Stowe Thread

[deadheadskier]

What else to do is limit access further to low level Epic passes and cap day tickets via reservations. Every place that did so this winter had highly manageable crowds and traffic. Gunstock, Pats and Cannon were all fine on sell out days.

But Vail certainly doesn't care about crowding or local traffic conditions

 

[hovercraft]

How many times have members here recently - and REPEATEDLY in a PUBLIC forum - said:

“Stowe - Please make skiing expensive again!”

“Guys - I get around parking, every day, by getting there an hour early and leaving an hour early.”

Vail listened, and they “fixed it.” They probably back of envelope'd it by "50 ski days x $30 = $1500 on top of ski pass = "More expensive than 2016 so Problem Solved."

Are you finally Happy? I'm not.

Making Stowe expensive again by raising the cost of admission for the price of the pass is much different then charging for parking.

 

[hovercraft]

At least its only fri thru sun...
Now if that doesnt work..then what? 7 days a week..I can see them doing it as they clearly have no clue what else to do.

There isn’t a problem the other days of the week. If they do that the following year they would be bending you over in broad daylight for the world to see. Not saying they won’t do that but it would be an obvious money grab even though this is one as well IMO.

 

[snoseek]

What else to do is limit access further to low level Epic passes and cap day tickets via reservations. Every place that did so this winter had highly manageable crowds and traffic. Gunstock, Pats and Cannon were all fine on sell out days.

But Vail certainly doesn't care about crowding or local traffic conditions

Heard. I skied cannon on heavy volume prime days and they played pretty conservative imo. Don't oversell and problem solved.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

Heard. I skied cannon on heavy volume prime days and they played pretty conservative imo. Don't oversell and problem solved.

i skied cannon on a sold out midwinter saturday and it was incredible. the day was mostly ski on. their capacity management was so well done.

 

[ThatGuy]

But capacity cap means they can’t harvest more money from people on busy/pow days. Which is antithetical to Vails mo. Completely asinine the way they operate.

 

[Kingslug20]

Who is it really going to get screwed..not the people with money who rent the air bbs...its the locals who want to get a few runs in on fri to sat before work...vail could care less about them...they are there every week but don't spend any money there...out before 10am..

 

[ThatGuy]

Exactly, those people love paid parking because in the grand scheme of all the money they are spending parking is nothing. Then they can wake up late and still get prime spots, meanwhile locals have to shell out $$$ if they want to ski weekends and have reasonable parking.

 

[Kingslug20]

Its what happens when a western company buys an eastern resort...

 

[Kingslug20]

I was thinking of taking my epic fail sticker off my truck
Now thinking of a full wrap...

 

[oldfartrider]

lol Slug!

 

[hovercraft]

If this was really about traffic and not a money grab they wouldn’t charge for parking from opening day until the day after XMAS as the mountain is empty. On the back end the mountain is pretty quiet from mid march till the end of the season. Shit the last 3 weeks of this season (with all the snow we got) the parking lot wasn’t full on the weekends and that was with staff parking in the main lot. The best part of the letter is Vail saying we want to discourage pass holders from using the pass during prime time even though that is when most people have the ability to use it. WTF? Even on the face of it doesn’t pass the smell test. Total money grab, just ridiculous!!!!

 

[cdskier]

If this was really about traffic and not a money grab they wouldn’t charge for parking from opening day until the day after XMAS as the mountain is empty. On the back end the mountain is pretty quiet from mid march till the end of the season. Shit the last 3 weeks of this season (with all the snow we got) the parking lot wasn’t full on the weekends and that was with staff parking in the main lot. The best part of the letter is Vail saying we want to discourage pass holders from using the pass during prime time even though that is when most people have the ability to use it. WTF? Even on the face of it doesn’t pass the smell test. Total money grab, just ridiculous!!!!

Yea...the argument that "we want to encourage people to switch to skiing more during non-peak times" is complete BS. Don't they think if people could easily do that, they would without being coerced? I know I'd rather ski mid-week than on the weekends. But it simply doesn't work that way when you have a M-F 9-5 job like the majority of your clientele.

