billski
Active member
No time like a hot and humid July day to start this thread.
As the calculus of deals has changed significantly over the past two years, I've been forced to diminish by reliance on pre-season bulk ticket sales from ski club and VSSA. Liftopia isn't in the cards for me; I like to buy early, but not nail down a date. I also had the good luck of turning 65 last year, which opens up a whole new avenue of opportunities.
Last year, largely due to Covid I took advantage of Saddleback's policy of reasonable ticket pricing, being a far distance from most people, not buying anything in advance, getting senior pricing and skiing half the days I usually do. To avoid COVID, I chose Saddleback for all my ski days; it was off most people's radar, so the lines were zilch, senior day tickets are reasonably affordable. That's the only time in my life I skied exclusively the same area.
This year, I plan to ski primarily in Northern VT. Since MRG is undecided about offering ticket packs this season, I got a Sunday through Friday MRG Senior value pass with blackouts for $300 back in April. Epic just started offering single day tickets at a fairly reasonable per-day charge, so I decided to ski with friends at $teaux and Mt. Snow again. I picked up a 4-pass for $253 ($67/ticket).
Midweeks are my go-to days this year. Sugarbush is offering the Boomer pass for $299 (did they raise the price last year?), but I'm not sure if I'd use it that much.
Indy pass has 2 days each at JP, Magic and Saddleback for $279 with blackouts. Both Jay and Magic day tickets are kinda expensive for someone who might only ski 2-3 days at each, so I'm holding out for better price. If my daughter remains in Montana, Lost Trail ("right down the road") is on the Indy but the regular rates are quite low anyway so it doesn't play into the decision go to Indy.
As the calculus of deals has changed significantly over the past two years, I've been forced to diminish by reliance on pre-season bulk ticket sales from ski club and VSSA. Liftopia isn't in the cards for me; I like to buy early, but not nail down a date. I also had the good luck of turning 65 last year, which opens up a whole new avenue of opportunities.
Last year, largely due to Covid I took advantage of Saddleback's policy of reasonable ticket pricing, being a far distance from most people, not buying anything in advance, getting senior pricing and skiing half the days I usually do. To avoid COVID, I chose Saddleback for all my ski days; it was off most people's radar, so the lines were zilch, senior day tickets are reasonably affordable. That's the only time in my life I skied exclusively the same area.
This year, I plan to ski primarily in Northern VT. Since MRG is undecided about offering ticket packs this season, I got a Sunday through Friday MRG Senior value pass with blackouts for $300 back in April. Epic just started offering single day tickets at a fairly reasonable per-day charge, so I decided to ski with friends at $teaux and Mt. Snow again. I picked up a 4-pass for $253 ($67/ticket).
Midweeks are my go-to days this year. Sugarbush is offering the Boomer pass for $299 (did they raise the price last year?), but I'm not sure if I'd use it that much.
Indy pass has 2 days each at JP, Magic and Saddleback for $279 with blackouts. Both Jay and Magic day tickets are kinda expensive for someone who might only ski 2-3 days at each, so I'm holding out for better price. If my daughter remains in Montana, Lost Trail ("right down the road") is on the Indy but the regular rates are quite low anyway so it doesn't play into the decision go to Indy.
