• For more information on how to avoid pop-up ads and still support SkiTalk click HERE.

Lift ticket $ Insanity

Wilhelmson

Making fresh tracks
Skier
Joined
May 2, 2017
Posts
4,328
My only problem with the pricing is that for the four of us to ski off pass we are looking at 500+ per day. Even most small independents will cost us $300 to $400. Multiply by 2 or three days and it a big outlay considering we already spend close to $4,000 on our season passes.
 

crgildart

Gravity Slave
Skier
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
16,325
Location
The Bull City
I would and still do buy a seasons pass to my local mountain. Its the only way for me to get in the amount of days I want on the boards
What if the closest "home mountain" was 200 miles away? :huh: No multi pass option to also use on a couple longer trips?? How many online day or walk up tickets would you be buying in that situation?
 

4aprice

Out on the slopes
Skier
Joined
Apr 2, 2018
Posts
975
Location
Lake Hopatcong, NJ and Granby Co
What if the closest "home mountain" was 200 miles away? :huh: No multi pass option to also use on a couple longer trips?? How many online day or walk up tickets would you be buying in that situation?
Interesting question in that I've never lived south of where I live now on the east coast mostly because of my interest in skiing. However I think if I were in that situation, I would enroll in a good frequent flyer program, buy a condo somewhere out west and forget the east coast. Pass options would be decided by location of said condo. 200 miles is like 6 or 7 hours of driving isn't it? I live in NNJ and not only have the Pocono's in my back yard but New England with in driving distance as well, but as nice as it looks I won't drive to Maine for Sugarloaf, Saddleback etc. Too far, Newark Airport is 35 minutes away and I can jump on a flight and be in Denver in less time then it would take to drive up there.
 

crgildart

Gravity Slave
Skier
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
16,325
Location
The Bull City
Interesting question in that I've never lived south of where I live now on the east coast mostly because of my interest in skiing. However I think if I were in that situation, I would enroll in a good frequent flyer program, buy a condo somewhere out west and forget the east coast. Pass options would be decided by location of said condo. 200 miles is like 6 or 7 hours of driving isn't it? I live in NNJ and not only have the Pocono's in my back yard but New England with in driving distance as well, but as nice as it looks I won't drive to Maine for Sugarloaf, Saddleback etc. Too far, Newark Airport is 35 minutes away and I can jump on a flight and be in Denver in less time then it would take to drive up there.
200 miles is 3,5 hours of driving, I draw the line to fly at 12 hours.. One flight delay or rental car snafu and you could have gotten there quicker WITH your car full of your gear otherwise..
 

Sibhusky

Whitefish, MT
Skier
Joined
Oct 26, 2016
Posts
4,804
Location
Whitefish, MT
Serious question to all. How many days would you likely IF there was NO MULTI RESPORT PASS OPTION AVAILABLE for any resorts within 200 miles of your front door?

Would you buy the local pass for ONE resort?

Or, would you pay day ticket rates at several nearby resorts?

This is my situation..
Not sure if you're targeting me or not here.. Answer seems so obvious, but I "meet the criteria".

Closest multi pass place is Schweitzer, over 200 miles away. But....my ONE resort is 16 minutes away. Am I going to look to a place an hour and 45 minutes away (Blacktail) because of the pass? NO! You need to define "nearby" better.

But even when I was skiing the Poconos, once we decided to really ski over 8 days per season, day tickets were out. The pass is the only way to do it.
 

Sibhusky

Whitefish, MT
Skier
Joined
Oct 26, 2016
Posts
4,804
Location
Whitefish, MT
What if the closest "home mountain" was 200 miles away? :huh: No multi pass option to also use on a couple longer trips?? How many online day or walk up tickets would you be buying in that situation?
I wouldn't be skiing or there'd be a ski condo. Mostly because of the driving issue. Back when I "got the bug" in my early 20's and didn't have much money, I drove up and back every Saturday and Sunday. Every time I think of how rough those drives home were, it's a miracle I am alive. Most of the time I was exhausted.
 

Tom K.

Skier Ordinaire
Skier
SkiTalk Supporter
Joined
Dec 20, 2015
Posts
8,399
How many days would you likely IF there was NO MULTI RESPORT PASS OPTION AVAILABLE for any resorts within 200 miles of your front door?

This is pretty much my situation, so the answer is about 60 days. Well, "fat" half days, anyway. ;)

High on our semi-retirement location list was a decent ski area that was not part of Ikon or Epic. Cheefully trade outright size for a smaller, less frantic experience.

