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VAIL SUCKS

cdskier

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I’ve been holding out on buying due to indecision and still don’t see when prices increase. I called them (they picked up right away) and was told “that date hasn’t been determined yet“. Don’t remember a ski company being wishy-washy about this before.

Simple...they're likely analyzing sales to determine when is the best time to "push" people into purchasing (plus analyzing data to determine how much to increase the price). Vail loves data analytics. This doesn't surprise me one bit.
 

drjeff

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Are there any places you can ski with the Epic pass in the NE this weekend?

maybe I am missing something but I don't think so.

Ikon Has K, Bush, Loaf, River. Quite the disparity.
Nope, Wildcat, Stowe and Mount Snow spun their lifts the last time for the general public this season this past Sunday
 

2Planker

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Nope, Wildcat, Stowe and Mount Snow spun their lifts the last time for the general public this season this past Sunday
We hiked for turns this morning at The Cat
Place was a ghost town, even at 11:30 when we were done
 

BenedictGomez

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Regarding the "increase", if you know you're going to buy anyway I see no sense in waiting.

Just do the $49 thing with the September balance and lock in the lowest price. No sense giving Vail a bolus of your money earlier than need be.

EDIT: And if you happen to have a 4 year old with a birthday anytime between today & next ski season, renew the kiddos pass NOW. If you do so before they turn 5 it's still a free EPIC pass for next year regardless of their birthdate (got this tip from someone who works for PCMR & confirm it's true as I've already done so). Frankly, I'm shocked Vail hasn't rug-pulled this computer loophole given their nickel & dime proclivity.
 

jaytrem

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Regarding the "increase", if you know you're going to buy anyway I see no sense in waiting.

Just do the $49 thing with the September balance and lock in the lowest price. No sense giving Vail a bolus of your money earlier than need be.

EDIT: And if you happen to have a 4 year old with a birthday anytime between today & next ski season, renew the kiddos pass NOW. If you do so before they turn 5 it's still a free EPIC pass for next year regardless of their birthdate (got this tip from someone who works for PCMR & confirm it's true as I've already done so). Frankly, I'm shocked Vail hasn't rug-pulled this computer loophole given their nickel & dime proclivity.
Eh, not too surprised they didn't change that yet. Most ski passes go by the person's age when making the purchase. Can get up to age 12 for free from Mountain Capital Partners. Hopefully can lock that in before my kids turn 13 in Oct. Worth getting even if though we probably won't use it. You never know who they might buy.

The other benefit to buying Epic early for full amount is summer lift access. I think you have to be paid in full, not sure if that's still the case.
 

Zand

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There's almost no blowback to that announcement on Facebook. So the folks who care about their summer operations have either been sufficiently chased away by Vail, or maybe the coaster and zip lines weren't that good there?

I've always heard about the legendary alpine slides there and definitely need to check that out if they ever reopen it.
 

deadheadskier

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Place used to be packed with families having fun in the summer all the way back to the 80s.

Wonder if the Stowe employee Zipline fatality had anything to do with that attraction closing at Attitash.

Meanwhile down the street, Cranmore continues to expand their summer appeal more and more
 

EPB

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That Zipline and mountain coaster were I'll conceived and cost a significant % of what a high speed quad would have cost when they went in. I think the zip cost like $2.3 million alone if memory serves. The mountain coaster ruined a cult favorite old school trail called Hunky Dory which had a bunch of little tree clusters littering it. The coaster was supposed to be the first in the valley. Attitash decided to use staff to install it. Cranmore bought one later that summer, had the company build it, and best Attitash to open. It was NEVER popular/heavily used when I was there, which I was a lot in it's early days. I never did the zip, but it required the Flying Bear to run in the summer which couldn't be cheap. I can only imagine they came well short of recouping their money on it.

I spent a lot of time mountain biking there in the summer. It was super "technical" which basically means "cheap and sh!t". Don't get me wrong, it was a lot of fun, but it was super rocky single track in the woods all around/off the Flying Yankee. I haven't ridden bikes in years and world NOT return if I wanted to get back into it until I really got my legs under me at a place like Cranmore or Loon which have beautifully manicured trails by comparison (so I'm told by the same people I used to ride with at Attitash).

The water slides have been removed. There is no point in running the Mountaineer for scenic rides when Vail owns Wildcat and it's summit quad/summit gondi (if they choose to run it). That basically just leaves a kiddie pool and the Alpine Slide, which is a total gem. I could see the Alpine Slide come back after they refurbish or replace the Flying Yankee. That thing is 26 years old this summer and has a ton of winter and summer hours on it. It's probably got 40ish years of abuse compared to a winter-only lift.

Given everything that's happened at Attitash in the last 5ish years, there's not much left to be outraged about today.
 

snoseek

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At least all that weird clutter will be gone. It looked like a scrap yard.
 
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deadheadskier

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I'll agree that as far as mountain coasters go, Attitash's sucked. We do the Gunstock one a couple times a summer and it's pretty awesome.

Shame the Zip Line didn't work out. I believe at the time it went in, those were the two longest ziplines in North America. Looks fun, but after the Stowe tragedy, I'll be damned if I ever use a zip line in the future.
 

cdskier

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I'll agree that as far as mountain coasters go, Attitash's sucked. We do the Gunstock one a couple times a summer and it's pretty awesome.

Shame the Zip Line didn't work out. I believe at the time it went in, those were the two longest ziplines in North America. Looks fun, but after the Stowe tragedy, I'll be damned if I ever use a zip line in the future.

Yea...I'm glad I did the Stowe zipline a number of years back, but not sure I could convince myself to do one again after that incident.
 

Edd

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A friend once showed me pictures of an injury he sustained on the alpine slide when crashing somehow. A giant road rash on his leg, looked more like a motorcycle injury. I’d never ride that thing after seeing that pic.
 

Zand

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A friend once showed me pictures of an injury he sustained on the mountain coaster when crashing somehow. A giant road rash on his leg, looked more like a motorcycle injury. I’d never ride that thing after seeing that pic.
You must be referring to the alpine slide?

If so...long pants!
 

RichT

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Yes, corrected, thanks. With that injury, I think pants would have been only mildly helpful.
 
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AdironRider

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Attitash summer attractions were hammered and used up 20 years ago, let alone today. Frankly that is a symptom shared by a lot of the Mt Washington Valley and not unique to Attitash.

That said, like the rest of the area, it was still mobbed with people and had to be making money. That zip line lawsuit and the resulting insurance rates must have been the reason.
 
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