Vail Resorts is buying Peak Resorts.

[big_vert]

True, however this is what those in Utah are terrified of - a deluge of east coast "experts" coming to flail about in the powder and scrape the hill off by sideslipping the steeper-than-Stratton blues found at every area in Utah (except PowMow which is about as flat as Stratton).

First things I got from my PC buddies was - "oh no, here come "the experts" - PC is crowded enough now without the Mt Snow crowd inflicting themselves on us".

Go to Killington.

Uh... no.

Let's look at Saturday, February 1st as an example. The earliest arrival into Salt Lake City for a flight departing Newark is 10:37 AM. After you land, you still have to get your luggage and get to Snowbird. Add at least an hour for that. So the earliest you could pull into the parking lot, assuming everything goes absolutely perfectly, is 11:37 AM - which is really 1:37 PM EST.

 

[Domeskier]

I'm hoping, that once the deal closes, Vail Resorts will announce that any "upgrades" from a Peak product to an Epic product will have the Epic product at the same price it would of been at the time of the purchase of the Peak product - that would certainly be a nice welcoming token to a new customer base for sure.

That would be nice. My guess is that at most they'll do some hand-waiving about how they'd like to do it, but it's just too hard for them to figure out when Peak passes were purchased and what the EPIC pass would have cost at the time. Complete nonsense, but maybe it pacifies a few people. Probably better to just charge current prices and say nothing.

 

[abc]

True, however this is what those in Utah are terrified of - a deluge of east coast "experts" coming to flail about in the powder and scrape the hill off by sideslipping the steeper-than-Stratton blues found at every area in Utah (except PowMow which is about as flat as Stratton).

First things I got from my PC buddies was - "oh no, here come "the experts" - PC is crowded enough now without the Mt Snow crowd inflicting themselves on us".

The snobs of PC can rest easy. (if he hasn't been since last season)

First, majority of them will be flocking to Colorado. (flights are cheaper, more mountains to choose from. And let's face it, who doesn't want to tick off Vail from their bucket list?) Not to mention there's no holiday restriction in the Colorado mountains.

Second, Park City is no Snowbird. It's not much more "difficult" than Stratton!

By the way, Stratton skiers aren't going to Park City anyway. Straotton is part of IKON, not part of EPIC. If he had to worry, it's the Okemo locals who frail around scrapping the snow on anything steeper than Okemo "black".

And guess what? Okemo had been part of Epic since last season!

(My PC local friends joined me at Brighton/Solitude when I was there in February. I did not hear a single complain about unskilled eastern skiers invading PC. I was the one apologizing for the crowds at Solitude, thanks to IKON)

Snobs are snobs no matter where they live.

 

[mister moose]

True, however this is what those in Utah are terrified of - a deluge of east coast "experts" coming to flail about in the powder and scrape the hill off by sideslipping the steeper-than-Stratton blues found at every area in Utah (except PowMow which is about as flat as Stratton).

First things I got from my PC buddies was - "oh no, here come "the experts" - PC is crowded enough now without the Mt Snow crowd inflicting themselves on us".

Go to Killington.

You can thank the ski manufacturers, who made powder skiing easier with fat skis and lots of rocker to generate more sales. That led to, you guessed it, more folks thrashing in the powder. It's more than sideslipping, its traversing, wide track turn/stop, turn/stop, and laying tracks all over the place, rather than just skiing the fall line.

More epic passes = more epic traffic out west, it's Vail's main product. The population of Colorado/Utah is 8 million, the northeast is 64 million. Get used to it.

 

[BenedictGomez]

More epic passes = more epic traffic out west, it's Vail's main product. The population of Colorado/Utah is 8 million, the northeast is 64 million. Get used to it.

THIS.

It's not complicated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWRks9nlSPs

 

[thebigo]

I called epic pass customer service tonight while making dinner, after about a dozen prompts and nearly a 1/2 hour, I finally got a live human being on the phone. Upon asking the cost of upgrading from peaks to epic local, she informed that she did not have any information because we were not in their system. She further informed me that the next epic price increase was likely in September, the increase would be nominal. Also we can expect an announcement prior to the price increase detailing costs associated with upgrade, further she indicated the costs would be based on our original purchase price. I left the conversation with the impression that the details are still being worked out. On a positive note, despite the wait and lack of specifics, I left my first vail interaction with a generally positive feeling; it pays to employ well demeanored people in customer facing roles.

