Mount Snow Seasons Passes on Sale

[tcharron]

Yeah, me too
The holiday weeks are just not worth it at places like Okemo and Stratton IMO anyway. Good time to check out the places that have reasonable day prices or take a couple weeks off of snow. Christmas break is typically pretty bad conditions anyway. This year I visited Crotched a few times at night and Ascutney during the day on Presidents week and didn't wait even a minute in line. I really don't like crowds..

My favorite part of Crotched is Midnight Madness. Open till 3am and not crowded 4tw!

 

[AdironRider]

Attitash and Crotched? Thats pretty damn good in my opinion for 500 bones.

 

[tcharron]

Attitash and Crotched? Thats pretty damn good in my opinion for 500 bones.

What I'm waiting for information on is if Peak will still have their 50% off policy for other mountains. In the past, if you owned a season pass at any Peak mountain, other Peak mountains tickets where 50% off.

If they offer this, I'll prob go with the granite pass for 500$, as the extra 300 for adding Mount Snow would be like 9 trips to Mount Snow. Heck, might just stick with a strait Crotched pass if their down below 300 like they have been in the pass.

 

[ski_resort_observer]

I think the future looks very good for folks who ski Mt Snow. In a recent PR by Tim Boyd. Working on securing more water from the Somerset resevoir to go with their $2.5m upgrade of the snowmaking system.

Current senior management will remain in place including GM Kelly Pawlak. Curious if you MS regulars think this is a good thing?

 

[ski_resort_observer]

I asked about the 50% discount yesterday when I was buying my Granite Pass. They said this was the main reason why the Crotched pass prices have not come out yet. The concern is that the people who mainly ski/ride at Mt Snow would buy the cheaper pass at Crotched and then use the 50% discount to ski/ride at Mt Snow all the time. My suggestion is that they limit the number of times the 50% discount can be used in total or at any particular mountain.

This doesn't make sense to me, I must be missing something. You buy a SP at Crotched for lets say $250 but you use it too ski at Mt Snow which gets you a 50% discount or $30 per day. 10 times cost you $250+ $300 for a total of $550 or $55 per day. 20 days Peak gets $850. If I was Peak Resorts I would not mind this abit. Please explain.

 

[Newpylong]

Re: Senior Management staying on under Peaks. YES I think this is a good thing. Given little to no money and resources under ASC, these people have kept the place going and have kept it going quite well. I heard enough during the Q&A with them last to month to know they are all decent people... They know what we want, and now that they have the resources I am sure they are going to make things happen. It makes no sense to bring in a bunch of new management who don't know the mountain and its clientel.

 

[tcharron]

I asked about the 50% discount yesterday when I was buying my Granite Pass. They said this was the main reason why the Crotched pass prices have not come out yet. The concern is that the people who mainly ski/ride at Mt Snow would buy the cheaper pass at Crotched and then use the 50% discount to ski/ride at Mt Snow all the time. My suggestion is that they limit the number of times the 50% discount can be used in total or at any particular mountain.

Bah, just got an email response. No more 50% discount.

The 50% Peak Resorts benefit now only applies to the midwestern resorts.

Best,

--csb


--Chris Bradford
Director of Sales and Marketing
Crotched Mountain Ski & Ride Area

 

[Greg]

But then they have to deal with all the bitc%^ing and complaining from the people who buy those houses ("my sushi is cold"...."the gondola is cold"...."why do I have to ski with THOSE people?"). So they are no better off...

I never understand this philosophy. Not all people who are well off are assholes.

Take me for example! :roll: Kidding...

Anyway, the future looks bright for Mount Snow! I imagine these combo passes will be a boost for Crotched too.

 

[tcharron]

This doesn't make sense to me, I must be missing something. You buy a SP at Crotched for lets say $250 but you use it too ski at Mt Snow which gets you a 50% discount or $30 per day. 10 times cost you $250+ $300 for a total of $550 or $55 per day. 20 days Peak gets $850. If I was Peak Resorts I would not mind this abit. Please explain.

