Skison 20/21?

[toast21602]

wow I guess this is all a hoax. 

[RidgeRacer]

Much as I would like to go out west with the air travel credits, hotel credit and Epic Pass I have - which would make it a close to free trip - I have yet to convince myself it makes sense to take on the risk of catching Covid via air travel for the greater joy of Western skiing.

If I was ~20 and single like Salty it would be easier to decide to take that risk than being at higher risk (as a 55 yo man) and having 2 13yo girls I would risk leaving fatherless. 

May view things differently as things unfold and we get more data about risks of air travel - but that is where I am today. Hoping VT quarantine relaxes enough to allow me to go there and otherwise doing NH, NY and PA.

Flew out west last week (4 flights if you count layovers). Everyone is wearing a mask, people are social distanced and the planes seem clean...(can't speak for frontier). Although the airports were pretty packed.

 

I'm 99.9% sure that I'm staying east this skison. Just not feeling up to air travel again. A trip or two up north are likely. The allure of getting in my car and driving 6 hours to my destination is much more appealing to me this season than a 12 or 13 hour travel day, dealing with lines, TSA, shuttle busses, etc.

 

[saltyant]

2 hours ago, RidgeRacer said:

I'm 99.9% sure that I'm staying east this skison. Just not feeling up to air travel again. A trip or two up north are likely. The allure of getting in my car and driving 6 hours to my destination is much more appealing to me this season than a 12 or 13 hour travel day, dealing with lines, TSA, shuttle busses, etc.

If this winter's any good I might go to Jay Peak and save Utah for another year.  But if this winter sucks like last years, Utah it is!

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

8 hours ago, saltyant said:

If this winter's any good I might go to Jay Peak and save Utah for another year.  But if this winter sucks like last years, Utah it is!

Do both. 

[RidgeRacer]

8 hours ago, saltyant said:

If this winter's any good I might go to Jay Peak and save Utah for another year.  But if this winter sucks like last years, Utah it is!

If you're looking at Jay Peak I don't think is ever "sucks"from a snowfall perspective. 

[JFskiDan]

7 minutes ago, RidgeRacer said:

If you're looking at Jay Peak I don't think is ever "sucks"from a snowfall perspective. 

Hell no.  Jay gets a shit load of snow.  

[trackbiker]

13 minutes ago, RidgeRacer said:

If you're looking at Jay Peak I don't think is ever "sucks"from a snowfall perspective. 

Jay should be relatively empty this season as many of their customers are Canadian and they likely won't be coming to the U.S. to ski. If you get to Jay definitely check out Burke.

[RidgeRacer]

Jay should be relatively empty this season as many of their customers are Canadian and they likely won't be coming to the U.S. to ski. If you get to Jay definitely check out Burke.

He only likes skiing one mountain on ski trips.

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

7 minutes ago, RidgeRacer said:

He only likes skiing one mountain on ski trips.

Correct 

[Schif]

I'll likely wind up out west this year. I need to use up my airline credits from my cancelled Colorado trip in the spring. Risk and Reward I guess. 

[saltyant]

41 minutes ago, trackbiker said:

Jay should be relatively empty this season as many of their customers are Canadian and they likely won't be coming to the U.S. to ski.

Wow, that sounds like my kind of place! Also I read online that they wont be implementing a reservation system.

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

5 minutes ago, saltyant said:

Wow, that sounds like my kind of place! Also I read online that they wont be implementing a reservation system.

They have poutine at jay peak and hard lemonade imported from Canada.  Maybe you can visit @Ride Delaware ? at sugarbush or @moe ghoul at smugglers notch.  

