Ski2Live Live2Ski

No have not been to Blue this year. Bummer VIP perk no longer useful and that it is so over crowded. Hard to see what else one would base pass pricing on other than the main competition it faces - buying day tickets or buying a comparable local mountain's pass. I knew when I.saw day ticket prices go up that pass hikes would follow. This year's pass cost less than 4 day tix after they raised day prices. That couldn't last.

Hard to see unlimited skiing as over priced when it costs less than 6 weekend 8 hr tickets - and includes preferred lift access which doubles the runs one can get per hour at peak times. And they match their closest competition Cbk. The only thing I would fault them for on pricing is not offering a cheaper option good only nights and weekdays - as Cbk does.

It's colder I'll give you that - and there are more wind holds at higher elevation. Reduces the freeze/thaw issue though cause it's not like it doesn't freeze often South of VT. Definitely the conditions I have skied in VT have been better than those I have skied in NY or PA this winter. And the terrain is so much better than PA it's silly. In PA I regularly call it a day when I get bored of the terrain. That has never happened in VT. But please do your best to keep the crowds at Blue 🙂

Sugarbush 4-18-19

Plenty of skiing from the summit of Sugarbush that is not bad at all for those as capable as my girls were just before they turned 12 (the year we had our Blue passes) - and this was in mid April so it wasn't exactly full coverage.

Corrected

Ikon Base pass is not even worth considering for me - even disregarding holiday black outs as definitely would use all 7 days at Windham with it being by far the closest option. Leaning towards full Ikon over ORDA pass though - especially due to it covering a CO trip too.

IKON full pass Adult 999 13-22 739 5-12 319 (-100 for up to 2 kids per adult) IKON base pass (holidays blacked out) Adult 729 13-22 559 5-12 179 For VT/NY skiing (most relevant to me) there are unlimited days at Stratton and Sugarbush, and up to 7 days (5 with base pass) at Windham and Killington On sale March 11 Includes limited Spring skiing - most relevant to me is Sugarbush starting 4/5

I'd much rather get the no black out pass to Belleayre Gore and Whiteface for $809

It is certainly the best deal out there if you like to ski it, and I def like deals and it is not too far from me, so the fact that it doesn't interest me and didn't even when I lived 30 miles from it says a lot. In a nutshell - Bear Peak - Last time I was there was pretty much all terrain park. I'm not into spending much time doing terrain park runs - fail. - Middle Peak (Granite?) - used to have the only decently steep run at the place, I believe it was called Pipeline. They eliminated the run. - fail. Vernon Peak - main lift requires you to take your skis on and off after each short run, stand up the whole way up, and unlike other lifts with those drawbacks you are still unsheltered - fail Plus, as best as I recall, no real bumps or glades and the lodge in the non-terrain park side is a tent. And the place gets mobbed.

Boring and Crowded and home of my least fav non surface lift - their Cabriolet. Not too close, there are places I can get to quicker that I prefer. Like Blue, Camelback, Jack Frost and even Shawnee. When I lived 45 min from Mountain Creek I more often skied Hidden Valley half a mile away.

Last year I believe they both announced pricing first week of March, but Epic did not include Spring 2020 skiing.

Wearing a mask and goggles should kill the viability of facial recognition pretty thoroughly

Can't see much of anything new being added/ dropped from Epic within early bird pricing window - as their model involves ownership of their mountains and if purchases/sales of mts were in the offing there would already be news stories about that.

Mountain Creek is offering 2021/22 season passes for $279. Unfortunately on closer inspection it seems this is an amount they expect you to pay them for being stuck skiing there all year. If it were the other way around it would almost be a good deal for folks in NYC or the top third of NJ

Basically to work for me a pass has to have either a Catskills or a "top tier PA (Blue/CB/Elk/Montage)" option in addition to some larger mountains. Seems unlikely any of them will have such a PA option. ORDA has Belleayre Epic has Hunter (and JF and Roundtop are plusses) Ikon has Windham Indy doesn't quite cut it unless they get Plattekill to join again, but their saving graces are including Catamount, Greek Peak, Blue Knob and Shawnee; and that their pricing will likely be low enough that one could combine Indy and Montage for less than the other options.

ORDA posted their price for Belleayre / Gore / Whiteface today $809 is the adult early purchase price for a full pass to all three with no black out dates. Allows skiing starting 3/17. Other pricing available here: https://www.belleayre.com/tickets/season-passes/ Seriously considering this option. The other passes that will be interesting for me to compare pricing on are Epic, Ikon and Indy

Yes I paid for things that put me in position to do this, but with air and hotel credits having no value as of mid April if unused, and $550 (after rebate) cost of Epic pass having already paid for about 35 ski days before this one at about $16/day, taking this trip adds no more costs in those areas (but will bring Epic price down to more like $15/day). GF will pay for no costs of trip unless she offers to take me out for a meal to say thank you, or goes shopping while I ski.

Paid $769 for hotel last year. Using about $710 of it up now. Yeah will tip shuttle guy. Cheap rate due to 20% discount from Epic Pass Twins won't be vaxxed yet so not taking them on plane. Their call. 3-4 days skiing somewhere drivable (TBD based on conditions) with them right before I fly to Vail. At 27 days in so far, barring another lock down, this will be a record setting season for me. Most I ever skied in a season was 31 days and I could well break 40 this year. Girls will beat their record too - now at 15, could top 20.

Make that skiing Vail 4 days April 6-9 Out of pocket costs: 4 nights Evergreen Lodge king bed mountain view - free with about to expire credit 4 days skiing - free with Epic RT Jet Blue flights for 2 (bringing my non skiing GF) including fee to check skis - $168 (after using about to expire credit) RT shuttle DIA to Vail for 2 - $258 Total = $426 + parking at JFK for 5 day CO vaca for 2

For sure. Only reason I brought it up was the comparison to Vail day ticket pricing - as Vail is absurd for day tix but completely reasonable for a pass. Not trying to change anyone's mind. For me super nice that my kids have gotten to love skiing bigger mountains and making regular weekend plus trips to do it. Amazing having an activity that brings us so much quality time together in their teen years.

Also not far off what I paid for a pass to all Vail mts this year though

Blue Knob announced $599 passes too. Seems like the popular # for PA

Got shot 1 today and booked to ski Vail April 6-8 (after shot 2) using flight and hotel credits from cancelled trip last year that are about to expire. Basically a free trip other than parking at JFK, ground transport from DIA, and $60 to check skis and boots r/t.

Reserved Roundtop for Sat as forecast shows rain ending by ~ 1130 AM there. Ski some slush in the PM.