Northeast Ski/Board Clubs

[Brettski]

http://www.skisite.com/clubsList.cfm?state=NJ

 

[madskier6]

Me too, Jeff, wanna carpool?

I'd love to except that I'll be driving up with the wife & kids on Thursday night so I can make the Sugarbush AZ outing on Friday. We're staying up in that area all weekend beginning on Thursday night. We're staying at the Best Western in Waterbury, which is about half way between Stowe & Sugarbush.

Are you going to make the Sugarbush day on Friday?

 

[ccskier]

Greg,

Has there ever been any thought to charging for membership? Another site what I used to spend time on (new owners of site suck aka internet brands) thehulltruth.com sold boat steering wheels, you would buy one for $29 supporting the site etc... Paying members could have greater authorities like post photos, sell items, etc... I personally would shell out $29 to for something like that. This site would allow you to upgrade, buy more wheels, gain status and so on. Maybe some crossed skis or something??

Just throwing that out there.

 

[MRGisevil]

I'd love to except that I'll be driving up with the wife & kids on Thursday night so I can make the Sugarbush AZ outing on Friday. We're staying up in that area all weekend beginning on Thursday night. We're staying at the Best Western in Waterbury, which is about half way between Stowe & Sugarbush.

Are you going to make the Sugarbush day on Friday?

Sadly, no Have to work that day.... but maybe we'll run into each other over the weekend

 

[Greg]

Greg,

Has there ever been any thought to charging for membership? Another site what I used to spend time on (new owners of site suck aka internet brands) thehulltruth.com sold boat steering wheels, you would buy one for $29 supporting the site etc... Paying members could have greater authorities like post photos, sell items, etc... I personally would shell out $29 to for something like that. This site would allow you to upgrade, buy more wheels, gain status and so on. Maybe some crossed skis or something??

Just throwing that out there.

A subscription based membership was considered and discussed at length. The idea was eventually axed for a variety of reasons.

 

[marcski]

A subscription based membership was considered and discussed at length. The idea was eventually axed for a variety of reasons.

Good!

So for this Ace club, do you have to pick the dates your going in August...or just pay for them in August and you can choose later?

 

[Brettski]

Hey,

Anyone belong to the Short Hills, NJ Ski Club?

http://www.shorthillsskiclub.org/

 

[deadheadskier]

Good!

So for this Ace club, do you have to pick the dates your going in August...or just pay for them in August and you can choose later?

choose later

vermont has black outs around holidays, new hampshire does not

 

[Vortex]

Maybe a compromise again. Bring back to Az discounts and preferred mountain status.

I spent a little time on this, but Really have just become tied to Sunday River. I was against a fee for membership idea, but a ski club option would be worth dollars to me.

I think there are some excellent ideas in this thread. Issue who wants to pony up the money up front and who wants to do the work?. Then what does Greg feel comfortable with. I did it for the Az race team for a couple of years. Others have taken that over.

I like what Beetlenut has to say here.

 

[Beetlenut]

Are there ski clubs that you only belong to in order to get discounts on lift tickets? The only ski club in RI is a club with a house at Okemo. That's the only place they ski, and you have to devote a lot of personal time doing club activities and chores. I'm just looking to join a club, for a fee, that would allow me access to discount ski tickets for the up-coming ski season each year.

 

[billski]

Good!

So for this Ace club, do you have to pick the dates your going in August...or just pay for them in August and you can choose later?

You buy ticket vouchers from the club by submitting your order in August. You pickup the vouchers in early December when the club receives them. The vouchers are good for any day during the 08-09 season (except in Vermont where there are blackout dates, see below.)

VT blackout dates are the holidays - xmas to NYears, mlk weekend, mass. president's day week.

 

[deadheadskier]

Are there ski clubs that you only belong to in order to get discounts on lift tickets? The only ski club in RI is a club with a house at Okemo. That's the only place they ski, and you have to devote a lot of personal time doing club activities and chores. I'm just looking to join a club, for a fee, that would allow me access to discount ski tickets for the up-coming ski season each year.

Ace is $20 to join, pays for itself in one ticket, no volunteering requirements as I understand it and is exactly what you are discribing. Though if the opportunity presents itself I probably will help out in some capacity if I am able.

 

[billski]

Are there ski clubs that you only belong to in order to get discounts on lift tickets?

Yes. The first five years I belonged to ACE all I did was buy tickets and didn't get involved with anything else. There is no obligation. What is different about ACE is that they don't own a house. You'll also see their dues are less than most. Read the fine print of each club carefully. With ACE you can even have your ticket vouchers mailed to you, and never attend a meeting if that's your thing.

Different clubs spin their tickets differently. Some clubs buy in bulk, but only allow use on very specific dates. If you are a wanderer, like me, who is looking for ultimate flexibility, look for a club that just sells you the voucher directly, so you can go when you want, and change plans anytime.

Other clubs just buy group rates from a very specific set of resorts, direct from the resort at the group ~20 rate.

