I'm sorry that I can't link to the tweet - as if I'd know how to do such a thing - but Whitetail just tweeted that they will be opening on Friday!!! Looks like I'm skipping work next Monday - cough! cough!
And Roundtop announced they open Thursday, back on Saturday. Leaving Liberty sitting on its heels.
skinavy wrote:
And Roundtop announced they open Thursday, back on Saturday. Leaving Liberty sitting on its heels.
Liberty is also opening on Friday. They tweeted it out an hour ago. You'd think they would all get together and coordinate their announcements...
Lberty seems to have the least forward-facing PR/Social Media of the 3.
That new skating rink looks cool- no idea if passholders get x # of skate sessions, kind of like they do for tubing? Or "skate free with purchase of an 8-hour lift ticket"?
mwolf00 wrote:
You'd think they would all get together and coordinate their announcements...
There's not as much group coordination as you might think. Day to day, they're largely managed independently and somewhat competitive to each other as well.
Anyone know of any early season deals Whitetail has going on? Considering going next week, but I'd rather not pay February prices for early season conditions.
Reisen wrote:
Anyone know of any early season deals Whitetail has going on? Considering going next week, but I'd rather not pay February prices for early season conditions.
Other than the Snowtime discount card at its regular price, no. Liberty, Whitetail and Roundtop haven't been in the habit of offering the kinds of deals that many other resorts offer. They seem to know that we'll come.
Woody
I just paid 10 bucks for an hour long lesson with my son. 5 bucks each if you're a season pass holder. 10 bucks each if you're not. I'd call that a deal . Offer expires on 23 Dec.
Interesting. It's 2pm on a Monday, with almost ideal weather. I just took a look at the website, and the webcams. 9 out of 23 trails open, of which 5 are green (so 4 trails I would actually ski, all blue, and really 3 if you count upper and lower Angel Drop as one). Webcams look pretty empty (generally 1 or 2 people within frame on each slope).
It seems to me this is exactly why most mountains offer some kind of early season discount, just as most golf courses do in shoulder season. I'm tempted to take off work for a day or two this week to clean the rust off my skiing before I head to Whistler next week. But, paying full prices for 40% of a product doesn't sit well with me. I wonder how people would feel if the bartender brought them half a pint of beer and charged them full price, explaining that the keg ran out? Are all the other resorts and golf courses that offer early and late season rates doing so out of the kindness of their hearts?
$10 lessons sound appetizing for my 6 y/o, but I couldn't find any mention on the website. Maybe I should just bite the bullet and drive the extra hour to CV. I see they have "Value Season" rates currently running...
Went today at 8:30 and nobody there, got a bit more crowded by 1 when we left, but still not bad. Never had to wait in a lift line at all. Only two real intermediate runs and Sidewinder open beyond the true beginner hills and still had to pay full fare for a 4 hour flex ticket which to me is a bit ridiculous given the limited terrain open. Was a great day to be out there with temps below freezing, but a nice bright sun and little wind. Made snow on all of the trails last night so were in pretty good shape and quick. Snow Park should be open tomorrow or Weds, same with Bold Decision and one of the other trails off of that lift.
Reisen wrote:
Interesting. It's 2pm on a Monday, with almost ideal weather. I just took a look at the website, and the webcams. 9 out of 23 trails open, of which 5 are green (so 4 trails I would actually ski, all blue, and really 3 if you count upper and lower Angel Drop as one). Webcams look pretty empty (generally 1 or 2 people within frame on each slope).
It seems to me this is exactly why most mountains offer some kind of early season discount, just as most golf courses do in shoulder season. I'm tempted to take off work for a day or two this week to clean the rust off my skiing before I head to Whistler next week. But, paying full prices for 40% of a product doesn't sit well with me. I wonder how people would feel if the bartender brought them half a pint of beer and charged them full price, explaining that the keg ran out? Are all the other resorts and golf courses that offer early and late season rates doing so out of the kindness of their hearts?
$10 lessons sound appetizing for my 6 y/o, but I couldn't find any mention on the website. Maybe I should just bite the bullet and drive the extra hour to CV. I see they have "Value Season" rates currently running...