I was "broken" during my last guys trip to JH. Sheer insanity if it snows over 4 inches. Just not for me anymore.
 

Andy Mink

Everyone loves spring skiing but not in January
Moderator
SkiTalk Tester
SkiTalk Supporter
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
12,911
Location
Reno
What if the closest "home mountain" was 200 miles away? :huh: No multi pass option to also use on a couple longer trips?? How many online day or walk up tickets would you be buying in that situation?
0. I am in no shape to ski a full day, bell to bell. I seriously doubt I'd pay full walkup price to ski half a day. Maybe if there was a half day pass but I doubt I'd drive 200 miles to ski four hours. I don't know how folks come up for a week a year and ski 5 days. I'd be toast after one, maybe two days and the other three would be survival mode.
 

crgildart

Gravity Slave
Skier
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
16,325
Location
The Bull City
0. I am in no shape to ski a full day, bell to bell. I seriously doubt I'd pay full walkup price to ski half a day. Maybe if there was a half day pass but I doubt I'd drive 200 miles to ski four hours. I don't know how folks come up for a week a year and ski 5 days. I'd be toast after one, maybe two days and the other three would be survival mode.
If I take it easy, staying slopeside.. 1-2 hour sessions, 2-3 sessions per day. Hot tub recooperation.

If I'm driving up and back 3 hours is about my limit. I'll only pay full weekend/holiday price if one of my kids wants to go.. I'd pay double to ski 3 hours with either of my kids..

But solo? $10 early season special, Weekday right after Christmas Break while I'm still on PTO.. Maybe one or two spring fling days.. That's about it now..
 

dovski

Waxing my skis and praying for snow
Skier
Joined
Jan 7, 2018
Posts
2,859
Location
Seattle
Ultimately the ski industry, even with independent mountains is pushing everyone to buy season passes or multi resort passes. In past we have done the follwing:
  • We have had a season pass at our local mountain (Alpental) for the last 11 years, for the simple reason that it makes financial sense given how often we ski there. Way before mutli-resort passes came into vogue we used to to use corporate discounts to ski at another local mountain (remember the PNW pass when Stevens was an indy hill or the Costco lift ticket packs for Crystal when it was an indy hill).
  • We also used Liftopia back in the day for discount tickets when we went on ski trips (Sun Peaks used to have a great buy in advance deal through them) and in some cases AAA discounts (Sunshine and Lake Louise used to have a special discount if you bought from an Alberta branch).
  • Ultimately we added the Mountain Collective Pass which was heavily discounted by our local hill if you bought your seasons pass early and an Edge Card for Whistler
This year we bought our local seasons pass, an Edge card for Whistler and an Ikon pass for the entire family. This was not cheap, but we are on track to ski 50+ days at 9-10 different resorts and without these passes we would be paying exponentially more $$ as it feels like almost every resort is north of $200/day. Simply put if you cannot afford to buy a season pass or some sort of multi-resort pass the financial cost of skiing is prohibitive. As a family we are definitely going to re-evaluate where we ski next year and see if we can reduce the number of passes we buy .... to be quite honest we probably should have done a better job planning where and how we skied this year as all these passes add up quickly.
 

ilovepugs

The human form of the 100 emoji
Skier
SkiTalk Supporter
Joined
Sep 17, 2018
Posts
908
Location
A cozy corner of Vermont
Serious question to all. How many days would you likely IF there was NO MULTI RESPORT PASS OPTION AVAILABLE for any resorts within 200 miles of your front door?

Would you buy the local pass for ONE resort?

Or, would you pay day ticket rates at several nearby resorts?

This is my situation..
Before IKON and Epic came to the east coast I paid ~$300 for the 20-something pass at Sugarbush. I probably got 20-something days in, all weekends. This was pre-remote work and before I had enough pull in the workplace to flex my schedule. I also lived about an hour away instead of a half hour. Other options within an hour driving radius were Mad River Glen, Smuggs, Stowe, Bolton Valley and Cochran’s Ski Area, with many more within an hour and a half to two away. I only ever went off-pass to Bolton for night riding though.

I never traveled west until I got the Epic Local pass at Stowe the first year Vail bought them and went to Whistler.

Now I buy the IKON Base and the Mad River Glen full pass ($700 or so). I’ve contemplated dropping IKON and just scouting for deals in the Canadian Rockies for when I want western skiing and snowboarding. Obvious downside is that my snowboarding would be significantly restricted. Less obvious but still significant is that MRG’s season is at least a month shorter than Sugarbush, and we like the option to roll over to Killington on spring weekends after Sugarbush is closed.
 

