PSA: 2024-2025 Ikon Renewal

[deadheadskier]

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

Annual tradition. I can't recall a year that they haven't offered it

 

[cdskier]

Annual tradition. I can't recall a year that they haven't offered it

I think more specifically he was referring to whether Killington has always offered discounted pricing as an "Add-on" for the Spring pass to Ikon users. That part I don't recall. The general public can get the spring pass for $359/389 depending on when they buy it, but Ikon pass-holders can get it for only $199 at anytime (same price as Pico pass-holders or K mid-week passholders would pay for it).

 

[djd66]

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.

I completely agree regarding the level of commitment for the club racing programs - its a lot. The one thing I will say - is if you really want your kid to be a very good technical skier (and if your kid wants this) racing is the way to go. My daughter did the Sugarbush blazers program for 8 years and never really learned much - as it was just a group of kids with a coach, not doing much coaching. She moved over to GMVS for 3 years and it was incredible to see the change in her skiing.

 

[ColdRain&Snow]

Annual tradition. I can't recall a year that they haven't offered it

I think more specifically he was referring to whether Killington has always offered discounted pricing as an "Add-on" for the Spring pass to Ikon users. That part I don't recall. The general public can get the spring pass for $359/389 depending on when they buy it, but Ikon pass-holders can get it for only $199 at anytime (same price as Pico pass-holders or K mid-week passholders would pay for it).

Yes, the ikon discount. Just wondering if it’s been offered before

 

[cdskier]

Yes, the ikon discount. Just wondering if it’s been offered before

I don't remember that in the past personally...

Just looked at my e-mails from Killington last year and none of them that talk about the Spring Pass made any mention of it being available at a lower add-on rate for Ikon users. I think this is new.

 

[Smellytele]

I don't remember that in the past personally...

Just looked at my e-mails from Killington last year and none of them that talk about the Spring Pass made any mention of it being available at a lower add-on rate for Ikon users. I think this is new.

Getting ready to be bought by Alterra

 

[letitsnow1]

Yes, the ikon discount. Just wondering if it’s been offered before

I think they had that last year not sure about before then

 

[oldfartrider]

This is the first year that ikon discount is offered and it’s mid week only

 

[NYDB]

This is the first year that ikon discount is offered and it’s mid week only

It’s offered to current midweek pass holders(plus ikoners and pico only). It’s valid 3/15 until they close. every day.

 

[drjeff]

I completely agree regarding the level of commitment for the club racing programs - its a lot. The one thing I will say - is if you really want your kid to be a very good technical skier (and if your kid wants this) racing is the way to go. My daughter did the Sugarbush blazers program for 8 years and never really learned much - as it was just a group of kids with a coach, not doing much coaching. She moved over to GMVS for 3 years and it was incredible to see the change in her skiing.

Youth seasonal programs, IMHO, and experiences with my own kids are GREAT things, both from the perspective of advancing their skill level, as well as socially where they get to meet (and if they continue with seasonal programs for multiple years) and often become friends with other similar aged kids who enjoy the sport as well - helps create potential long term friends that can also help them wanting to keep skiing/riding through their adolescent years where sometimes the desire to not ski and just stay home certainly increases for some.

General seasonal programs for sure will advance the skill set. Racing/competition programs will REALLY adavance their skill set. Heck, since I've been doing timing for Mount Snow the last few years, we get to see both the "general" seasonal program and Competition team athletes come through the start house 4 times between Christmas week and late March, and without a doubt, the improvement in all of their skills is very obvious, with the competition athletes very often displaying a greater amount of improvement.

Yup, it takes a commitment on the part of the parents, whether its going to the same mountain week in and week out for the roughly 12 to 15 weeks most programs run eash season, and in the case of competition athletes, spending a good deal of those 12 to 15 weeks, often on Sunday's, traveling to a different mountain for races. As a parent, while you certainly do get to ski/ride if you want during the program season, you often realize that you may take a few less runs on some days, so your kids can pursue a sport that they enjoy, and often enjoy with their peers. In the end though you will likley have kids who have a very strong core skill set and a love for the sport and that is something that as a family you can enjoy for many years to come. Atleast that has been my wife's and my own personal experience with our 2 kids for closing in on 20 years now.

