Skiing on the Expen$ive - 2007-08 Thread

[billski]

$teaux sets the water mark in the US East at $84. Up 11% since last year.
A$pen sets the high water mark in the US West at $87.
Other pric$ey re$ort$ include Kmart @ 76, Okemo at 74 and Mt. $now at 72.


All tickets are 2007-08 Retail window walkup rates, High season / weekend, adult, all day, all area. Not all resorts have listed.

Let the moaning, nostalgic trips and gloating over your good deals beginz.

 

[mattchuck2]

WOW . . . $84 for a Stowe ticket.

I wonder if the high prices at the destination resorts lead more people to the 2nd and 3rd tier resorts?

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

WOW . . . $84 for a Stowe ticket.

I wonder if the high prices at the destination resorts lead more people to the 2nd and 3rd tier resorts?

Stowe does offer much better rates for multiday tickets..last season a 5 day pass at Stowe was around $227...A two day was around $110 and a three day was $155 or there abouts..that's not that bad for the excellent terrain and amenities

 

[snowman]

Stowe does offer much better rates for multiday tickets..last season a 5 day pass at Stowe was around $227...A two day was around $110 and a three day was $155 or there abouts..that's not that bad for the excellent terrain and amenities

That's a good policy. $227 for 5 days actually puts them in the realm of cheap as hell. You couldn't pay me to pay $76 for a Kmart ticket..lol

 

[billski]

shake till nothing more comes out.

WOW . . . $84 for a Stowe ticket.

I wonder if the high prices at the destination resorts lead more people to the 2nd and 3rd tier resorts?

Classic Marketing 101. Yup. We talked about that a lot last year.
They are deliberately segmenting the market. You'll also find that Stowe offers nearly zero discounts; They are not interested in the brown-bag crowd.

Strategy for the Target Market:
-Attract those with boundless credit limits, no skiing ability required.
-Lock them in for multi-days.
-turn them upside down and shake until nothing more comes out. Shop, eat, drink, sleep. repeat. "oh, look Buffy, a new Bogner suit!"
-Smile the whole time and tell them what great boarders/skiers they are.
- Repeat.

Strategy for the non-target market:
Go down the street
pay a lot less
have just as much fun.

Apologies to die-hard Stowe skiers - Mansfield is really a great hill, but all the money is going to be at Spruce peak, bounding with blues and greens.
full disclosure: I ski Mansfield a couple times each year, while bunking with friends. When my family comes, we go to Bolton for $20/discount ticket. whole family goes (they don't need much to be happy skiers) for the price of ONE stowe tix.

 

[billski]

shake shake shake!

Stowe does offer much better rates for multiday tickets..last season a 5 day pass at Stowe was around $227...A two day was around $110 and a three day was $155 or there abouts..that's not that bad for the excellent terrain and amenities

multi-day, schmulti-day! yeah, $40/day isn't bad for the ticket, but did you look in your pocket for change after that? You had to pay for lodging, food, drink, entertainment and those new skis at retail price you desperately needed. Shake till nothing more comes out!

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

multi-day, schmulti-day! yeah, $40/day isn't bad for the ticket, but did you look in your pocket for change after that? You had to pay for lodging, food, drink, entertainment and those new skis at retail price you desperately needed. Shake till nothing more comes out!

Yeah but you have to pay for all that stuff anyway..sans the new skis at retail. There are some uber good ski and stay packages at the Inn at the Mountain..

 

[thetrailboss]

Prices are high. You just need to be creative and know how to play the market. There ARE deals out there...you just have to work for it. The "lazy" folks pay full freight....

 

[JD]

or just hike it. skiing is free.

 

[RISkier]

Stowe does offer much better rates for multiday tickets..last season a 5 day pass at Stowe was around $227...A two day was around $110 and a three day was $155 or there abouts..that's not that bad for the excellent terrain and amenities

Yep, they've had a very nice multi-day package called vacation rewards that were reasonable if purchased in advance. Depending on the number of days purchased you could also add in various services (e.g., a demo, a quick tune, a group lesson, some child ticket benefits, etc.). Hopefully they'll offer that again this year. $84 for a day is nuts. I think the top brass running Stowe think their competing against places like Sun Valley and Deer Valley.

 

[billski]

Prices are high. You just need to be creative and know how to play the market. There ARE deals out there...you just have to work for it. The "lazy" folks pay full freight....