 

[Vortex]

Are there ski clubs that you only belong to in order to get discounts on lift tickets? The only ski club in RI is a club with a house at Okemo. That's the only place they ski, and you have to devote a lot of personal time doing club activities and chores. I'm just looking to join a club, for a fee, that would allow me access to discount ski tickets for the up-coming ski season each year.

ski nh is the best deal imo if you like Nh. I have bought into that with a few freinds before, just to add somem variety to a season passes www.skinh.com

 

[Beetlenut]

I just checked out the ACE web page. That is just what I was talking about. I will definitely join for next season. Thanks for the info.

 

[riverc0il]

Why couldn't this AZ forum function as a ski club? At least for the purposes of ski ticket discounts. They already have AZ days at different mountains. Seems like a logical next step.

It has been done before on another forum. I participated but it was a total failure. The club got discounting pricing at select ski areas for one season for dues paying members but the social aspect never clicked. "Clubs" are very hard to make work in an online setting. As Greg said, why reinvent the wheel and as billski points out these clubs work best with enough investment to prepay for ticket blocks.

 

[riverc0il]

$90 for a three day lift ticket to Stowe is unbelievable, especially considering you don't have to pony up the dough in August. This alone gets my $28 to join. just printed the form, check will be in the mail tomorrow.

Problem is that deal is only good on select days and the three day ticket must be bought in advanced for all three days. I joined a club last year for that deal alone. Turned out that weekend had poor weather and potential NCP. I skied one day out of the three and did not buy the three ticket deal. Essentially, counting the membership dues, I paid full price for a Stowe ticket. Not a horrible gamble as that means you certainly can not loose money as long as you ski at least one day on the Council days, but it isn't so simple as three tickets for $90 as the days are three in a row on specific weekends. The prepaid tickets seem really good, I really like the idea of prepaying "any day except holiday" tickets early season on the cheap.

 

[deadheadskier]

Problem is that deal is only good on select days and the three day ticket must be bought in advanced for all three days. I joined a club last year for that deal alone. Turned out that weekend had poor weather and potential NCP. I skied one day out of the three and did not buy the three ticket deal. Essentially, counting the membership dues, I paid full price for a Stowe ticket. Not a horrible gamble as that means you certainly can not loose money as long as you ski at least one day on the Council days, but it isn't so simple as three tickets for $90 as the days are three in a row on specific weekends. The prepaid tickets seem really good, I really like the idea of prepaying "any day except holiday" tickets early season on the cheap.

Certainly there is a weather risk on the club appreciation weekends and I'm not counting on it. This year that weekend happened to be easter weekend, which would've been a no go weekend due to work obligations. Hopefully next year, whatever weekend that is works out better with my schedule and the weather is good. If it doesn't, as you said, the option of buying 'any day except holiday' tickets in August is an exceptional opportunity. You basically get to buy tickets for 50% off if not more. You river, could buy MRG passes for $25 each, Cannon tickets for $34, Burke tickets for $25

My comment about the club appreciation $90 three day ticket was just to illustrate an added benefit. That same weekend though you could get a $64 two day ticket or $38 one day ticket. So say the weather is only good one day, the investment would only be $58 total for that ticket. If you took no other benefit from joinging the club, you'd still be $19 to good.

I'm pretty certain I won't have a pass somewhere again next year, so it makes perfect sense for me. I just won't be living within a 2 hour drive of a place I'd want to ski fifteen plus times in a season, which is my basic requirement to get a pass. Even if I did get a pass somewhere, the program would still make sense to be able to branch out and enjoy other areas on the cheap.

....perhaps I'm a bit over enthusiastic, but I had no idea how financialy strong the benefits are for joining a club like Ace. That's probably because outside of maybe three years, I have had a pass somewhere every year for the past twenty. Within 48 hours of finding out about it and talking to Bill a bit....my check was in the mail.

 

[billski]

Sorry Steve, I have to clarify a few things, having spoken the various resorts.

Problem is that deal is only good on select days

True, but there are usually windows in December, January AND March.

and the three day ticket must be bought in advanced for all three days.

"Advance" means when you get to the mountain you buy it on ski day one. It doesn't mean in advance of your trip. That provides you the opportunity to bail at the last minute and not pay for the tix.

but it isn't so simple as three tickets for $90 as the days are three in a row on specific weekends.

In case any casual readers mis-read this remark, it applies to one specific example. Some of these appreciation days are a) single days, b) 2-3 days or c) an entire week.

 

[riverc0il]

Thanks for the clarification for those that do not understand the program. All I was saying is that people should not expect to be able to buy three tickets to Stowe for $90 and use them any day they want. "Advanced" means you pre-buy three tickets on your first day of skiing so you can not bail on day two or three and if you are sore or something comes up, you are out the cash. As previously mentioned, a single day at the Stowe Appreciation pretty much pays for the club membership any ways and everything else is savings after that.

I will consider the ACE club since tickets can be mailed. Last season I joined a CT club but advanced tickets had to be picked up in person so I only was able to utilize the Club Appreciation days. I wouldn't do it again just for the Appreciation days since I follow the snow, not the calendar. But the prepaid ticket prices are ridiculously low. Even with a season pass, I still almost hit double digits on the number of places I hit in a season.