As for the instructors and coaches. What many, unless they have been around and know instructors/coaches may not fully grasp, is how many clinics/seminars (both on hill and video/classroom) the majority of them take over the course of a year. Obviously most of them are between say October and April, but both the PSIA and USSSA have video clinics, and now especially in the East with Big Snow open, even some on snow clinics, year round, and many an instructor/coach actively pursue these clinics in a continuous effort to improve not just their teaching/coaching skills, but often their own individual skiing/riding skills

 

[deadheadskier]

I don't doubt that seasonal race programs help advance skills far better than just your basic group programs.

It's still way too intense for the vast majority of skiers IMO. Same thing as other club sports.

The two top females and the top male from my HS when I was there don't even ski anymore at all. They all say the intensity of the racing commitment killed their joy for the sport. It burnt them out. I have another friend who got a full ride to SLU to race and dropped out of not just the race program, but the school in general after a year. Got burnt out

I'm vastly more interested in my kids developing a life long love for the sport than how great they become at it.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

dont you know every spoiled brat on the hill with curved poles and spandex is the next bode?

 

[drjeff]

dont you know every spoiled brat on the hill with curved poles and spandex is the next bode?

Most of the current crew in youth racing, as crazy as it sounds, are too YOUNG to really know/appreciate who Bode is (likely the race kids at Cannon excluded), they're now Mikaela and even River Radamus fans

 

[KustyTheKlown]

point remains - rich kids who will not do this at a professional or even collegiate level, who are just burning mom and dad's money and acting obnoxiously to the general skiing public.

 

[drjeff]

point remains - rich kids who will not do this at a professional or even collegiate level, who are just burning mom and dad's money and acting obnoxiously to the general skiing public.

There certainly are kids who fit that description, often though from my own experiences both the parents of racers and now in the starting area at many races a year, those tend to be more atheletes from the private, full time ski academies, than the "weekend warriors" who are part of a specific mountain's own race program.

And I won't deny that SOME of the parents, are the driving force of their kids entitlement/attitude, as they are convinced that their kid is destined for an appointment to the US Ski Team in the coming years.

Heck, at a mogul event Mount Snow hosted this past weekend, apparently 2 Dad's from an "un-named Mountain that might be locted somewhere between Mount Snow and Bromley who's 1st letter is an S" got into a fight inbetween the 1st and 2nd runs when 1 Dad apparently grabbed a pair of skis on the rack, that he thought was his kid's when it was one of his teammates skis (the majority of youth bumpers these days seem to prefer Kastle bump skis so there were lots of them in the racks between runs) and the Dad of the kid who's skis they actually were got into it with the other Dad, with some punches apparentyl exchanged...... A second competitor from an "unnamed Mountain that tries to have lift served skiing from October to June every year" was disqualifed for throwing a punch at one of her fellow competitors witnessed by one of the competiton officials in the liftline. A third competitor from that "unamed mountain located between Mount Snow and Bromley" was also Disqualifed for showing up about 15 minutes late to his 1st run on Saturday (the only competitor all weekend out of a total of about 375 combined competitor starts over the 2 days to do so) and had a few choice words for both the competition officials at the start area and his coaches, when they wouldn't let him start - this was a state championship meet, not the 1st meet of the year by any means, and apparently from what coaches said, this wasn't the 1st time he missed his start and his coaches repeatedly remind him and his parents that he HAS to be ontime for his run.

