Sunday River, ME: 10/31/09

[skiadikt]

a nothing question but curious about the position of the snow guns on these pics. is that their normal location or have they been moved a bit to the center of the trail for early season. k used to do that on ol in old days. they'd temporarily mount the guns in the middle of the trail and blow skiers right first before pulling them back to their "normal" position. looks like a similar setup.

 

[deadheadskier]

Killington has opened with top to bottom in October before. This was all about the will to do it at Killington, not the technical feasability.

I agree 100% with your point about Killington and the Boston market. When I first started skiing Killington, the parking lot was 1/3 Mass plates. It looks nothing like that now. I believe you can attribute the loss of market share at Killington almost 100% to their losses in the Boston market. For people in the metro-NYC tri-state area, there aren't a whole helluva lot of alternatives. In Boston, the Boyne product is way more compelling for most.

Killington could certainly do something about their season length. I still don't think the current management team "gets it". In their defense, there are a lot of State of Vermont-created reasons that make Killington non-competitive. Act 68 state school tax that drives up prices for housing. All kinds of business taxes that drive up the cost of everything else.

I'm sure a fair amount of NY / NJ folks have opted for Okemo as well. Back in Killington's hay day, Okemo was doing 2-300K skier visits. They now do about 600K. I'd imagine at least 100K of those are Kton expats.

I would say CT is Okemo's largest market based upon my experience there, but plenty of New YJ folks too.

 

[Riverskier]

Not at all. The decision was not to "not" offer a current pass but to "not" offer a pass that is below market value. ASC tried to make up margin with volume. Clearly, it was not a sustainable model to under price your season pass for one resort, let alone for half a dozen.

The current management of some of the former ASC properties (Boyne resorts, including Sugarloaf and Sunday River and then adding Loon) were able to triple the cost on half as many resorts and be more successful than ASC. So Killington's pass price should not be a consideration for why skiers may opt for an even more expensive pass with Boyne. Killington's new management could in no way be sustainable by continuing to offer below market value season passes. If ASC could not make it up with a bunch of big resorts, Killington is never going to have the volume by itself.

I agree with this. However, I have to point out that Boyne's passes are no where near triple the cost of what ASC sold them for. The early season price was $599 for silver and $899 for Gold. A couple/few hundred more than ASC, but not double, let alone triple the cost. Also, I believe these prices are actually lower than Killington's.

 

[Riverskier]

a nothing question but curious about the position of the snow guns on these pics. is that their normal location or have they been moved a bit to the center of the trail for early season. k used to do that on ol in old days. they'd temporarily mount the guns in the middle of the trail and blow skiers right first before pulling them back to their "normal" position. looks like a similar setup.

Those guns have been moved to the center of the trail for early season.

 

[skiadikt]

Those guns have been moved to the center of the trail for early season.

that's what i thought. thanks.

 

[riverc0il]

I agree with this. However, I have to point out that Boyne's passes are no where near triple the cost of what ASC sold them for. The early season price was $599 for silver and $899 for Gold. A couple/few hundred more than ASC, but not double, let alone triple the cost. Also, I believe these prices are actually lower than Killington's.

Maybe my memory is foggy, but I though the ASC pass was under $400 or so at one point? And I thought Boyne any mountain any time was over a $1000? I could very well not be recalling correctly.

 

[bigbog]

ASC's last pass-pricing was the $390+_withBlackouts = the best thinking they'd ever done...ie as the ship is sinking they decide to order the Coast Guard Approved deck chairs. Boyne, in times of downsizing us above 40, turned the $390+ into a M-F pass and made everyone who simply wants to ski the wkends on-resort pay the full Silver rate...while offering every conceivable package to students only. Will always be a warm place in my heart for Boyne's pricing department..LOL

 

[Trekchick]

Thanks for sharin'

The snow conditions looks a little like my last day skiing in April.
S'all good, since I'd ski first day and last day any time!