Time to Research Passes

[BodeMiller1]

How much time do you spend each year looking for best prices on season passes and tickets?

 

[BodeMiller1]

Hmm.

 

[Teleskier]

"Over 4 hours"

While I'm locked into my local beloved town and mountain, it often takes me under 30 seconds for that pass.

However it takes me more time, than it probably should, to:

• Update all my various spreadsheets tracking which resort has moved to what pass this year?
• Update all my various spreadsheets tracking each pass for the current year's cost variables?
• Update all my various spreadsheets tracking each pass for the current year's blackout dates?
• Plan out my remote skiing vacation destinations, where do I want to ski this year?
  • Is it time for a change from my usual, perhaps over done, favorite resorts?
  • It was so good last year, pull the trigger for an exact repeat this year (this is rare at first, but then settles into something of an evolving pattern if resorts over-deliver on the goods and experience)
• What passes are those sorted-by-rank destination resorts on?
• What mountains are my friends skiing, if given the early data, or which are they likely to ski if not given data.
• What mountains is my ski club skiing, and given that they NEVER decide before the pass deadline dates end, take a wild guess at which mountains they will ski.
  • I've been usually >75% wrong in recent years, so recently I ski with them less and less, since they can never get their act together early enough
  • The 25% I get right, are mountains they ski, that I can't stand and no longer agree to ski ("Life is too short to ski XYZ")
• Cross compare the total costs of each trip vs pass, group trips vs individual trips
• Look at the final decisions, do they still jive with my "change or repeat" feelings, are they worth those projected costs?
• Pull the trigger on the related passes and travel details.

Doesn't everyone do this?

 

[kingslug]

Move west..buy epic and ikon....
Done

 

[Zermatt]

Ikon Pass prices should be out tomorrow?

Trying to recall announcement timing from prior years.

 

[abc]

I started a thread to hunt for sub-$50 tickets, does that count?

Except that’s for this year. I’m probably not buying a pass for next season either. So wait for another thread like I did this year.

 

[Teleskier]

Move west..buy epic and ikon....
Done

Yeah but I thought retired guys were supposed to economize?

That is the ideal solution, both here and out west.

 

[kingslug]

That is the economize solution.
Or...get job teaching at a resort..get free pass. Ski a lot.

 

[BodeMiller1]

Start a spredsheet with dates, then enter blackout dates. Then ski. Take days skied and divide by cost to get cost per day. Easy peasey.

 

[4aprice]

Log on to computer, go to ikon sight, renew, pay,, done. Maybe 5 minutes.

Winter Park's season pass is an Ikon

 

[TyWebb]

Epic is on sale now

https://www.epicpass.com/pass-results/passes.aspx

 

[VTSkiBike]

5 minutes to renew bc my local mountain is locked into Ikon then maybe another 5 min to renew my MRG pass.

 

[Zermatt]

For the $3000 that my family spends on an Ikon Pass I’m going to time it so I don’t pay until the last reasonable minute.

 

[Hawk]

Hmm.

cool a self portrait....

 

[Hawk]

zero. I think I have mine on autopay.

 

[thebigo]

Boyne showing nitro for age 19 - 29 only. Has to be a separate kid pass structure for bronze and silver? Charging more for a 7 year old than 29 year old would be ridiculous.

 

[NYDB]

I buy the IKON because Pico /K are close enough and Stratton is close by for groomer only days. And to piss off Utah and Wyoming peoples.

I buy Magic passes because its close by and its going to snow a fucking shit ton one of these years. Plus now with Black spinning its actually fun on a So VT weekend.

they are both more or less automatics unless I move or something.

 

[Dickc]

I just went with the same passes as last year. Pats Peak as its fairly close, and an Indy add on for some other choices so I don't get bored.

 

[BodeMiller1]

cool a self portrait....

Landscape my new stoner budy. Ink, wax, gr... 18x28.

 

[BodeMiller1]

I started a thread to hunt for sub-$50 tickets, does that count?

Except that’s for this year. I’m probably not buying a pass for next season either. So wait for another thread like I did this year.

Yes