A bad winter like this can leave lasting impressions.  How many EPIC pass buyers will decide to just not purchase anything for next year?  

I keep watching the Seven Springs webcams, the place is totally empty except for Saturdays.  I have a feeling it's going to be even emptier next year.  People are fickle and buy based on past weather.  If it's a bad winter people won't buy passes.  We are also retreating from covid where people wanted something to do.  Winter sports are back and there is going to be less demand going forward.

I'm worried about Laurel Mountain.  The place has been Vail'ed.  They haven't been making snow, and signature runs are closed during the week.  We want to hit it but with no visibility into what's actually open we just default to Seven Springs.  I have a conspiracy theory that this is Vail's goal, they want to starve Laurel Mountain and kill the place off, they're doing very well this year.

I know a lot of friends who have purchased season passes previously are really glad they only purchased a few days this year.  

If Vail were smart they'd be dumping snow like crazy to build an enormous base for the next warm week.  Instead webcams show a tiny bit of snowmaking here and there.  I don't get the goal, place seems to be run by idiots.

Do you want a dynamic pricing model everywhere that is a function of conditions, and how busy it is?   With that type of model Saturday day tickets would be $200 at Whitetail.   

There are other choices that are not part of a large corporation.  

I will ski 20 to 25 days at Timberline this season for less than $400. I would say that season pass is a great deal.  

The weather is what it is. some years are good some years are bad that’s just life skiing in the mid Atlantic.

it could be worse Massanutten closed for the season in the winter of 89/90 in January.  

SeniorSki wrote:

Granted local resorts are really struggling. I feel for your bottom line, your staff and their hours. Charging full price for a experience that for the most part is way short of expectations, needs to be addressed by resorts. You are pushing potential skiers away. Think of the future, not for the moment, good will goes a long way. Yes this is currently a bad season, next week doesn’t look any better. Managing a season such as this one has got to be tough, many sleepless nights. 

Hope it turns around. However I’m not paying full price for a mountain that is only 20 to 30 percent open, with marginal conditions. Skiers support the resort, resorts should support the skier. 

SeniorSki, this Spring buy a few days of Epic Day Passes.  That way you will be able to get on the NorthEast Vail mountains for like 40-45 bucks a day.  You don't have to choose the particular day or resort when buying the day pass.

SeniorSki wrote:

Curious how did you come up with 200 dollars? They are charging 95 dollars for those that don’t have the pass. No advanced terrain, marginal conditions, less then half the mountain open, I would choose to go elsewhere, not at all, or park the skis. Granted it is the mid Atlantic, yes there are good and bad years. I have no clue where the break even point is during the ski season. Or even what is considered a good profit. Resorts have to make money or they will no longer be around, I get it. It will be tough going forward. Next weeks forecast has us hitting 60, crazy in early February. There are signals of a storm late next week. Hopefully it will happen. For me to be beauty of skiing is running different trails, challenging terrain, different vistas, and pushing limits. Running the same trail or trails gets old fast. Blue Knob was our favorite place to go in the 70’s and 80’s but we wouldn’t go until it was all open. We would run all the trails, never a dull moment. I guess I’m old school but I can’t part with top price for marginal conditions. 

Have fun out there. 

Google dynamic pricing at Arizona snowbowl on one of the busiest powder days this season the walk up rate topped $300

https://snowbrains.com/arizona-snowbowl-1st-resort-to-charge-300-for-a-lift-ticket/

SeniorSki wrote:

Curious how did you come up with 200 dollars? They are charging 95 dollars for those that don’t have the pass. No advanced terrain, marginal conditions, less then half the mountain open, I would choose to go elsewhere, not at all, or park the skis. Granted it is the mid Atlantic, yes there are good and bad years. I have no clue where the break even point is during the ski season. Or even what is considered a good profit. Resorts have to make money or they will no longer be around, I get it. It will be tough going forward. Next weeks forecast has us hitting 60, crazy in early February. There are signals of a storm late next week. Hopefully it will happen. For me to be beauty of skiing is running different trails, challenging terrain, different vistas, and pushing limits. Running the same trail or trails gets old fast. Blue Knob was our favorite place to go in the 70’s and 80’s but we wouldn’t go until it was all open. We would run all the trails, never a dull moment. I guess I’m old school but I can’t part with top price for marginal conditions. 

Have fun out there. 

teleman wrote:

Google dynamic pricing at Arizona snowbowl on one of the busiest powder days this season the walk up rate topped $300

That's crazy pricing at the AZ Snowbowl because that mountain really isn't that great. It is the only one around there for a long way though as far as I know.

