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Skiing on the Cheap - 2015-16 Edition

BenedictGomez

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Yeah I have been watching this closely since the second week of October and am bitterly disappointed......With prices at $170 and the removal of Jay i'm looking at realistically only making 2 mountains and possibly 3 at $56 a mountain PASS!!!

Me too. This used to be a great SOTC tactic, now it's like a mildly interesting thing, and only if you absolutely can hit a bunch of places, and only if you also assume you cant get better prices on several of these mountains via other deals and/or common BOGOs (and you probably can if you poke around).

In this iteration, it's only good for someone who doesnt mind traveling over a geography of several states, can absolutely hit at least 5 places (6 you might argue), and who isnt well-versed in BOGOs, ski club deals, and other discounts.
 

trackbiker

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Deal is postponed. Maybe to add Jay? That was a big price increase this year. Still a good deal for me. I used it 6 times last year.
 

BenedictGomez

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Deal is postponed. Maybe to add Jay? That was a big price increase this year.

Maybe.

Though I think their absence is conspicuous, so I'm guessing it's more likely to add another mountain other than Jay Peak.

Sugarbush would make the most sense if you're looking to replace a good hill near Jay Peak. Or another NH mountain might make sense to try to make it more enticing to NH residents.
 

xwhaler

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Or another NH mountain might make sense to try to make it more enticing to NH residents.

They have Cannon so I always thought BW would make some sense for this very reason. Be awesome if we could see more of these types of things for other areas.
 

dlague

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Interesting that it is postponed. I wonder if they watch boards like these or have gotten other feed back that may influence what the final product might be.

I have looked at this long and hard. For me to make it worth it I would have to ski 7 days - average about $24.30 which is still higher than my average overall for the season. Below I highlighted in green those I would definitely hit but probably can score a deal that is comparable on two of those. In red canceled by Season Pass. In blue are those that I could make it to but normally would not consider. In gray are those that I would have to go out of my way to do since they are out of the day trip range and as a result cost me lodging $'s.

fox442015.jpg
 

BenedictGomez

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I find it odd that Burke is in but Jay is out.

I don't. Burke needs help, Jay doesn't. Plus, it seems like Jay has been getting more and more uppity in recent years regarding fewer deals. They're not Stowe, but it's starting to seem as if they almost want to be considered as such.

Think it would be a smaller NH mountain. Dartmouth or Ragged for example

Ugh... I hope not. There's already a handful of small mountains on there that probably 80% of folks who buy the card never use.

At $170 they should have added mountains lol

Yup. It was $125 just a few years ago.

If they keep increasing the price 36% every 2 years next time they'll need to take it off the "Good Deals" page and put it to the "Attention Suckers" page! LOL
 

wtcobb

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Think it would be a smaller NH mountain. Dartmouth or Ragged for example

I don't think they'll go this far from Burlington - Dartmouth perhaps, but this is a deal for Burlington & area. Cannon isn't far over the line from St. J, and within 2 hours of Burlington.

Sugarbush would make sense with the offering, but the fact that they haven't been included thus far doesn't bode well.
 

BenedictGomez

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I don't think they'll go this far from Burlington - Dartmouth perhaps, but this is a deal for Burlington & area. Cannon isn't far over the line from St. J, and within 2 hours of Burlington.

Sugarbush would make sense with the offering, but the fact that they haven't been included thus far doesn't bode well.

Agreed on both counts.

I imagine they could easily add another decent southern Canadian hill like Mont Sutton, as from a marketing standpoint those areas would probably perceive it desirable to draw new American customers, though I'm not sure if the card's market would consider that value. I've never understood why, but most Vermonters seem to think the border is an electrified canine fence.
 

dlague

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I don't. Burke needs help, Jay doesn't. Plus, it seems like Jay has been getting more and more uppity in recent years regarding fewer deals. They're not Stowe, but it's starting to seem as if they almost want to be considered as such.



Ugh... I hope not. There's already a handful of small mountains on there that probably 80% of folks who buy the card never use.



Yup. It was $125 just a few years ago.

If they keep increasing the price 36% every 2 years next time they'll need to take it off the "Good Deals" page and put it to the "Attention Suckers" page! LOL

Yup $125 fall of 2013! The one and only time I bought it! In fact, we skied Cannon for the first time on that card and loved it! Never looked back. Last year we second guessed it and bailed and glad we did - would have never squeezed it in.
 

chuckstah

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It is posted on the website that It's just a glitch in the system. They're working to fix it and they'll be on sale soon.
 

Smellytele

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Right where I want to be
I don't think they'll go this far from Burlington - Dartmouth perhaps, but this is a deal for Burlington & area. Cannon isn't far over the line from St. J, and within 2 hours of Burlington.

Sugarbush would make sense with the offering, but the fact that they haven't been included thus far doesn't bode well.
Cannon is about 2:05 from Burlington and Ragged about 2:15. Not much difference. IAlso I was just using those as examples when someone mentioned Bretton Woods.
 

BenedictGomez

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It is posted on the website that It's just a glitch in the system. They're working to fix it and they'll be on sale soon.

Yup. It's already on sale.

I guess that will end our speculation that they realized it's not a very good deal anymore!
 

chuckstah

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No shipping charge on the card this year, so it is $25 or so more than last year, or just a bit over $2 per mountain increase. I wish Jay was on it again but it is still a good deal.
 

BenedictGomez

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No shipping charge on the card this year, so it is $25 or so more than last year, or just a bit over $2 per mountain increase. I wish Jay was on it again but it is still a good deal.

You're going to ski every mountain on the card? If not, that's an illogical way to view it from a personal finance standpoint.
 
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