I don't believe it is the slugs that $teaux is looking for. It's the class of people that economists categorize as having "excess marginal income". Translation: those with so much cash that they have met all their sustenance requirements, and so much leftover they literally don't care what the price tag is. There are quite a few of these folks running around and they're not driving Benz's. These days you can't outwardly tell the rich from the plebes.

p.s., I'd be interested in hearing about day-tripper deals for Stowe. I've been looking for them for at least 10 years now and they are faaar and few between. The only one I get consistently is $42 tix from my club, with blackout dates.

 

[kingslug]

I don't believe it is the slugs that $teaux is looking for. It's the class of people that economists categorize as having "excess marginal income". Translation: those with so much cash that they have met all their sustenance requirements, and so much leftover they literally don't care what the price tag is. There are quite a few of these folks running around and they're not driving Benz's. These days you can't outwardly tell the rich from the plebes.

p.s., I'd be interested in hearing about day-tripper deals for Stowe. I've been looking for them for at least 10 years now and they are faaar and few between. The only one I get consistently is $42 tix from my club, with blackout dates.

Well Stowe may not be looking for slugs, but I'm going there anyway. The other day i was checking out resort prices and can't believe how much they are all going up. Colorado is getting pretty insane with over half of them at $85.00 a day. The $100.00 ticket is not far off. Thank god you can still ski in Utah pretty cheaply. I'm wondering which is driving up the cost more, snowmaking or land development. A lot of resorts that never had to rely on snowmaking are now faced with the same probs we have here in the east.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Adjusted for inflation...a lift ticket at most resorts isn't much worse than the 1980s and 1990s and there is now better snowmaking and lifts.

 

[Mildcat]

Wow. For $84 I want somebody bringing me up the mountain in a rickshaw.

 

[wa-loaf]

Wow. For $84 I want somebody bringing me up the mountain in a rickshaw.

Only if it's a highspeed detachable rickshaw! :lol:

 

[snowman]

Only if it's a highspeed detachable rickshaw! :lol:

Umm....if it detaches from the rickshaw puller on the way up it'll be high speed in a hurry alright! :razz:

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Wow. For $84 I want somebody bringing me up the mountain in a rickshaw.

My take is that most people make over $84 in a day..so $84 for a full day of skiing isn't that horrible..at least compared to playing mad steezy golf courses..go to NFL football games, or eating out at posh restaurants....now for people who take their kids along..that's different. Skiing is expensive enough just for me..If I had a wife and 2-3 kids..It would be like $300+ for a day of skiing..uke:

 

[Mildcat]

My take is that most people make over $84 in a day..so $84 for a full day of skiing isn't that horrible..at least compared to playing mad steezy golf courses..go to NFL football games, or eating out at posh restaurants....now for people who take their kids along..that's different. Skiing is expensive enough just for me..If I had a wife and 2-3 kids..It would be like $300+ for a day of skiing..uke:

If you don't mind spending that much, then more power to you. I wouldn't. Stowe's a great place but ten days would cost me more than I paid for a Wachusetts bronze and Maine silver pass combined. I have a place nearby for weekdays, two big mountains on the weekend, and still money left over to visit other mountains.

My .02 cents, it's not if you make more than $84 a day, it's all about disposable income. I only have so much disposable income, I want to make the most of it. Higher prices = less days on the hill.

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

I miss paying $349 for a Stowe college pass...and putting $5 of gas in my car at a time and getting somewhere. Skiing to me is a bargain for the thrill I get..No other item under $100 can be as great as a day of skiing for me. My Blue all days pass is going to be about $530 before November 16th..That's alot for a 1082 vertical mountain that opens the weekend after Thanksgiving at the earliest and closes on April Fools day at the latest. But it seems like a bargain compared to $49 weekend day passes.

At Jackson Hole a locals only 10 day pass was offered for only $370..including bus pass...no phone, internet, or mail orders allowed with this one..as a means to avoid undercutting Jackson Hole Central Reservations..early bird season pass is $1625 for all days and $1295 weekday(with discount tickets available for weekends). One day that's where I'll have a season pass...

 

[BushMogulMaster]

Colorado is getting pretty insane with over half of them at $85.00 a day.

That may be true. But for the cost of 3 or 4 day tickets, you can have a season pass to nearly any mountain in the state. A-Basin pass is $180. Copper/Winter Park combo pass is $400. 5 mountain Vail Resorts pass is $540. Loveland is $300. The list goes on. The multi day packs are also a great deal. So yeah, the day tickets are outrageous. But think of who the market is for day ticket skiers in Colorado.