I think this is a bit harsh in terms of expectations given the weather and the roller coaster temps.  I have been tracking the webcams at 7S since mid December. From what I can see, the snow guns are on when the temps support good conditions. Last weekend, while standing in horrendous lines at 7S, I was a bit frustrated over the line management or the lack there of.  The worst part was looking at inoperable lifts.  They had about half in operation. Not sure why, but figured it might be their inability to balance the staff, operating conditions, etc.. I also think 7S was slammed because whitetail was basically a brown, no-snow mess.  In the 2020 - 2021 season, I recall that the weather was more typical of that stretch of the Allegheny Mountains - a fair amount of snow.  It was fantastic in my opinion.  There were other things that were imperfect for sure but it was really good in comparison.

Passes - this is the first year that vail has really owned the Laurel Highlands ski area.  I plan on renewing mine and going more to the North East and possibly out west for some trips and make the best of it to the best of my ability.

Cheers!

john

$25 per ride on big red would be worth it on the right day

however, I’d still rather be on the other side of the mountain at targhee

SeniorSki wrote:

Great advice on the epic pass, will definitely buy for next season. 

300 bucks, whoa!? Is skiing becoming the links (golf) of the winter. If you got it go for it. Not me, but I would pay 25 bucks to ride big red at Jackson Hole. 

I’ve only skied at targhee 4 days and I’ve never seen the sun…..I can confirm it doesn’t rain there.

SeniorSki wrote:

I heard Targhee gets the better snow, uphill slope precipitation instead of downhill slope precipitation. 

Ok, so you're basing a $200 dynamic price based on one crazy outlier? Get real dude.

Even as bad as Peak was, there was always a maximum price (rack rate) and everything dynamic was a discount based on demand, until you were back at rack rate. Boyne resorts do this now. The earlier you buy, the greater your discount.  They're not charging $200 even on their busiest weekends. Vail only charges $275 rack rate for Vail itself.

I don't think I'm going to do a season pass next year though. First reason is I don't know if I'll be here next winter, but mainly because of how Vail's been operating this year.  I know this year's been rough so I'm not faulting the difficult of snowmaking.  What I am faulting them for is them taking forever to open runs and leaving some runs sitting with snow on them for weeks before opening in them.  And giving other runs low priority for snowmaking.

HV has had snow sitting on Voyager and a couple others for at least two weeks.  Not talking a few inches, but feet of snow, waiting for grooming.  Much longer than time needed for curing. It's disappointing to see snowmaking windows and a lack of progress in opening more terrains.  It's like they are content to have roughly 50% of the mountain open and call it good. They got hit hard for that last year at other hills.

7S was getting crap from the condo owners for not opening Southwind trails and Village trail. Village takes a lot of snow to open due to its length (probably could have opened to at least Boomerang to make them happier). Goosebumps barely started getting snow made on it, and you still have GS and Yodeler not getting love. All that's been taking a back seat to the super pipe.

I haven't been out 7 times (only 5 so far) so I haven't even amortized the day pass rate. 

And communication has been horrible.

Weather aside, I just haven't seen much that makes me want to buy another pass for next year.  Some day passes maybe for the discount, but a full pass would be a hard sell for me at this point.

I got that for my son his first year boarding.  I agree - it was a great deal.  The free lesson he got each time was well worth it by itself.

teleman wrote:

The snow time advantage card was a good program for those that went between 5-15 days a year.  I purchased the advantage card for many years until snow time dropped their pass from $600 to $400; but the industry pricing model has changed quite a bit since that time.

Moe Gull wrote:

teleman wrote:

Google dynamic pricing at Arizona snowbowl on one of the busiest powder days this season the walk up rate topped $300

That's crazy pricing at the AZ Snowbowl because that mountain really isn't that great. It is the only one around there for a long way though as far as I know.

 From what I read elsewhere, AZ Snowbowl made a decision to use dynamic pricing instead of limiting the number of day tickets to keep from having too many people on the slopes on a powder weekend.  An advanced ticket for the following weekend was around $130.  The astronomical price was for a Sat or Sun ticket bought less than 24 hours in advance.

Seems as if doing some calculations and deciding on when to say SOLD OUT online or at the ticket window makes more sense in the long run.

A simple plan is. Ski 1 hr away.  Liberty 65% / Roundtop 35%. 

at least  10 days, will get 15+

The cost per hr is about 6$.  not including gas.

Work is telework so gas is moot this budget year. 

No overnight stays, no eating at the resort. I Carpool when I can.

Wendy's 5$ bag. I love being cheap. 

Fun every time. Experience priceless.

Mid week and flexible on the days = decent conditions. 

Zardog

Base Boost helps a lot in high temps.