Skiing on the cheap - 2018-19

[Bosco DaSkia]

 

[urungus]

Speaking of ski club discounts ... Over the years I’ve searched for a ski club anywhere in Western Massachusetts but can’t seem to find any. They all seem to be in Boston/Worcester. The Springfield (MA) Ski Club ran Blandford but AFAIK, they never organized trips to, or had discounts for, other ski areas. And with the transfer of Blandford to Butternut, I’m not sure they even exist anymore. Would be nice to hop on a bus for the occasional trip instead of having to drive. But if I have to go to Hartford or Boston it sort of defeats the purpose. Are any of you members of a non-local club, just to get discounts? Are you required to periodically show up at the clubhouse?

 

[deadheadskier]

Used to be a member of Ace Ski Club for discount tickets. It was like $25 to join. No ski house commitment nor requirements to attend meetings.

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[Bosco DaSkia]

 

[heiusa]

I belong to a Long Island based ski club, and our club has a house at the base of Pico. With my membership I have access to discounted lift tickets from the Metropolitan Ski Council plus a one night stay at the house is $26 for adults and $13 for kids. Because of this I am able to ski 10 weekends each winter very cost effectively. I have been a member for over 20 years and have made many friends through the club. Ski clubs are not for everyone but it is worth looking into. It is like having a time share with out all the headaches. We use the house in the summer also.

 

[fahz]

A few deals have caught my eye so far this year. A couple are location based for me about 45 minutes from my location in Albany, NY to Jiminy & the Warren Miller showing in Albany. The Schenectady Wintersports Club is open to members from other places.

Jiminy Peak Value Card $62 you get two free lift tickets more details (Purchases made between October 1 and November 11, 2018 will receive two free lift tickets;one valid any operating day during the 2018-2019 season (including holidays and holiday periods) and the other valid any operating day beginning March 1, 2019, through the end of the 18/19 winter season. Free tickets must be redeemed at the ticket window and are not available as an online re-load. https://www.jiminypeak.com/Skiing-Riding/Tickets-Passes/Value-Cards

Warren Miller movie season is right around the corner. Even with the date limitation/requirements of tickets some venues seem to have enough deals that seeing the movie should allow you to get to one free mountain. I usually go to Albany's show. 11/9 or 11/10 tickets are available for purchase for this show early with less fees through the Schenectady Wintersports Club https://www.swcweb.org/ Also noted that some of the CT shows have a nice grouping of mountains available as well. The Schenectady Wintersports Club membership provides club days for New York Capital District Ski Council & Connecticut Ski Council. And they have a house in Waterbury Center that is bunk style rooms with on-line reservations and very reasonable rates.

The Freedom Pass is available as an add-on to season pass buyers of those mountains. I don't see any deal compared to what Mount Bohemia offered in the past. But depending on where your ski and if you prefer to avoid crowds this could actually be a deal. For instance a season pass for an adult at Whaleback is $299. The pass allows you to ski at other Freedom Pass participants 3x each. If 3 venues are close and desirable and youy ski 9 times then that is about $33 a ticket. http://freedompass.ski/

The CT show in Hartford mentioned above has Mount Southington & Ski Sundown this year

 

[bdfreetuna]

AJiminy Peak Value Card $62 you get two free lift tickets more details (Purchases made between October 1 and November 11, 2018 will receive two free lift tickets;one valid any operating day during the 2018-2019 season (including holidays and holiday periods) and the other valid any operating day beginning March 1, 2019, through the end of the 18/19 winter season. Free tickets must be redeemed at the ticket window and are not available as an online re-load. https://www.jiminypeak.com/Skiing-Riding/Tickets-Passes/Value-Cards

Nice look. Just picked up 3 of those value cards between myself, my wife and my father. Can't really beat that price and Jiminy is a good place to go on short notice.

 

[skicub]

When does the Fox44 card typically go on sale?


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[BenedictGomez]

When does the Fox44 card typically go on sale?

After Thanksgiving. It's gotten kind of crappy the last few years though and isnt anywhere near the value it used to be. I haven't bought it since 2015 I think. Used to be my #1 favorite S.O.T.C. deal, but they lost Jay Peak & Gore and didnt alter the price down much to account for that hit.

 

[skicub]

I feel like it is a decent deal, considering I can get a ticket to MRG, Burke, Cannon, Smugglers, and midweek Breton Woods for $75 bucks total. Even if each of those tickets were $20, it’d still be $100. I could even afford an overnight to Whiteface, since it would offset the cost of gas/hotel.

Sure, tix to Suicide and the snowbowl are not usually worth the drive from Boston, but I could see myself stopping off at one of these places, or checking out Bolton just for the hell of it.

Especially now that the Maxpass is gone and there are limited options for non-Ikon or Epic deals, it’s not a bad add on. I will be saving my 2-Ski Vermont 4 packs for Stowe, Killi, Jay, and the pricey places.




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[bdfreetuna]

After Thanksgiving. It's gotten kind of crappy the last few years though and isnt anywhere near the value it used to be. I haven't bought it since 2015 I think. Used to be my #1 favorite S.O.T.C. deal, but they lost Jay Peak & Gore and didnt alter the price down much to account for that hit.

