Skison 20/21?

[Ski2Live Live2Ski]

6 minutes ago, saltyant said:

I hadn't considered this regarding an Epic pass. Say I buy one (assuming it's released prior) for my March 1 trip to Utah. I wonder if I can use it this season and next? I might get some Epic savings

When we first got ours in March 2019 for 19-20 we were able to use it right away. I got 3 uses in March 2019, the first one being March 17. It was a nice change as we had 1 mountain passes (Blue) that season. 

Edited January 26, 2021 by Ski2Live Live2Ski

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

7 minutes ago, saltyant said:

I hadn't considered this regarding an Epic pass. Say I buy one (assuming it's released prior) for my March 1 trip to Utah. I wonder if I can use it this season and next? I might get some Epic savings

I think it depends on the resort. 

[toast21602]

8 minutes ago, saltyant said:

I hadn't considered this regarding an Epic pass. Say I buy one (assuming it's released prior) for my March 1 trip to Utah. I wonder if I can use it this season and next? I might get some Epic savings

Not all places allow it. 

[JFskiDan]

33 minutes ago, toast21602 said:

I would be surprised if Blue posts something about passes already. They seem to be doing quite well and probably don't want to pass up on getting $109 pp so quickly this season.

i would agree with this.  It makes perfect sense, in a year that makes no sense.  I am kind of curious as to how much for next year though.  

[Ski2Live Live2Ski]

It was surprising last year that Blue let people get passes ahead of President's Day. Makes more sense after that chunk of change is banked. 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

1 hour ago, JFskiDan said:

i would agree with this.  It makes perfect sense, in a year that makes no sense.  I am kind of curious as to how much for next year though.  

I think it will be $499 or less for the early bird.  I’d rather they charge a little more..I think they are leaving money on the table. 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

1 hour ago, Ski2Live Live2Ski said:

It was surprising last year that Blue let people get passes ahead of President's Day. Makes more sense after that chunk of change is banked. 

What date last year did Blue passes go on sale?  I definitely don’t remember before Presidents’ Day. Might need to go into the archives. 

[Ski2Live Live2Ski]

9 minutes ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

What date last year did Blue passes go on sale?  I definitely don’t remember before Presidents’ Day. Might need to go into the archives. 

I believe they were announced Feb 2 and on sale Feb 10

[theprogram4]

A few years ago we were all happily paying $600+ for a blue pass

[Benm]

Just now, theprogram4 said:

A few years ago we were all happily paying $600+ for a blue pass

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Just now, theprogram4 said:

A few years ago we were all happily paying $600+ for a blue pass

Early bird used to be before 11/15 then they made it in the spring time.  $600 sounds about what they should charge.  They’d generate more revenue that way although they did do away with the midweek pass and discounts for kids or multiple family members. They went with the KISS strategy,”keep it simple stupid” 

[Benm]

19 minutes ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

 I’d rather they charge a little more..

 

2 minutes ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

 $600 sounds about what they should charge.

 

 

its a fuckin hill in palmerton that somehow has the highest vert in PA. dude said today it's been obscene with how many visitors they've gotten this year. current model seems to be working out just fine. stop.

[toast21602]

I don’t recall paying more than $600

[Ski2Live Live2Ski]

I'd say Peak and then Epic pass pricing has driven down what Blue can charge as - apart from folks who live within ~an hour of Blue - they need to offer a price that is attractive compared to the price of a pass that includes NY and VT options in addition to a PA option (Western options less relevant since Covid has folks reluctant to fly).

If I were Blue, I would wait to see Epic price point (and Ikon's if they add a PA option) before setting their price - which needs to be at least $200 less to be attractive.

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

2 minutes ago, Benm said:

 

 

 

its a fuckin hill in palmerton that somehow has the highest vert in PA. dude said today it's been obscene with how many visitors they've gotten this year. current model seems to be working out just fine. stop.

If they are getting a ton of people at current pricing, they aren’t charging enough.  

[Schif]

8 minutes ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

If they are getting a ton of people at current pricing, they aren’t charging enough.  

This is short term though. Once people can go back to movie theaters and bowing alleys or wherever the majority of people go during the winter the novelty will be gone. I've said it before but this is just a reaction to not having other options and a desire to get the hell out of the house for many people. I don't know what the retention rate is for new skiers to become lifetime skiers but it has to be low and the conversion rate from first timers or occasional skiers to season passholders is probably even lower. 