 

[abc]

Who is it really going to get screwed..not the people with money who rent the air bbs...its the locals who want to get a few runs in on fri to sat before work...vail could care less about them...they are there every week but don't spend any money there...out before 10am..

Or, they'll need to get a second pass for weekend skiing.

That's what my buddy in Colorado do. To ski Breckenridge without paying for parking, you need to park at a satellite parking lot, ride the shuttle bus to the gondola, ride the gondola before you can get on the lift. That take up to 1/2 hr before the ski hits the snow.
Reverse the process when done. That's an hour just from the car to the snow and back to the car, for "a few" runs!

So instead of skiing Breck, my buddy has A-basin pass in addition to the other mega passes.

 

[ss20]

I'm torn on the subject. Because... it works. Paying for parking sucks. It's supposed to suck. If it didn't suck, people would keep coming. It does suck, so less people come, and capacity is managed.

But...there is a good way and a bad way to do it. For example.... I'm going to Solitude on Thursday. The Ski Bus service ended, but it's still $25 to park, even though that's the only real option to get up there. I will probably be one of 500 people on the hill with the parking lot a single-digit percent full. It's BS and I'm not happy about it. Alta is paid parking weekends only. Not in early December and not this coming weekend... reservations required only when the Ski Bus is running and there's a viable alternative up the hill. And only busy times- weekends. Paid parking during the week, in April, is BS.

Sounds like the Stowe system will be more like Solitude. F them. But I'm OK with the concept when done correctly.

 

[hovercraft]

I'm torn on the subject. Because... it works. Paying for parking sucks. It's supposed to suck. If it didn't suck, people would keep coming. It does suck, so less people come, and capacity is managed.

But...there is a good way and a bad way to do it. For example.... I'm going to Solitude on Thursday. The Ski Bus service ended, but it's still $25 to park, even though that's the only real option to get up there. I will probably be one of 500 people on the hill with the parking lot a single-digit percent full. It's BS and I'm not happy about it. Alta is paid parking weekends only. Not in early December and not this coming weekend... reservations required only when the Ski Bus is running and there's a viable alternative up the hill. And only busy times- weekends. Paid parking during the week, in April, is BS.

Sounds like the Stowe system will be more like Solitude. F them. But I'm OK with the concept when done correctly.

Can you elaborate on how it works. Meaning, will less people really not come to the mountain because they have to pay? It doesn’t seem to make sense to me. They buy a pass, then not come because they have to pay for parking? Not trying to give you a hard time just trying to understand as this paid parking is new to us. Right now we are just speculating on how it plays out so interested in your experience.

 

[ss20]

Can you elaborate on how it works. Meaning, will less people really not come to the mountain because they have to pay? It doesn’t seem to make sense to me. They buy a pass, then not come because they have to pay for parking? Not trying to give you a hard time just trying to understand as this paid parking is new to us. Right now we are just speculating on how it plays out so interested in your experience.

Yes. They will peruse other mountains in an area as dense as the Northeast. It will make SOME vacationers choose Okemo over Stowe. It will make SOME locals not ski the 9-11am shift. It will make SOME passholders not come up on holidays weekends with shit snow who were just going to ski three runs then drink in the parking lot anyway. Stowe will still be at 100% capacity next season. But not days with 120% and they're turning cars around. That 20% is key, as the BCC/LCC resorts here in UT have learned it seems.

 

[abc]

Yes. They will peruse other mountains in an area as dense as the Northeast. It will make SOME vacationers choose Okemo over Stowe. It will make SOME locals not ski the 9-11am shift. It will make SOME passholders not come up on holidays weekends with shit snow who were just going to ski three runs then drink in the parking lot anyway. Stowe will still be at 100% capacity next season. But not days with 120% and they're turning cars around. That 20% is key, as the BCC/LCC resorts here in UT have learned it seems.

Was Stowe turning cars away on busy days?

(I haven't skied Stowe last season at all. On previous years, I was able to get in on weekends as late as 10am)

 

[Pez]

Why don't they do it like town beaches on the Cape? Season parking pass for property owners is cheap, then gouge the tourists.

 

[Kingslug20]

Because vail...is a tourist too...