PSA: 2024-2025 Ikon Renewal

[abc]

I feel I‘m “beating the house” in my own way. I usually buy the mega passes and make them pay by traveling out west. But this year, I choose not to buy a pass at all. The vacation I don’t use up this year, I could potentially use to do longer trips next year.

I don’t have to ski every year. There’re plenty of fun ways to pass a winter. But on years I do buy a pass, I skied the heck out of it!

Sure, not everybody has that same kind of flexibility. But that’s very much the point. IKON and Vail corner those who don’t have much choice.

 

[BenedictGomez]

try not to take this in the wrong way,… the hell with the ski school, ski with your kids and teach them yourself.

Tennis? Sure.
Baseball or Softball? Sure.
Soccer? Sure.
Basketball? Sure.
Ice Skating? Sure

Skiing is a whole different animal, and I know that I am in no way qualified to teach skiing. I have great respect for PSIA certified instructors as I think it is extremely difficult teaching people how to ski. Toddler people? Pfffttttt..... Now try serious teaching while herding cats. I'd place golf in this bracket as well in terms of instructional difficulty.

 

[snoseek]

I feel I‘m “beating the house” in my own way. I usually buy the mega passes and make them pay by traveling out west. But this year, I choose not to buy a pass at all. The vacation I don’t use up this year, I could potentially use to do longer trips next year.

I don’t have to ski every year. There’re plenty of fun ways to pass a winter. But on years I do buy a pass, I skied the heck out of it!

Sure, not everybody has that same kind of flexibility. But that’s very much the point. IKON and Vail corner those who don’t have much choice.

Yeah if not skiing an entire winter=flexibility then thats definitely not for me. To each their own I guess

 

[djd66]

I don’t have to ski every year. There’re plenty of fun ways to pass a winter. But on years I do buy a pass, I skied the heck out of it!

Sure, not everybody has that same kind of flexibility. But that’s very much the point. IKON and Vail corner those who don’t have much choice.

this is the winner of ultimate cheapskate

 

[crippity]

Again, you're missing a key bit of context in this conversation.
The vast majority of us here are talking about what this may do to the future of the sport, whereas you are focusing your opinion on what it does for you.
Yes, I know the mega-passes make skiing cheap for everyone who has one. I'm pretty sure everyone agrees on that point, but if someone disagrees please chime in. My "per day" cost to ski this year will be the cheapest in my life.

Now, what may be missed (and I think some are unaware of) is the fact they've jacked the prices on virtually every other possible expense outside of lift access (e.g. take a look at the "new" cost of children's ski lessons and you'll be shocked, or behold the $16 beer). Additionally, they've literally created new expenses where they didn't exist before (e.g. parking). But in any event, this subject is not about "me" or "you", but the sport in general. Some 60 year old lifetime skier getting cheap skiing the last 4 or 5 years is great, but s/he doesn't represent the "future". Crowding now might affect the future. Disincentivizing newbies now might affect the future, etcetera...

This is the point.

 

[Smellytele]

try not to take this in the wrong way,… the hell with the ski school, ski with your kids and teach them yourself. I did that with my kids and those were some of my best memories (and rewarding) just taking my kids out and skiing with them. You live at a premier resort, find a couple of Dads to form a group and take them out every weekend.

there is no other sport like skiing- where adults and kids can ski together and everyone has fun.

I did a combo of ski school/skiing with them. Nothing worse than teaching them your bad habits. It was really just getting them out on the snow and having them skiing as much as they could - with friends, instructors (also other kids their age in those groups) and my wife and I.

 

[abc]

Yeah if not skiing an entire winter=flexibility then thats definitely not for me. To each their own I guess

Well, I won this winter, didn’t I?

Joking aside, I WILL get to ski too. If I want to, that is. See the thread on “Sub-$50 lift ticket”.