I still strongly feel, that atleast for my own 2 kids in this day and age, that ski racing can (and did) teach a lesson that many in this cuurent "everyone gets a trophy" mentality that has unfortunately taken over youth sports across so many age levels" seem to not grasp, that you can finish far off the podium, and still feel good about your performance that day as you did the best you could, and that's 100% OK. Frankly the parents and often their kids that most "worry me" is for timed events, the event is often on an app called live-timing, and it's sad to see a finish area where parents are spending more time looking at their phones and their kids time while on course, than actually looking up and watching their kid's run with their own eyes

 

[jimmywilson69]

point remains - rich kids who will not do this at a professional or even collegiate level, who are just burning mom and dad's money and acting obnoxiously to the general skiing public.

while I'm sure there are kids who aren't asshats wearing the mountain branded jacket, A LOT of them are. My 2 most recent experiences at Killington. I'm about to enter the Snowdon bubble RFID gate and a KMS kid literally hockey stops on top of me, because he thought he had the right of way into the gate. Then dude ducked the rope behind me and cut in front of like 4 other people so he could ride with his teammates. second instance, same day I mind you over at Ramshead there is a coach basically holding up the line while she wrangled her younger kids together. I muttered something loud enough she heard and she finally let us pass while she got her group together. Of course she gave me the stink eye, but I couldn't care less what she thinks of me.

I get that people pay a premium to be in these clubs/teams, but I also paid to use the lifts. How about teach the kids a littler courtesy especially when they are easily identifiable on the hill. The problem is the coaches likely came up acting the same way so they too think they are entitled...

 

[Mailman]

Heck, at a mogul event Mount Snow hosted this past weekend, apparently 2 Dad's from an "un-named Mountain that might be locted somewhere between Mount Snow and Bromley who's 1st letter is an S" got into a fight inbetween the 1st and 2nd runs when 1 Dad apparently grabbed a pair of skis on the rack, that he thought was his kid's when it was one of his teammates skis (the majority of youth bumpers these days seem to prefer Kastle bump skis so there were lots of them in the racks between runs) and the Dad of the kid who's skis they actually were got into it with the other Dad, with some punches apparentyl exchanged...... A second competitor from an "unnamed Mountain that tries to have lift served skiing from October to June every year" was disqualifed for throwing a punch at one of her fellow competitors witnessed by one of the competiton officials in the liftline. A third competitor from that "unamed mountain located between Mount Snow and Bromley" was also Disqualifed for showing up about 15 minutes late to his 1st run on Saturday (the only competitor all weekend out of a total of about 375 combined competitor starts over the 2 days to do so) and had a few choice words for both the competition officials at the start area and his coaches, when they wouldn't let him start - this was a state championship meet, not the 1st meet of the year by any means, and apparently from what coaches said, this wasn't the 1st time he missed his start and his coaches repeatedly remind him and his parents that he HAS to be ontime for his run.

My son was at the Mt Snow event (podiumed both days!) and I just took a look at the results.

All of the girls listed on the run order for Saturday completed their runs and had two scores recorded. There were a bunch of no shows on Sunday (presumably because of the weather / roads). No DQs though listed for either day though.

There was one boy who wound up with a DNS on Saturday. I don't really know him or his parents though so can't confirm that he's habitually late, but looking back at results in the other comps from this year, it doesn't look like he has any other DNS results.

If two dads really came to blows over which of their kids owned a set of skis, I hope they got thrown off the mountain. That's appalling if it's true. From hanging out with other parents at the events this year, it seems a bit far fetched, but on the other hand, I'm generally pretty good at avoiding drama, so maybe I've just managed to steer clear of the type of people who would throw a punch at someone over an equipment issue.

On balance, I think the Mt Snow team put on a really solid event for the state championships. Sunday was an absolute shit show with the weather, lift delays, no-shows etc, but they got through the event pretty efficiently which I thought was an outstanding effort given the circumstances. Saturday's awards ceremony started super late for some reason - maybe someone had to run to the pet store to buy the fish they gave out to the podium athletes? I'd love to know what the story is behind giving out fish! If the one swimming around in a bowl in my kitchen is alive by the time I get home today, I'll be amazed! Nice touch for the Sunday awards giving the podium kids sparkling water to spray on each other F1 style!