 

[Edd]

Listened to that one as well this past week. It was the same guy who wasa finance guy at Park City pre Vail merger, then was identified by Vail as a leader they saw talent in, was promoted into a GM roll about a year after the Park City merger at their newly acquired Mount Brighton to oversee a full redevelopment of the mountain post Vail aquisition, and then through lateral promotions was then promoted to the GM at Keystone.

I thought Rob Katz's comment about what Vail does post acquisition when they start the integration of a new resort into Vail Resorts operations was quite interesting when he said (paraphrasing here) - it's not like on Day 1 after the merger goes through a bus full of current Vail Resorts employees shows up and tells all existing employees of the acquired resorts that they're fired.

The other one of the Epic by Nature podcast episodes I felt gave some decent insight into what their corporate philosophy about identifying, developing, and then placing people into leadership roles within the company, and then continuing to help those individuals expand their leadership skills and achieve their career goals, was the podcast about women leaders.

I agree with TB that obviously Rob Katz and Vail Resorts are going to put their best shine on these podcasts, however, there's a bunch of substance in them as well, where you get the distinct sense that just like any business, they want to identify, recruit, develop, retain, and help enable talent to allow the company to thrive as best possible

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I found that episode very interesting, particularly the bit about acquiring Whistler and having to downgrade one of their superior systems (can’t remember which) in order to integrate to Vail. I bet the Whistler people were very unhappy about that.

 

[drjeff]

I found that episode very interesting, particularly the bit about acquiring Whistler and having to downgrade one of their superior systems (can’t remember which) in order to integrate to Vail. I bet the Whistler people were very unhappy about that.

Didn't that end up with Vail realizing that Whistler's (I believe it was property booking software) system was better than Vail's and then quickly Vail made the more labor intensive choice to integrate all the existing Vail Resorts into Whistler's superior booking software system verses the much less labor intensive choice to integrate Whistler into Vail's inferior booking software system?

I remember one of the take aways I had from that episode is that while Vail Resorts strives to make their operating practices and systems the best in the business, they're not afraid to admit that if others have a better system than theirs, that they need to change their system to the better one, regardless of who developed it. Kind of a best practices verses proprietary best practices when the situation presents itself

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[drjeff]

I called epic pass customer service tonight while making dinner, after about a dozen prompts and nearly a 1/2 hour, I finally got a live human being on the phone. Upon asking the cost of upgrading from peaks to epic local, she informed that she did not have any information because we were not in their system. She further informed me that the next epic price increase was likely in September, the increase would be nominal. Also we can expect an announcement prior to the price increase detailing costs associated with upgrade, further she indicated the costs would be based on our original purchase price. I left the conversation with the impression that the details are still being worked out. On a positive note, despite the wait and lack of specifics, I left my first vail interaction with a generally positive feeling; it pays to employ well demeanored people in customer facing roles.

The impression I have, is that much of the final details of what will happen if a current Peak passholders wants to upgrade to an Epic product has been worked out behind the scenes already. However, due to various business reasons, they are unable to announce those details until after the deal has received federal/legal approval and officially closes

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using AlpineZone mobile app

 

[cdskier]

The impression I have, is that much of the final details of what will happen if a current Peak passholders wants to upgrade to an Epic product has been worked out behind the scenes already. However, due to various business reasons, they are unable to announce those details until after the deal has received federal/legal approval and officially closes

I'm sure they know exactly what the plan is. I'd imagine the plan is pretty much the same as when they acquired Okemo and the other related properties. Perhaps we have an Okemo passholder here that "upgraded" to Epic the year of the acquisition and can share the way it was handled.

 

[Edd]

Didn't that end up with Vail realizing that Whistler's (I believe it was property booking software) system was better than Vail's and then quickly Vail made the more labor intensive choice to integrate all the existing Vail Resorts into Whistler's superior booking software system verses the much less labor intensive choice to integrate Whistler into Vail's inferior booking software system?