Besides, why do we have this thread? Oh right, IKON pass is on sale now, you can ski your heart out at Sugarbush starting next week! Not to mention all the “spring pass” that’s now on sale on every other mountain. Killington anyone? Or better yet, A-basin!

How many of you ski all summer long? I bet none. Just turn one winter into an extended summer once in a while.

I skip buying pass once every 5-6 years. Those the winter I travel to ski in Europe. Went to Japan once. Yes, I’m a cheapskate. But my cheapskate is your flexibility. Ooops, I mean your cheapskate is my flexibility.

 

[abc]

Nothing worse than teaching them your bad habits.

Can be worse. You may make them hate skiing.

 

[jaytrem]

Can be worse. You may make them hate skiing.

Or the opposite. I taught my kids, and I don't know anybody who loves it more than them.

 

[djd66]

Or the opposite. I taught my kids, and I don't know anybody who loves it more than them.

Same here,… if there’s one thing I gave my kids - it’s a huge life long passion for skiing.

I had my kids in seasonal programs, they honestly did not learn much during those years, but they did have fun with other kids.

 

[Smellytele]

Same here,… if there’s one thing I gave my kids - it’s a huge life long passion for skiing.

I had my kids in seasonal programs, they honestly did not learn much during those years, but they did have fun with other kids.

Must have been the wrong programs. Mine became better skiers that showed as they got older. It was really about more reps . The more they skied the better they got. I couldn’t ski with them everyday that they skied. Then other days I wanted to ski with the adults.

 

[BenedictGomez]

Nothing worse than teaching them your bad habits.

This too.

Nobody needs me to teach them how to get backseat in 16 inches of powder!

 

[deadheadskier]

I find great benefit in having my kids do seasonal programs at Gunstock. I ski with the both of them all day on Saturdays (typically on Indy) and all but the two hours they're in their Sunday programs at Gunstock. Some of those benefits include:

1. Right sizing their ability mix with others learning. My 5 year old and 8 year old are at different ability levels due to experience and body strength. When we ski together, I'm either skiing terrain suitable for my 5 year old that holds my 8 year old back or pushing my 5 year old into terrain that makes her a little timid and not skiing as "correctly" as she normally would. My wife doesn't ski and has no desire to learn, so I don't have the benefit of her being with me and splitting them up like we do with other learning activities such as swimming.

2. Most (not all) instructors are better at teaching skiing than I am. A good teacher has a bag of tricks they can use with their students that they've learned through years of experience. I know a few, but I don't have the same skills at assessing a learners ability and applying the right concepts to improve problem areas. I'm also just not great at verbalizing skiing technique.

3. There's great social benefits for both of them working in a group of their peers. That's both having fun with other kids and learning patience while the instructor is paying attention to other kids in the program.

4. It frees me up for a couple of hours so I can work on my own skiing at the speeds I want and on the terrain I want in a manner I can't do while skiing with them until they advance a bit more.

It's like $850 total for the season for both of them for 9 two hour sessions. It's a no brainer. And what's cool about Gunstock's program is there are up to 18 kids and 3 coaches per group; one adult coach and two highschool kids. The students rotate between them a bit while skiing in groups of 6. The Highschool kids are often "graduates" of the same program they're now helping to teach. So, in 6 and 9 years respectfully, this could be my kids first job. I think that would be really cool.

 

[4aprice]

I haven't looked into it for a while but the Ski School model seems to have changed a lot.

My son "coached" for a program called Team Summit out in Summit County Co. It's a seasonal programs for kids out there. But it's hard to call it "ski school" as there was really no formal teaching. But my son is a very good skier and I'm sure gave them some "pointers". But the main job was basically to ski with the kids around Copper. He apparently got alone quite well with them (the girls were a trip according to him) and at the end of season party the parents took care of him very well.