Yea, I don't understand the logic either. I'm happy, in some respects, but severaly disapointed in other ways. First, there is no Junior pass. That kinda hurts me with 2 kids who are out on the mountain with me. Second, there is no multi mountain classic pass with blackouts. No middle ground.

I'm looking at possibly a Crotched season pass, and an Okemo Value Pass Plus. That'll give me Okemo, Stratton, and Sunapee non holiday, and Crotched whenever I want. I considered the Granite pass, but I want to have access to at least one 'big' mountain. And basically, Attitash is nice, but I'd have GREATLY preferred a Crotched/Mount Snow combo. If I'm driving far enough to go to Attitash, I'll drive strait past it and head to Sunday River.

 

[tcharron]

I never understand this philosophy. Not all people who are well off are assholes.

Take me for example! :roll: Kidding...

Anyway, the future looks bright for Mount Snow! I imagine these combo passes will be a boost for Crotched too.

It's really all going to depends on what kind of options Crotched season passes are going to have. In the past, they've had at least these options:

Adult Season Pass
Junior Season Pass
Family Season Pass (up to 5 people)
Adult VIP Pass

Last year, Crotched sold a metric crapton of their season passes. I don't have a number, but I can say when I went in to pick mine up, they had a VERY large amount. Bear in mind, I'm basing this on the fact that they had 3 full sized folding tables completely covered with boxes full of envelopes with season passes in them.

If they end up releasing any sort of a blackout based pass, I'll be extremely annoyed. I understand their prices are a bargain, but if they add blackouts to a 'classic' pass, then I'll drive the extra half an hour and Pat's Peak will get my after work and family skiing money. Heck, my son would like that more, he wants to join the Pat's Peak race team next year, and I was trying to veer him twards Crotched instead because of the upcoming Peak deals. Now that ideas in the crapper.

Don't mind me, was just hoping for something more family friendly then 750$ for a 8 year old child.

 

[danny p]

I'm kinda upset that they don't have a non-black out date just Mount Snow SP. I don't want to ski the two mountains in NH, so I should be able to buy a pass that is a little cheaper than the Noreaster pass but enables me to ride during the black out dates. As it is now, its either 750 for a no black out pass to 3 resorts or 399 for a mount snow pass with blackout dates. I always end up riding on holiday periods because I don't have to work and whats better to do than ride (even with crowds). I know better than to buy a pass with blackout dates, guaranteed that it will be dumping on those days.

 

[Newpylong]

I'm kinda upset that they don't have a non-black out date just Mount Snow SP. I don't want to ski the two mountains in NH, so I should be able to buy a pass that is a little cheaper than the Noreaster pass but enables me to ride during the black out dates. As it is now, its either 750 for a no black out pass to 3 resorts or 399 for a mount snow pass with blackout dates. I always end up riding on holiday periods because I don't have to work and whats better to do than ride (even with crowds). I know better than to buy a pass with blackout dates, guaranteed that it will be dumping on those days.

You're 100% correct. I think this question is being addressed on the All4one site.. people from Mount Snow are on there... They might just say our pricing for a full Mount Snow pass was going to be so close to the all mountain one, they didn't offer it. Dunno

 

[tcharron]

You're 100% correct. I think this question is being addressed on the All4one site.. people from Mount Snow are on there... They might just say our pricing for a full Mount Snow pass was going to be so close to the all mountain one, they didn't offer it. Dunno

Guess that could make sense. How do the current prices reflect what they've been at Attitash in the past?

 

[clenois]

Hey everybody,

I just wanted to take a minute to respond to the people asking about a Mount Snow-only passwith no blackout dates. The last time we offered a Mount Snow-only pass with no blackout dates, it was $1000. I'm not going to do a mountain-by-mountain comparison in this forum, but we feel the Nor'easter is competitively priced with other mountains even if it offered skiing at just Mount Snow. The fact that it also includes Attitash, Crotched, and Jack Frost/Big Boulder is added value for many skiers and snowboarders.