 

[Mailman]

point remains - rich kids who will not do this at a professional or even collegiate level, who are just burning mom and dad's money and acting obnoxiously to the general skiing public.

Acting obnoxiously to the general skiing public isn't excusable. I see about the same percentage of obnoxious kids / people in the race and freestyle programs as I see in the general population, but maybe I'm just not looking for it.

I don't get why you'd care about how other people are spending their money though. 95% of parents I've met have zero expectation that their kids is going to compete in college or professionally. That's not why they're spending the money.

Speaking for myself, I spend a lot more money than I thought I'd ever be comfortable with on the programs, equipment and travel for my kids. My son is very good and could maybe take his competitive skiing beyond the junior level if he wanted to. My daughter is a good skier, but it's highly doubtful she'll compete beyond the junior level. Getting to the next level isn't why I spend money on it though. Both my kids are passionate about competing and getting better right now, they're surrounded by good friends from good families who they ski with every weekend, they're both growing into technically excellent skiers, and most importantly, they're both developing a life long passion for the sport and being outside in the mountains. Could they get some or all of those things without me dropping a small fortune on it? Maybe or maybe not. It's irrelevant. I see the money I spend on skiing for my family as among the best value for money purchasing decisions I've made.

 

[jaytrem]

I'm generally pretty good at avoiding drama

18 post in 11 years is a good way to do that.

Congrats to your son, very cool that he podiumed both days!

 

[drjeff]

My son was at the Mt Snow event (podiumed both days!) and I just took a look at the results.

All of the girls listed on the run order for Saturday completed their runs and had two scores recorded. There were a bunch of no shows on Sunday (presumably because of the weather / roads). No DQs though listed for either day though.

There was one boy who wound up with a DNS on Saturday. I don't really know him or his parents though so can't confirm that he's habitually late, but looking back at results in the other comps from this year, it doesn't look like he has any other DNS results.

If two dads really came to blows over which of their kids owned a set of skis, I hope they got thrown off the mountain. That's appalling if it's true. From hanging out with other parents at the events this year, it seems a bit far fetched, but on the other hand, I'm generally pretty good at avoiding drama, so maybe I've just managed to steer clear of the type of people who would throw a punch at someone over an equipment issue.

On balance, I think the Mt Snow team put on a really solid event for the state championships. Sunday was an absolute shit show with the weather, lift delays, no-shows etc, but they got through the event pretty efficiently which I thought was an outstanding effort given the circumstances. Saturday's awards ceremony started super late for some reason - maybe someone had to run to the pet store to buy the fish they gave out to the podium athletes? I'd love to know what the story is behind giving out fish! If the one swimming around in a bowl in my kitchen is alive by the time I get home today, I'll be amazed! Nice touch for the Sunday awards giving the podium kids sparkling water to spray on each other F1 style!

Delay in the Saturday results was due to a glitch with getting some of the scores entered into the Winfree software system used for tabulating the judges scoring of the turns and airs as well as the time for each run.

That 1 boy on Saturday who had the DNS, was the one who was late, and apparently from what the TD was told by his coaches, he has a habit of being late for practices atleast. As the TD apparently looked at it, this is a State Championship Meet, and all the athletes should know by now to be on time, and apparently it wasn't something where that competitor was just a minute or so late..... I don't envy the job of being a technical delegate at times, as they have to make some tough calls based on what the stated rules are

The punch thrower on Sunday was listed as one of the DNS's since the incident occured prior to her 1st bracket run

There;s a LONG, funny story behind the goldfish as prizes (they actually wanted to give out live lobsters, but that apparently wasn't in the budget ) and something like 20 out of the 30 goldfish one of the Mount Snow coaches bought prior to departing his house in CT on Friday, surviced the trip North

And if the announcer both days messed up your kids names, I will own that as I was on the microphone all weekend, and especially on Saturday, the start list print out trunacted after a specific amount of characters so for some 1st names I literally only had the 1st letter or 2 to work with