I remember one of the take aways I had from that episode is that while Vail Resorts strives to make their operating practices and systems the best in the business, they're not afraid to admit that if others have a better system than theirs, that they need to change their system to the better one, regardless of who developed it. Kind of a best practices verses proprietary best practices when the situation presents itself

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using AlpineZone mobile app

I was listening while working but my memory tells me that it was far easier to make Whistler adapt than change every other property as far as the booking system. There could have been other, less crucial practices that they adopted from Whistler.

 

[thebigo]

If I purchased my Okemo, Mount Sunapee or Crested Butte season pass before 6/4/2018 and I now want to upgrade to an Epic Pass, can I get the same Epic Pass price and benefits from 6/4/2018?
Following closure of the acquisition, guests exchanging an Okemo, Mount Sunapee, or Crested Butte pass product purchased prior to the acquisition announced on 6/4/2018 will be eligible to purchase another product at the price and benefit offering available for that product on 6/4/2018 for a limited time.

Above was extracted from the okemo/sunapee faqs last year

 

[mbedle]

I was listening while working but my memory tells me that it was far easier to make Whistler adapt than change every other property as far as the booking system. There could have been other, less crucial practices that they adopted from Whistler.

Got to feel bad for Inntopia, they only got to hold onto that contract for maybe a year. Looks like Vail is now using Spotlio for booking on their sites.

 

[RichT]

I'm the other way, I paid $649(?) back in April for the Peak pass, I'm a veteran and Epic offers the same pass for $529(?), wonder if I'll get a refund?

 

[drjeff]

I'm the other way, I paid $649(?) back in April for the Peak pass, I'm a veteran and Epic offers the same pass for $529(?), wonder if I'll get a refund?

That they have been very clear about, where if you choose to switch from a Peak product to an Epic product and the Epic product is less, you will get a refund once the deal closes and you change passes.

On a similar note, of if purchased already both a Peak pass product and an Epic pass product, they will be eligible to get a full refund of their Peak pass product once the deal closes

 

[Domeskier]

More epic passes = more epic traffic out west, it's Vail's main product. The population of Colorado/Utah is 8 million, the northeast is 64 million. Get used to it.

Along with the brutal grooming policies that east-coast experts demand from their resorts! Vail is going to need a uniform product that appeals to its (now) largest demographic, after all.

 

[RichT]

Great!!!!

that they have been very clear about, where if you choose to switch from a peak product to an epic product and the epic product is less, you will get a refund once the deal closes and you change passes.

On a similar note, of if purchased already both a peak pass product and an epic pass product, they will be eligible to get a full refund of their peak pass product once the deal closes

 

[big_vert]

The snobs of PC can rest easy. (if he hasn't been since last season)

First, majority of them will be flocking to Colorado. (flights are cheaper, more mountains to choose from. And let's face it, who doesn't want to tick off Vail from their bucket list?) Not to mention there's no holiday restriction in the Colorado mountains.

Second, Park City is no Snowbird. It's not much more "difficult" than Stratton!

By the way, Stratton skiers aren't going to Park City anyway. Straotton is part of IKON, not part of EPIC. If he had to worry, it's the Okemo locals who frail around scrapping the snow on anything steeper than Okemo "black".

And guess what? Okemo had been part of Epic since last season!

(My PC local friends joined me at Brighton/Solitude when I was there in February. I did not hear a single complain about unskilled eastern skiers invading PC. I was the one apologizing for the crowds at Solitude, thanks to IKON)

Snobs are snobs no matter where they live.

Apparently you have no clue. Ever hear of 9990 at PC - let's do a lap and tell me that it's Stratton west. Empire Canyon at Deer Valley - yea - learn your areas.? Duh much? Right, PC isn't Snowbird, but apparently you don't know where to go. BTW, Fail is no Snowbird, by a long shot. Where do you go - Breckenflat?

Everyone goes to CO - right, to drive for 3 hours on I-70, and you talk about FAIL - Colorado's version of Stratton. Like really, talk about Fail. A Basin OK, but VAIL!!!:roll: And in case you didn't know there's 10 mountains within an hour of SLC, but right, all will flock to CO - makes sense.

Great, Brighton (the boarders hill) and Sillytude. So much fail in that sentence. You have Snowbasin, Snowbird, Alta, and so on, and went to Brighton / Solitude. OMG.

 

[BenedictGomez]

Well that escalated quickly.

 

[abc]

Some people who can’t even read.

But that doesn’t stop the from writing...garbage.