only get access to a small portion of it.

Who knows what the truth is-I’m just conjecturing. As someone stated, Ski Arlberg is an Epic partner, so I’d be surprised if it was full access.

It could be also be SkiWelt. It is larger than Ski Arlberg by some measures (number of lifts, for example).

 

[RH29]

Who knows what the truth is-I’m just conjecturing. As someone stated, Ski Arlberg is an Epic partner, so I’d be surprised if it was full access.

Arlberg being an Epic partner does not disqualify them from signing up for Indy. It's three day max on Epic and Indy is two day max, so it'd be very similar in terms of benefit to the resort - it's possible they like what they've gotten from Epic and want to extend it.

 

[cdskier]

Arlberg being an Epic partner does not disqualify them from signing up for Indy. It's three day max on Epic and Indy is two day max, so it'd be very similar in terms of benefit to the resort - it's possible they like what they've gotten from Epic and want to extend it.

Would be a bit hypocritical if Indy partnered with a resort that was also part of Epic considering what Indy is doing to resorts in the US that had other partnerships...

 

[RH29]

Would be a bit hypocritical if Indy partnered with a resort that was also part of Epic considering what Indy is doing to resorts in the US that had other partnerships...

Indy does not care if they're hypocritical. The benefit a massive international destination like that could bring to Indy is innumerable.

 

[Bosco DaSkia]

innumurable enough to enable them to stop strong arming their supposedly "fiercely independant" partners over the exact same type of pass deal?

 

[mgalluzz1]

Certainly Indy faced issues with Cooper, with such a large network of partners, and so many buying the season pass with no intention of skiing Cooper.

NB is much smaller, but maybe they felt they had to be consistent in the approach. It didn't take that long for Cooper to get huge.

What is the revenue share with NB? I know Cooper is 0% and Indy is 85% (I think).

It's a revenue share but not on a percentage basis. We agree with each mountain on a fixed price per redemption that they are comfortable with, and we pay them that amount no matter what. Sometimes the total payout amount per pass is greater than the revenue we receive from that pass.

You're right, we are very small. Last year was the pilot season for this product, but it was going to grow significantly this year (still small compared to Indy). One of the major goals last year was to test/prove that you can incentive weekday/off-peak skiing without using blackout dates. That's why the pass is structured the way it is, using a carrot and not a stick. Last season more than half of the skier visits were on weekdays and another ~20% were on non-holiday Sundays. Only about 30% were on Saturdays or holidays. It was working. The goal was to prove that out even further with more data and get other mountains that deal with the "Saturday Problem" interested in signing up. We're going to keep pushing forward but this is certainly a setback.

Side note, does anyone have a contact at Quechee? I did reach out but can't seem to get in touch with anyone. They would really help fill the void that was just created in the Upper Valley and I think our program would actually work really well for them.

 

[2planks2coasts]

It's a revenue share but not on a percentage basis. We agree with each mountain on a fixed price per redemption that they are comfortable with, and we pay them that amount no matter what. Sometimes the total payout amount per pass is greater than the revenue we receive from that pass.

You're right, we are very small. Last year was the pilot season for this product, but it was going to grow significantly this year (still small compared to Indy). One of the major goals last year was to test/prove that you can incentive weekday/off-peak skiing without using blackout dates. That's why the pass is structured the way it is, using a carrot and not a stick. Last season more than half of the skier visits were on weekdays and another ~20% were on non-holiday Sundays. Only about 30% were on Saturdays or holidays. It was working. The goal was to prove that out even further with more data and get other mountains that deal with the "Saturday Problem" interested in signing up. We're going to keep pushing forward but this is certainly a setback.

Side note, does anyone have a contact at Quechee? I did reach out but can't seem to get in touch with anyone. They would really help fill the void that was just created in the Upper Valley and I think our program would actually work really well for them.

Thanks for the inside nfo about your pass. I will likely purchase one this week. Too bad Indy had to interfere. Iirc, Quechee is run by the Quechee Lakes HOA? I wonder if they're looking for more skiers from the general public. I hope your quest to expand is successful.

 

[Smellytele]

I noticed each region on their website has blank drop downs. Each have a different amount I wonder if that is the number each region is getting...
Probably not but

 

[Harvey]

My guess is probably yes.

 

[deadheadskier]

I noticed that Whaleback and Dartmouth are no longer listed as Allied? Wonder if that means they're becoming full members.

Some other New England Allied are still listed under Allied; Middlebury, King Pine, Bouquet etc

 

[Smellytele]

What time do they announce?

 

[Zand]

In addition to the assumptions of Whaleback and Dartmouth, there's room for 5 more ski areas on the east page. Consists of New England, NY, and Ontario/Quebec.

I know hoping for something good like Smuggs to come along is just wishful thinking but trying to figure out in my head what 5 ski areas they could be.

 

[RH29]

In addition to the assumptions of Whaleback and Dartmouth, there's room for 5 more ski areas on the east page. Consists of New England, NY, and Ontario/Quebec.

I know hoping for something good like Smuggs to come along is just wishful thinking but trying to figure out in my head what 5 ski areas they could be.

Wishful thinking: Jiminy/Bromley/Cranmore. Or ORDA.

 

[jaytrem]

Map is up...

All 23/24 Indy Pass Resorts - Google My Maps

All 23/24 Indy Pass Resorts

www.google.com

 

[Harvey]

Do you know the key for color coding?