[Justo8484]

On 9/19/2020 at 6:24 PM, saltyant said:

Thanks @Justo8484. Maybe I'll go to Snowbasin. I'm fine with anywhere but long steep groomers sounds like my kind of mountain.  I'd like some variety of restaurants nearby since I'd rather not rent a car if possible.

if you're trying to avoid renting a car then powder/basin are not gonna be the easiest to do, logistically. you can technically take public transit to get to eden from SLC airport, but it would turn a 7-8 hour travel day into a 10+ hour day pretty quickly. You'd be going full multi-modal with a train to ogden then a transfer to a bus to get you up to eden. There's a free/cheap bus to powder from town every morning, and probably a paid shuttle to basin, but your food options are gonna be extremely limited without a car. for car-free skiing, you can't beat PC/deer valley. i've stayed in town in PC a few times and it's awesome, i just wish the skiing was a bit more like alta/snowbird/snowbasin. PC and DV have no shortage of awesome groomers with some pretty easy access to tree skiing if that interests you at all. not sure how much the PC downtown scene should really be a factor this winter, honestly. I'd be pretty ok posting up in a condo near powder mtn and just making breakfast/dinner every day given the current circumstances.

[RidgeRacer]

Discount cards may be few and far between this season but for anyone looking at multiple days at Killington / Pico these are available...

[JFskiDan]

I know its done alot, but buying a card, to be able to purchase discount lift tickets makes no sense to me. 

[RidgeRacer]

I know its done alot, but buying a card, to be able to purchase discount lift tickets makes no sense to me. 

Agreed on this one in that you don't get a free pass until your 7th visit. The ORDA frequent skier card gives you your 1st and 6th visit free with 50% or 25 % off in between. definitely more value in purchasing one of those. They're usually out by now but nothing yet...

[Schif]

1 hour ago, JFskiDan said:

I know its done alot, but buying a card, to be able to purchase discount lift tickets makes no sense to me. 

I am curious as to who makes money on this kind of thing and how. 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

2 hours ago, JFskiDan said:

I know its done alot, but buying a card, to be able to purchase discount lift tickets makes no sense to me. 

I was thinking that as well..like the killington deal unless you are skiing a bunch of weekdays it’s not worth it and if you are might be better off just getting a season pass.  For weekends when most ski you essentially pay for a one day lift ticket for the discount card and then it takes your first four visits to save the price of a lift ticket.  

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

1 hour ago, Schif said:

I am curious as to who makes money on this kind of thing and how. 

It’s additional upfront cash flow for the ski resorts.  

[Schif]

1 minute ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

It’s additional upfront cash flow for the ski resorts.  

That's if it's sold by the resort, are some of these third party card issuers? 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

4 minutes ago, Schif said:

That's if it's sold by the resort, are some of these third party card issuers? 

I believe they just gave some sort of an agreement where the funds are divided in a certain way amoung the resorts with the third party issuer receiving some sort of vig. 

Edited September 22, 2020 by GrilledSteezeSandwich

[Barb]

Abasin officially started making snow last night.

[eaf]

So we couldn't resist and went to the Big Snow last Monday night.

Some pretty stressful driving during rush our, then looking for a place to park and even a way to get to the right place in that Big Ghost Town, but when we finally got to the slopes... Big smiles! It's white, it's cold, it's pretty laid back, and it looks steeper than in the pictures!

No lines, not many people, 90% boarders. Luckily half of them go straight for the terrain park, which is thoughtfully separated from the main slope. It's a little steeper on top, I guess to allow to get up to speed faster, and is gradually leveling off while you're reaching the bottom. Takes about 25 seconds to go down and 3.5 minutes to go up. The session is 2 hours long, but on a Monday night nobody seemed to care, so we spent a little more.

Before you get in, they'll take your temperature and then make you wait for your time slot outside. Once you're in, you get a bracelet, which is used both to lock/unlock their hi-tech lockers and to get access to the slopes. It's a little tighter in the lockers area than I'd like to see these days, and if you bring your own equipment there seems to be no good place to put it to other than to drop it on the floor, and then it gets in the way of others. Changing rooms are a plenty, and they come handy when it's shorts weather outside and 28F inside.

Overall impression is very positive. Snow's great, nice touch with snow-covered trees, feels like you've jumped forward to Xmas time except there are no crowds and no rush. Snacks are waaaay overpriced though, so bring your own. Oh, and there are restrooms there, so previous references to piss & park are puzzling.

[AtomicSkier]

These just showed up ... ready for some adventures.

[toast21602]

Ideal for icy skin tracks? Sounds perfect for skinning up Blue.