 

[Greg]

Hey everybody,

I just wanted to take a minute to respond to the people asking about a Mount Snow-only passwith no blackout dates. The last time we offered a Mount Snow-only pass with no blackout dates, it was $1000. I'm not going to do a mountain-by-mountain comparison in this forum, but we feel the Nor'easter is competitively priced with other mountains even if it offered skiing at just Mount Snow. The fact that it also includes Attitash, Crotched, and Jack Frost/Big Boulder is added value for many skiers and snowboarders.

I personally think the Classic pass is a steal at an early season price of $399. The blackout dates are hardly limiting at all...

 

[Newpylong]

$399 is pretty dope... a few less blackout dates than the ASC option too.

 

[tcharron]

Hey everybody,

I just wanted to take a minute to respond to the people asking about a Mount Snow-only passwith no blackout dates. The last time we offered a Mount Snow-only pass with no blackout dates, it was $1000. I'm not going to do a mountain-by-mountain comparison in this forum, but we feel the Nor'easter is competitively priced with other mountains even if it offered skiing at just Mount Snow. The fact that it also includes Attitash, Crotched, and Jack Frost/Big Boulder is added value for many skiers and snowboarders.

Thanks for the response, clenois, but what of Junior passes?

 

[danny p]

I hear where you are coming from clenois, but I guess it comes down to that I can't compare your pass to K's pass because they haven't released the prices, so maybe if you had a slightly cheaper pass than the Nor'easter that offered no black out dates to Mt. Snow, I would have already bought one, but instead will wait. I have been an A41er since it started and have always loved being able to ride at Mt. Snow and Killington, and if the prices were right I would try to swing buying a pass to each mountain (if I thought I could break even), so I guess that's why I keep going on these boards trying to put that idea out there.

 

[clenois]

Thanks for the response, clenois, but what of Junior passes?

One of our goals, based on passholder feedback, was to streamline the season pass options. Not all mountains offer a junior pass price, and those that do tend to be more expensive for adults than our Nor'easter pass. When you calculate it out as a family of four, the prices are very similar.

 

[tcharron]

One of our goals, based on passholder feedback, was to streamline the season pass options. Not all mountains offer a junior pass price, and those that do tend to be more expensive for adults than our Nor'easter pass. When you calculate it out as a family of four, the prices are very similar.

I believe that this is simply due to the inflationary pricing schemes that those mountains offer, to where they simply have to offer a cheaper price for a Junior pass. I understand that past pricing schemes used by Northeastern Ski areas would lead to this assumption, but even the basic comparisons of window ticket costs contradict these findings. On average, a junior ticket at window cost is 2/3rds the cost of a full price adult ticket. It would be a whole lot more convenient just to offer a season pass for juniors which is comparable. The money ends up working out the same way.

Take for example the break even point for a season pass compared to a window ticket. 72$ at Mount Snow, 65$ at Attitash, 47$ at Crotched. Hypothetically, we'll say that the individual skis at each ski area an equal amount. The break even point is 12 trips, 4 times to each mountain. That's ignoring the fact that Crotched offers midnight madness for simplicities sake.

Now compare this to the cost of bringing along one Junior with you each and very time. Junior window prices are 48$ at Mount Snow, 45$ at Attitash, and 35$ at Crotched. Your cost per Junior to bring them along with you is going to be 512$. Buying a season pass for them at the 'break even' point just wouldn't make any sense. If anything, it discourages families from taking part in the multi mountain passes for Juniors at all. It just wouldn't much economic sense.

Now it'd be REALLY sexy if you had a program where you could add a junior season pass at a lower rate to an adult season pass.

Please don't misuderstand, I'm not crying and bawling. The passes are an amazing value for adults. It just doesn't facilitate the concept of skiing as a family sport to leave out the concept of the entire family going.