The Ski Area That Broke the $300/Day Lift Ticket Barrier

[KingsFourMan]

is Not One You’d Expect

https://www.skimag.com/news/arizona-res ... ket-in-us/

[ski]

is Not One You’d Expect

https://www.skimag.com/news/arizona-res ... ket-in-us/

Shame on them. Dynamic pricing at a small ski area is a really shltty thing to do.

[jimmywilson69]

besides it sort of sucking on every level, that's a strange place for this to have happened first. Considering That Aspen, Vail, JacksonHole haven't hit it YET...

[easyrider16]

I don't really see the issue with this. If the resort is already crowded on a powder day, and people are willing to pay it, it seems like the free market at work. For people who cry about not being able to afford it, all you had to do was buy a season pass or buy in advance. Passes are about $1k, and advanced tickets are as low as $38. People who buy in advance or buy passes get a discount because they help support the mountain when conditions aren't so favorable, but those who choose to come only when conditions are best pay a premium. Seems fair to me.

Looking at Killington the last two Saturdays, I wonder at what point the resort is going to get sued for creating dangerous conditions. All of the trouble intersections were downright scary with the crowds they allowed on the hill, and these weren't even real powder days. Something like this could help control those crowds without killing revenue.

[SkiDork]

Tyrolean's very last ski day was at Snowbowl.

[SPORE]

I don't really see the issue with this. If the resort is already crowded on a powder day, and people are willing to pay it, it seems like the free market at work. For people who cry about not being able to afford it, all you had to do was buy a season pass or buy in advance. Passes are about $1k, and advanced tickets are as low as $38. People who buy in advance or buy passes get a discount because they help support the mountain when conditions aren't so favorable, but those who choose to come only when conditions are best pay a premium. Seems fair to me.

Looking at Killington the last two Saturdays, I wonder at what point the resort is going to get sued for creating dangerous conditions. All of the trouble intersections were downright scary with the crowds they allowed on the hill, and these weren't even real powder days. Something like this could help control those crowds without killing revenue.

All thanks to the IKON Pass.

[PinnacleJim]

Rumors are that our POWDR sibling Copper was charging $249 on that MLK Saturday. Copper has been slammed with crowds this season. Conjecture is that the crowds at the Epic resorts in Colorado last year resulted in people switching from Epic to Ikon.

[Captain Hafski]

Rumors are that our POWDR sibling Copper was charging $249 on that MLK Saturday. Copper has been slammed with crowds this season. Conjecture is that the crowds at the Epic resorts in Colorado last year resulted in people switching from Epic to Ikon.

Yep - That's what I've been thinking. And have talked to some folks on lifts that made the switch this year [for one reason or another].

And, no doubt in my mind that the record weekend crowds are Ikon day trippers. Heard from someone at K that they've been surprised by the numbers.

[BoozeTan]

Ikon passholders should have to make a reservation to ski/ride killington. Its sh*t that we pay $1000+ for a pass and have to deal with this nonsense. Other mountains are making Ikon holdes make a reservation, Killington should as well. There should be a set number of Ikon passes allowed on the mountain on weekends.

[KingsFourMan]

Rumors are that our POWDR sibling Copper was charging $249 on that MLK Saturday. Copper has been slammed with crowds this season. Conjecture is that the crowds at the Epic resorts in Colorado last year resulted in people switching from Epic to Ikon.

Our oldest daughter who lives in Colorado switched from the Epic pass to the Ikon pass this year for that reason. Regardless, traffic has gotten so bad on I-70 that if you are going up for a day trip on a Saturday, you better be heading out of Denver by 5:30am or you are in stop and go, bumper to bumper traffic all the way to Dillon. She lives in Ft Collins, an hour north of Denver so she has to leave there at 4:30am. She left at 7:00am a couple of weeks ago on a Saturday and didn't get to Winter Park until noon, 5 hours later. And then it took another hour to get from the parking lot to the mountain on the shuttle because the shuttles were so crowded. Colorado, at least the front range of Colorado, is completely and totally overrun now. I went to college there in the mid 80's and its unrecognizable now. Winter Park used to be our go to mountain back then and it was always a 2 hour drive no matter what time we left. We never even thought about traffic.

[Finn]

A solution for Epic and Ikon pass holders is to make reservation on Saturday if they want to ski or ride.
Sadly my ski days are Saturday and Sunday as I work M-F.
The last 2 Saturdays were over crowded. During COVID you had to have a parking reservation and that worked fine for me, as it cut down on over crowding.

I am happy that the K is making money but the slopes were over crowded with many people skiing or riding above their ability and causing interactions with others as they were above their ski set.

In AZ the Snow bowl charged what they felt the market would bear to cut down on crowding. Many retirees live in AZ and aren’t rich. I live skiing but that’s too much to ski down a Holland take a lift back up.
Cheers to those that are pricing out the sport we all love.

[easyrider16]

This is the strategy for ski areas that have cheap passes: bring a bunch of people to the hill and sell them beer, food, and lodging. Crowded slopes are not something Killington is going to care much about until it hurts their bottom line somehow, and right now it's helping their bottom line.

Also, $1,000 is not a lot of money for a season pass. Go back six or seven years ago and K passes were over $1400. K has to make up for 40% in lost revenue somehow, and they are doing it by selling more passes for less money, and selling those who show up expensive concessions.

[Captain Hafski]

This is the strategy for ski areas that have cheap passes: bring a bunch of people to the hill and sell them beer, food, and lodging. Crowded slopes are not something Killington is going to care much about until it hurts their bottom line somehow, and right now it's helping their bottom line.

Also, $1,000 is not a lot of money for a season pass. Go back six or seven years ago and K passes were over $1400. K has to make up for 40% in lost revenue somehow, and they are doing it by selling more passes for less money, and selling those who show up expensive concessions.

Actually, it was well before then. Almost 30 years ago, a Killington full season pass, at the "buy it early" rate, was $1,350.

6 or seven years ago, if you bought it early, it was much cheaper.

Butt, your point about $1,000 not a lot of money for a season pass is spot on.

[Finn]

When you buy your pass in the spring for next season your letting the ski area use your money for free!