As a consumer and customer you make some valid points, but ski resorts have a pricing wrinkle that other goods and services don't: the season pass. Keep in mind that every time you buy a lift ticket to Whitetail you are skiing with other customers who are paying much less (and depending on their usage, potentially a LOT less) than you are for the same product. So management has a small dilemma on their hands: lower daily ticket prices to attract customer like you, while potentially disrupting their season pass income model; or don't adjust prices in order to maintain the incentive of buying a season pass and advantage card. There is no right or wrong, just whatever they anticipate is better for the resort's bottom line. The reality is you appear to be a lower priority customer- you don't ski there enough to warrant buying a pass or advantage card, so will just pay walk up rates if it works for you. Finally, here is an interesting reality for a day trip area like Whitetail: they need to maximize their season pass and advantage card revenue. They don't need to incentivize occasional visitors like you, because if they have snow and winter weather for just one of the holiday periods (Xmas week, MLK or Prez Weekend), just like in Field of Dreams: "Build it and they will come". One holiday weekend with legit winter weather = in the black for the whole year (learned that from a very interesting chair ride with a Snow Time employee). So if there is a crappy winter and they go zero for three on the holiday weekends at least they brought in enough pass and other incidental revenue to (hopefully) cover their costs.
I was at WT yesterday and it was great (paid full window rate price). Lower prices potentially leads to more people and not necessarily more revenue. Frankly they could increase the weekend window rate and probably further increase the revenue. I stopped being a pass holder two years ago due to the weekends being unbearable. I have since moved on to Canaan and Timberline.
Snowtime learned a long time ago by lowering their season price from $599 to $399 dramatically increased early season revenue; hence, the lower price has been maintained with minor increases for at least 7 to 8 seasons (now at $479 before end of Oct.). That is a good deal if you go more than 10 days. When I was a regular at WT (20-25 days a season) my per day rate was around $20. My question is why pay the window rate when advantage cards and season passes are available?
I suggest you go ski Timberline (if they decide to open) and compare that to Whitetail and then assess which place is overpriced. At least Snowtime reinvests in their business, even after challenging seasons. Snowtime knows how to operate resorts in our local market.
The resorts do have to consider marginal vs fixed costs on their pricing. They have to operate their lifts, restaurants, ski patrol, ski school when they are open. So, fixed costs. Would they bring in more revenue for a particular day if they lowered rates (earlier/late season mid-week) and attracted more lift-window customers? Their pricing seems to say no - those who would show up early/late season are likely hard core, and would show up regardless of price discount. However, Reisen is saying that reasoning does not apply to him.
And who knows, maybe they figure it is easier for their pricing system to charge the same amount (by day of week) for each week of the year they are open.
I was also there yesterday also so it seems that a few of us had the same idea. WT is only an hour from my house so I figured I'd get there often enough to purchase the Advantage card (first time I've purchased one). If I go to Liberty and WT at lease 5 times, the card will be worth it. With the card, I only pay $35 for a 4 hour ticket. It really can't get any better than that.
I LOVE midweek skiing and being able to take an afternoon off and hit the slopes isn't something I'd ever considered before this year - skiing had always been more of a planned "event" that I made a day of but now that I'm pushing 50, 4 hours seems to be enough slope time to fill my cup and wear me out. Hopefully, I'll have my legs back under me in a month so true ski trips will make sense but for now, the quick hitter is great.
As for the slopes, I really couldn't be happier with the December conditions. I did see that they were inches away from opening more terrain (which opened today BTW) but I was happy with what I got. I'm not thrilled that the weather is forecast to be warmer for the next week with lows barely getting below freezing.
Did anyone notice that the waterbars had been freshly/ hastily redone on Limelight? As I was riding up the high speed lift to the summit, I also noticed evidence of scouring from water. All was revealed just before the top lift house, a major water line had burst. In talking with folks it burst during the cold temps just before opening, and it may be a while before it is repaired. This line supposedly provides water to both Limelight and Snow Dancer, so those two intermediate runs may be a while before they open. That new addition is pretty (noticed there is a vacant bar in the pizza place..wishful thinking), but those 30 year old water and air lines are important. Hope they can get things fixed, quickly.
yotestang wrote:
Did anyone notice that the waterbars had been freshly/ hastily redone on Limelight? As I was riding up the high speed lift to the summit, I also noticed evidence of scouring from water. All was revealed just before the top lift house, a major water line had burst. In talking with folks it burst during the cold temps just before opening, and it may be a while before it is repaired. This line supposedly provides water to both Limelight and Snow Dancer, so those two intermediate runs may be a while before they open. That new addition is pretty (noticed there is a vacant bar in the pizza place..wishful thinking), but those 30 year old water and air lines are important. Hope they can get things fixed, quickly.
I noticed the damage but didn't really put it all together. I was wondering why the two center intermediate trails had no snow. You can see that they started blowing it on Snow Dancer but then just stopped after a very short time. Here's to hoping there is a silver lining to having temperatures in the 40's this week and they can work on the repairs.