I would guess the move would be to keep passes at or just above current prices and advertise the hell out of them at the end of this season. Hopefully they can snag a few people who think that it's a great deal. An ideal situation for Blue would be to sell a decent number of low cost enticing passes to New Yorkers or Philadelphians who think it's a great deal and then it sits in their drawer next year either unused or barely used. 

Another thing I just thought of that could possibly explain my theory that this is all people who don't care what kind of recreation they do at this point is that we aren't laughing at the nonsense that day trippers typically post on Facebook. Seemingly fewer complaints from people means that they are just happy to be there regardless of what happens. 

Edited January 26, 2021 by Schif

[Justo8484]

3 minutes ago, Ski2Live Live2Ski said:

I'd say Peak and then Epic pass pricing has driven down what Blue can charge as - apart from folks who live within ~an hour of Blue - they need to offer a price that is attractive compared to the price of a pass that includes NY and VT options in addition to a PA option (Western options less relevant since Covid has folks reluctant to fly).

If I were Blue, I would wait to see Epic price point (and Ikon's if they add a PA option) before setting their price - which needs to be at least $200 less to be attractive.

While I'd normally agree with this, I'm not sure what a "normal" ski season looks like anymore. For passholders at blue, and most PASR members in particular, aside from slightly longer midweek lift lines and not packing chairs, it's been a pretty normal season. The weather in PA is still finicky, everyone still parks in their normal spots, boots up at their cars, and have some beers in the lot after skiing for a few hours in the morning. 

The wildcard is Epic's reservation system. Does that continue for next year? Epic is definitely appealing because as others have said, there's locations outside of PA that are day-tripable, and even more that are relatively easy weekend trips. Having to reserve days makes it much harder to storm chase, though, which is realistically what interests me most about a multi-mountain pass that's good multiple places in NY/New England.

Until the kid is skiing full days and wants to be there, blue is gonna be easiest for me due to proximity to babysitting, so I'm all but locked in there regardless of price. I'm very curious to see what prices end up being for various different options. In a super weird year, blue's done well for their loyal season pass customers while we all hear the endless complaints about vail properties and the epic shitshow associated with some of them, so that's gotta count for something.

[saltyant]

Correct, I cant really come up with much to complain about Blue this season except their crappy grooming sometimes which is par for the course there. They've been very good to us loyal season passholders by not requiring silly reservations or anything, and they did a really grate job getting the trails open quickly. That's my Boy Blue!!

[Ski2Live Live2Ski]

Vail has said plan for next year is no reservations.

For all the complaints about the reservation system, I have gotten 15 days at Epic hills in so far - all on weekends and holidays - everyone at the hill I most wanted to ski on that day. And with the rebate they gave me due to last year's shortened season, that come out to only $40/day if the season ended today. 

I have also generally been able to switch resorts with no issue a few days in advance, at times with some persistence required. Just yesterday I noticed that the forecast for Sunday at Hunter is for a high of 3 and a low of neg 10 at summit (a balmy neg 7 at base) so I changed my reservation to Roundtop for Sat. Really the only complaint I have had so far is with the length of lines at Jack Frost 16 days ago when they had the East mountain still closed. But I have faced way worse lines at Blue (though lines are more worth it for runs twice as long).

Edited January 26, 2021 by Ski2Live Live2Ski

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

@saltyant you’d like this.  The author skied four NY ski areas in four days.  

 

https://nyskiblog.com/a-new-york-ski-journey/

[saltyant]

2 hours ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

@saltyant you’d like this.  The author skied four NY ski areas in four days 

TFTI. I was surprised to read somewhere there are 43 ski resorts in NY but the only ones I've heard of (without doing a google search) are Whiteface, Gore, Hunter, Windham, Platekill, Belleayre and Greek Peak.

Edited January 26, 2021 by saltyant

[Ski2Live Live2Ski]

Never heard of Catamount?

[saltyant]

2 minutes ago, Ski2Live Live2Ski said:

Never heard of Catamount?

I have now! I think you mentioned it recently but I'd never heard of it before 🤷‍♂️

Edited January 27, 2021 by saltyant

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

Salty when I was a kid I had the white book of ski areas which featured hundreds of ski resorts.  I also read every book on skiing at the library.  

[Ski2Live Live2Ski]

5 minutes ago, saltyant said:

I have now!

IMO it is the only NY ski mountain worth considering if you are coming from E.PA/NJ/NYC other than the ones you list, as any of the others are considerably further from us than considerably larger mountains. 

Also one of the best in MA - part of it is in New England 

Edited January 27, 2021 by Ski2Live Live2Ski