Andy Mink

Everyone loves spring skiing but not in January
Moderator
SkiTalk Tester
SkiTalk Supporter
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
12,911
Location
Reno
@Stephen lives in Tennessee and has a season pass at Mt. Rose. How's that for "home" mountain? When you validate it by figuring a day ticket online is usually between $120 and $165 for a full day you don't need to ski but about 6 days to pay it off. Crazy prices.
 

martyg

Making fresh tracks
Industry Insider
Joined
Nov 24, 2017
Posts
2,216
Funny story….

I was at BoP and had several industry discounts that I could leverage. The young lady at the ticket counter looked me up, and apparently I had an Epic pass at some point in my life. Out the door for $80some bucks for the day.
It seems that there are multiple ways to skin the cat.

I don’t get all the bitching. Seems like it is media generated click bait.
 
Last edited:

wooglin

Making fresh tracks
Skier
Joined
Jan 27, 2020
Posts
1,460
Location
Center of the Civilized World
I have a pass at my local hill because I want them to stay open and get kids skiing. I ski there Saturdays to avoid crowds. It’s great. I have another pass at a bigger area because it’s bigger and there is more consistent snow. I ski there Sundays because it’s less busy then, and I ski there early and late season because they can make more snow. When I had a real multi resort pass (Epic) I just skied the one local resort that was on it. It was always crowded.

When I lived 200 miles from somewhere to ski I didn’t ski.
 

ilovepugs

The human form of the 100 emoji
Skier
SkiTalk Supporter
Joined
Sep 17, 2018
Posts
908
Location
A cozy corner of Vermont
Killington Spring Pass?
The price has gone up substantially in recent years and the marginal additional cost of the IKON Base over the spring pass + tickets in Canada makes it a no brainer to just buy the pass and have a local early season/snowboarding option too. But, good suggestion.

I also have a season pass to my local xc center that’s less than 15 minutes away. Too many fun activities, not enough time. It comes with night skiing 3x/week, reciprocal access to a bunch of places in Vermont, and mountain biking/hiking access in the summer though all for $190 so it’s a good value regardless.
 
Last edited:

Wendy

Resurrecting the Oxford comma
Admin
Skier
SkiTalk Supporter
Joined
Mar 13, 2016
Posts
4,905
Location
Santa Fe, New Mexico
0. I am in no shape to ski a full day, bell to bell. I seriously doubt I'd pay full walkup price to ski half a day. Maybe if there was a half day pass but I doubt I'd drive 200 miles to ski four hours. I don't know how folks come up for a week a year and ski 5 days. I'd be toast after one, maybe two days and the other three would be survival mode.
This is kinda my situation this year, mostly because of our lack of winter in the mid Atlantic. I’ve gotten 3 ski days in, maybe 4. And half days at that.

Though I can be on the hill in an hour, which isn’t bad, the conditions are so crappy that it’s barely worth the drive to get there right now.

If I wasn’t feeling physically well, forget about it. I wouldn’t even try.

So we shall see what transpires for me at the Gathering. Luckily I’m most interested in seeing friends while there. Everything else is bonus. ogsmile
 

crgildart

Gravity Slave
Skier
Joined
Nov 12, 2015
Posts
16,325
Location
The Bull City
If you opt to fly far away to ski, add the price of the plane ticket to the daily cost of the pass. If you ski X days the real cost per day is your pass price + your airfare + lodging + rental car/transportation.

So you saved $50/per day over the walk up or online day ticket price with that multi resort pass.. When all the rest of that gets added in did you really?
 

crosscountry

Out on the slopes
Skier
Joined
Jun 6, 2021
Posts
1,726
Location
all over the place
I don't know how folks come up for a week a year and ski 5 days. I'd be toast after one, maybe two days and the other three would be survival mode.
I used to be one of them. I didn't have any problem

Since I didn't ski the rest of the time, I did other things with the time. One of two of those "other things" actually is anti-gravity (aka mountain biking). So, when I hit the slope, I was actually more fit, albeit not all the ski related muscles.

Moreover, when I was a one week a year skier, I usually don't ski as hard. So really, I was LESS exhausted at the end of the day. Typically, day 3 was the worst in terms of muscle soreness. By day 4, even those were gone. That's when I pick up the intensity from that point on.
 

Sponsor

Staff online

Top