That's the "other" announcement.
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VAIL SUCKS
- Thread starter thebigo
- Start date
xlr8r
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Good point. This essentially is not discounting the pass price, but keeping it the same for all their loyal passholders who got the 20% COVID discount for this year. Its just marketing spin to their core customer base.
I am out, even though my aunt and uncle recently bought place in Bartlett NH. Its just not worth it to deal with the crowds and the piss poor management. As I get older quality is becoming more and more important than price and quantity,
Couldn't agree more.
Ski2LiveLive2Ski
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Couldn't be happier with rumors. I ❤ cheap ski passes. Will stick with Epic if so.
Article no longer up - what were prices listed for each kind of pass?
Article no longer up - what were prices listed for each kind of pass?
Yep
No freaking way I'd buy an Epic Pass again with this lowest common denominator model. Not worth the crowding headaches even if it was free
RichT
Active member
Unless you're a weekday skier..........then it's game-on!!
mbedle
Well-known member
I guess it was real, and that really sucks.....
I’ve been in 1/2 hr lines at wildcat and attitash this year on a weekday. Never seen that before. I don’t know if it because of wfh or the cheap passes. I skied attitash a couple sundays this year, scary crowded. Wildcat has been less busy, but still consistently 20 to 30 minute lines on a Sunday. The average clientele at wc used to be dirtbags. Now it’s out of control novices, or people that should be in rei commercials. As a local with little kids that want to ski more and more, looks like I’m going somewhere else next year. Which really suck because attitash/wildcat has by far the best terrain in mwv. Hour + lines next year. 
Then make the weekday passes incredibly cheap and weekend access more expensive.
I'd propose a structure of
Seven day + holidays
Seven day with holiday blackout
Sunday through Friday plus blackouts
Midweek.
I've also suggested a home mountain or two designation with very limited access elsewhere; like 3-5 days a season.
At least for their more premium properties, offering full access for as cheap as they're doing? Hard pass
jimmywilson69
Well-known member
While great for my pocket book, this sucks from a crowding perspective. Pretty clear they couldn't care less about the "experience".
Also I don't believe they were limiting people with reservations this season. Roundtop had Holiday lines every Saturday by 10 AM. THAT NEVER HAPPENED pre-VAIL.
I don't have an option except to try and ski as much as I can mid week and ski for an hour and a half on weekends. Maybe they could at least move the start time to 8 AM on weekends as most people likely won't come that early and bring back night skiing 7 days a week.
As far as using the pass up north or out west I guess try to ski during the week only...
Where's BG I'd love to hear his financial take on this. (no sarcasm)
This has to be the beginning of the end right? they can't possibly keep this financial model up forever. Hard to believe that a public company is trying to lower prices to increase revenue.
Also I don't believe they were limiting people with reservations this season. Roundtop had Holiday lines every Saturday by 10 AM. THAT NEVER HAPPENED pre-VAIL.
I don't have an option except to try and ski as much as I can mid week and ski for an hour and a half on weekends. Maybe they could at least move the start time to 8 AM on weekends as most people likely won't come that early and bring back night skiing 7 days a week.
As far as using the pass up north or out west I guess try to ski during the week only...
Where's BG I'd love to hear his financial take on this. (no sarcasm)
This has to be the beginning of the end right? they can't possibly keep this financial model up forever. Hard to believe that a public company is trying to lower prices to increase revenue.
Ski2LiveLive2Ski
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In light of the news that Epic pass prices are remaining unchanged for renewing skiers, some of you folks who feel Epic Local Pass holders don't deserve unlimited non holiday access to Stowe will be psyched that they are limiting us to 10 such days.
Had been seriously considering switch to Ikon but with this deal on rates I expect to make it our third straight season on Epic.
Gonna go with Local not NE version as holiday blackouts on Hunter and all VT resorts mean I would definitely spend more in those periods than I would save with this option. Hopefully that will drive the Holiday skiers more over to the NH mountains too.
Had been seriously considering switch to Ikon but with this deal on rates I expect to make it our third straight season on Epic.
Gonna go with Local not NE version as holiday blackouts on Hunter and all VT resorts mean I would definitely spend more in those periods than I would save with this option. Hopefully that will drive the Holiday skiers more over to the NH mountains too.
Last edited:
You suck. That is all
abc
Well-known member
Same here.
I think this price cut is a temporary thing, for 21/22 season only. After that, either Ikon will match it by lowering their pass price, or Vail will raise it "per normal". So I'll take advantage of this one more year. Then switch when their prices are comparable.
thebigo
Well-known member
This is the worst possible outcome. They have gone the planet fitness model, make it so cheap that people do not bother canceling. This is exactly what ASC did near the end.
Epic is no longer a viable standalone pass, at best it is an addon. No idea what we are going to do next year, need to put it all in a spreadsheet.
Epic is no longer a viable standalone pass, at best it is an addon. No idea what we are going to do next year, need to put it all in a spreadsheet.
I'd point out that while people express the greatest concern with lift lines, just as big of an issue is snow quality in the East. Trails are just going to get scraped down to hardpack that much faster. This will require much more snowmaking to resurface trails. At least in New Hampshire, Vail absolutely sucked at snowmaking this winter. The roll out was slow and their willingness to periodically resurface was far less than Peak.
Vails slogan is, "The Experience of a lifetime". I'll echo Jimmy in that they absolutely don't give a shit about the experience adopting this model.
Less people at higher margins is the direction I was hoping they'd take. New England simply doesn't have the terrain acreage, lodge space and lift infrastructure to handle the number of people they're trying to cram in.
Vails slogan is, "The Experience of a lifetime". I'll echo Jimmy in that they absolutely don't give a shit about the experience adopting this model.
Less people at higher margins is the direction I was hoping they'd take. New England simply doesn't have the terrain acreage, lodge space and lift infrastructure to handle the number of people they're trying to cram in.
jaytrem
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Luckily some places don't have the parking spaces either.
FBGM
Well-known member
Id rather move to a trailer park in Florida and breed raccoons then buy an Epic Pass at some discount rate. They could hand those out for free and I’d still avoid those resorts.
Katz last week:
"For anyone worried that the absence of a reservation system will lead to longer lift lines, we have extensive learnings from this season around lift loading efficiencies and are implementing new strategies to materially reduce wait times.
...
Amidst the hardships of this last year, we have come away with many lessons learned, a heightened sense of the importance of recreating on our mountains, and a renewed commitment to live up to our mission of providing you an Experience of a Lifetime."
Katz this week:
Forget about what I said last week about reducing lift lines and caring about your experience. I meant to send that e-mail out on April 1st. I'm actually lowering pass prices 20% in an effort to further increase our season pass marketshare and test how many people we can cram into each of our resorts.
"For anyone worried that the absence of a reservation system will lead to longer lift lines, we have extensive learnings from this season around lift loading efficiencies and are implementing new strategies to materially reduce wait times.
...
Amidst the hardships of this last year, we have come away with many lessons learned, a heightened sense of the importance of recreating on our mountains, and a renewed commitment to live up to our mission of providing you an Experience of a Lifetime."
Katz this week:
Forget about what I said last week about reducing lift lines and caring about your experience. I meant to send that e-mail out on April 1st. I'm actually lowering pass prices 20% in an effort to further increase our season pass marketshare and test how many people we can cram into each of our resorts.
jimmywilson69
Well-known member
Truth
they have officially stated that they don't give a shit about the experience.
they have officially stated that they don't give a shit about the experience.