It could be a great deal depending where you ski, but the fact it gets released so late sucks. The card gets released already into the ski season and who knows what the price and mountains will be. Most folks at best will do their math on half the mountains on the card that they could even attempt to ski given the distance.

Would love to see this come out a month or two earlier. Last year there were still good mountains on the pass, it's just hard to plan in advance for this.

I feel like it is a decent deal, considering I can get a ticket to MRG, Burke, Cannon, Smugglers, and midweek Breton Woods for $75 bucks total. I could even afford an overnight to Whiteface, since it would offset the cost of gas/hotel.

Sure, tix to Suicide and the snowbowl are not usually worth the drive from Boston, but I could see myself stopping off at one of these places, or checking out Bolton just for the hell of it.

Yeah it's totally worth it if it's the same as last year. Relieves the pressure on Ski Vermont Passes. I'd love to take an overnight to Whiteface with the wife this year too (babysitter weekend).

BTW Bolton is not a "just for the hell of it" mountain! It's a seriously underrated mountain, and with lots of cheap deals to ski there, but nonetheless, who cares, the woods are great, it gets great snow, and has 3 mountains with different terrain. One of the best places to go on powder days to get fresh tracks in great woods.

So that's my math too. Basically 5 tickets for whatever the pass costs. Could be more if I get creative during the season. Well worth it and I'll try to grab one this year.

BTW SkiCub your best bet for Killington/Pico + also Jay is a Ski and Ride NE Card. It's a waste to use Ski VT passes on places where equal deals already exist. Vermont Passes are best spent on places that are stingy with deals otherwise, or just last minute calls.

The more diverse deals you can get takes the pressure off finding other deals, at least if you're like me and want variety but also to focus on preferred areas. Fox44/Champlain Valley card would mean I can do 3 days at MRG instead of 2 this year, for example.

 

[BenedictGomez]

I feel like it is a decent deal, considering I can get a ticket to MRG, Burke, Cannon, Smugglers, and midweek Breton Woods for $75 bucks total

Too bad that $75 price is only after they firesale 1/2 their inventory in mid-March because they cant sell them at the $150 price it actually costs all season long.

At $150, it's not really a great deal, especially given the driving involved makes it unrealistic that people would likely hit many mountains.

If you can hit 4, it's a good deal, if you only hit 3, you're losing money, and the reality is the vast majority of eastern skiers would not ski 4 of those places in a season and/or already have options to ski them cheap.

 

[deadheadskier]

I always found it pretty easy to hit 6 off the Fox44.

I used to do weekends of

Jay/Smuggs
Bolton/MRG

And then day trip Cannon and Burke.

If I were to do it now it would be weekends of

Burke/Smuggs
Bolton/MRG

And day trip Cannon and Bretton Woods

$25 a day

Throw in day trips to Suicide Six or Middlebury and the cost drops further.

Still a damn good deal in my book for skiers from the Boston / Southern NH market.


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[bdfreetuna]

As an I-91 / I-89 skier primarily , it can be handy to have passes to Whiteface or Cannon/Bretton in case Vermont gets shafted with any given storm. I would get 5 maybe 6 days out of this and enjoy the variability. Haven't bought one yet but plan to this year.

 

[jaytrem]

Fox 44 works great if you take a week long safari type trip out of it. I did something like this a couple years ago (had already used Gore before the trip). Midweek order probably not exactly correct and memory a bit fuzzy but you get the idea...

Sat wake up early head to Whiteface (stay near Burlington, might have used some other ticket)
Sun Bolton
Mon Smuggs
Tue MRG
Wed Sugarbush (not on card, Warren Miller ticket used)
Thur Jay (stay near Cannon)
Fri Bretton
Sat Cannon
Sun Burke (drive home)

Even with Jay gone you can still get 7 out of 9, swap in Middlebury for 8. Tough to get a weeks worth of tickets for less than that!!!

 

[BenedictGomez]

Fox 44 works great if you take a week long safari type trip out of it. I did something like this a couple years ago (had already used Gore before the trip). Midweek order probably not exactly correct and memory a bit fuzzy but you get the idea...

Sat wake up early head to Whiteface (stay near Burlington, might have used some other ticket)
Sun Bolton
Mon Smuggs
Tue MRG
Wed Sugarbush (not on card, Warren Miller ticket used)
Thur Jay (stay near Cannon)
Fri Bretton
Sat Cannon
Sun Burke (drive home)

Did you do more skiing than driving? Good grief, while that is great "value", if they sold 1000 passes, I'm pretty sure you're the only one who did that! lol

 

[urungus]

Mount Snow is selling advanced lift tickets starting from Sat Nov 10. Cost is 35.99 Sat / Sun and 31.99 on the holiday Monday Nov 12. Either they won’t be open and you get your money back, or you will be skiing what will probably be the best early season conditions in the east (based on last year).

 

[Cat in January]

Maine residents Wednesdays at Sugarloaf $49 except vacation weeks

 

[WWF-VT]

$269 Quad Packs available now at Sugarbush

https://www.sugarbush.com/plan/quad-pack/

 

[cdskier]

$269 Quad Packs available now at Sugarbush

https://www.sugarbush.com/plan/quad-pack/

And free shipping if you order before October 31 which is nice as that means you can go direct to lift without having to pick anything up at the ticket window.