 

[jaytrem]

I find great benefit in having my kids do seasonal programs at Gunstock. I ski with the both of them all day on Saturdays (typically on Indy) and all but the two hours they're in their Sunday programs at Gunstock. Some of those benefits include:

1. Right sizing their ability mix with others learning. My 5 year old and 8 year old are at different ability levels due to experience and body strength. When we ski together, I'm either skiing terrain suitable for my 5 year old that holds my 8 year old back or pushing my 5 year old into terrain that makes her a little timid and not skiing as "correctly" as she normally would. My wife doesn't ski and has no desire to learn, so I don't have the benefit of her being with me and splitting them up like we do with other learning activities such as swimming.

Next time have twins. Smartest thing I ever did.

I think my kids would have enjoyed a seasonal program. Especially the the Mount Snow mogul program that some friends have been coaching forever. The problem is I like to travel around too much. So the options were commit to being at MS more often (and competition sites) or continue to travel around. I chose the latter.

 

[deadheadskier]

Next time have twins. Smartest thing I ever did.

I think my kids would have enjoyed a seasonal program. Especially the the Mount Snow mogul program that some friends have been coaching forever. The problem is I like to travel around too much. So the options were commit to being at MS more often (and competition sites) or continue to travel around. I chose the latter.

That's what I like about the Mountain run group programs at Gunstock. It's one day a week for 2 hours.

My 8 year old is in the racing focused one. I let him know if he really loved it, we could join the Club Program, but what that means is:

Spending several hours on the same trail training 90% of the season. Very little time would be spent free skiing all over the mountain.

Race days spent standing around waiting for his run for hours and not really exploring the rest of these new mountains very much.

So, when I framed the level of commitment the Club programs require and the impact it would have on traveling elsewhere or even the variety of skiing he would get to do while at Gunstock, it was an easy hard pass for him......and relief for me.

Other than wanting to support a kids dreams and passions, I have no idea how or why anyone signs their kids up to these Club programs. 99% of them don't even end up making a college team, nevermind pro. And I have to say, I have so many friends from my youth who were serious about racing back then and don't ski at all anymore. That kind of commitment can suck the joy out of the sport and burn many kids out.

I feel the same about any "club" run sport. I have that same 8 year old in a club lacrosse program and that program is frequently trying to get us to do camps summer, fall and winter. Hard no. We will play for you in the Spring, but we have diverse interests the rest of the year and will not give those up.

 

[jimmywilson69]

all sports are way intensive now. If your kid sticks with sports, there will be a point where you need to commit to a silly level of commitment.

 

[4aprice]

My 8 year old is in the racing focused one. I let him know if he really loved it, we could join the Club Program, but what that means is:

Spending several hours on the same trail training 90% of the season. Very little time would be spent free skiing all over the mountain.

Race days spent standing around waiting for his run for hours and not really exploring the rest of these new mountains very much.

It somewhat depends with the coach. When my son raced the Head Coach really stressed free skiing for the kids. They ran gates for sure but he would try to get them out free skiing as much as possible after practice just to be on skis. My son went for the Park a lot of times.

Race days of course are different with limited runs.

 

[deadheadskier]

all sports are way intensive now. If your kid sticks with sports, there will be a point where you need to commit to a silly level of commitment.

It's really the "clubs" I have a problem with vs town / school managed sports.

The clubs whether skiing or other sports, turned youth sports into a business first and foremost. The club owners and coaches are interested in maintaining revenue so they can be paid well vs what's best for the kids.

Thankfully our local lacrosse club isn't as developed as the local soccer and baseball clubs. Lax is still trying to build participation, so they aren't too demanding. The local soccer and baseball clubs are all hardcore and demand exclusive participation or the kids are kicked off the team.

 

[ColdRain&Snow]

Is this all you can eat spring killington $199 add on new, or is this a normal offering?

I’d plan ahead to go for this, assuming killington isn’t ikon unlimited next season.

https://www.killington.com/plan-your-trip/tickets-passes/spring-pass
https://www.killington.com/plan-your-trip/tickets-passes/spring-pass