SO imagine you are a very casual skier.  Say, once/twice a year with the fam.  You can't afford to drive up there, rent equip, pay for lift tickets, the meals etc more than a couple of times a year and/or it's just so much of a hassle that it isnt worth it.

A significant number of people know that they can go online to buy their tickets, especially through covid.  But alot of people dont.  

If you are a person that isnt aware of window vs online pricing, and you just walk up to the window it's going to be $104 this Thanksgiving weekend.

If you go online....this is where the head scratching for many will begin.   Alot of people know the Super 7 pass but the casual skier may have heard about it and didnt dig into it more or wants nothing to do with that level of commitment.  Prior, 7S did a good job at explaining how to get a pass for cheap after the vail purchase - then the site changed and that went away.

Go online to 7S website and pick winter lift tickets, the first thing you see is an entry field to select a date. If you scroll down a bit you'll see a comparison between a 1 day epic pass and 1 day window price.  $58 vs $104.  This is where most will be confused. 

If you click on the 'learn more' under the window rate, all the page does is refresh.

If you click on 'learn more' under the Epic 1 day $58 pass, it takes you to their long list of pass options (epic, epic local, 1-8 day pass etc).  It does not take you direct to the 1-8 day pass selection.

If you want to know prices for toddlers, military, speciality passes - gotta read the faqs and call somewhere.  SMH.

When did buying a ski pass become something you had to research like buying a car?

However is this intentional?  Think about it.  Your buddies head up, pay $104 for their pass.  You roll up to the goggle, show them you 1 day pass with your picture on it and tell them 1. you didnt have to wait in line at the ticket office 2. you only paid $58!
BROOOOO I could have gone two times for what I spent.  I didnt know you could do that!?  Im checking that out now, and you can use it on any date!?  Hell yeah Im going to get ...Mmm Im going to commit to 4 days then.  (but they only go 1-2 times a year normally)

Oh and to add to all of this if you dont select either the window price or epic 1 day pass, if you pick the date and select for this Saturday (day after black friday), the price is $99.  

I can see people jumping back and forth, multiple visits, trying to understand the pricing.

^you'd think this would cause people to turn away, but I think it will lead to jam packed slopes - zero parking. I do not look forward to dropping the family off at the bottom of the hotel, having to park all the way back toward the entrance which is what likely will occur.  I can foresee me doing alot more night skiing this year with the family.

I don't know that it's ambiguous.  I used the day pass last year for Okemo and found it pretty easy to use. 

All 6 of our local resorts had it right at the top of the web page about getting tickets for as low as $40. It was pretty hard to miss, and I don't think it took much to figure it out.  I told some friends about it and they bought their day passes since they didn't want to pay the season pass price.

I mean, they STILL have it at the top of their web pages at a higher price (went up by a whole buck lol). 7 days is only up $12 total from the low of $266. Clicking thru, it takes you right to the day pass, gives you the options for restrictions and resorts, and tells you what resorts you get for your money. It's pretty simple I think.

Abbey also had posted videos on both HV's and 7S's sites about the day passes and answered common questions about them.

I can see the discounted prices for military, first responders, etc, being a bit ambiguous. Last year, before the pass, you had to show ID at the ticket window and you got a 25% discount. Reservations weren't required either.

I dunno. I think if anyone spends a little bit on the site can figure out that there are ways to get discounts. I always poked around on other resorts' sites and found how to get the best prices. There will always be the people that don't look, so they aren't rewarded with the discount.

It's a pretty good deal overall, even getting NH with it at below LM prices. Last time I paid anything remotely close to these prices at 7S was in the late 90s.

Keep in mind the epic day lift passes will go off sale in early December, before most casual skiers will be thinking about hitting the snow. At this point the only thing available will be the one day.

I’m sure there is a certain percentage of epic day passes that they know will never get used as well.

edit: last day to buy those passes is December 4

There is certainly a learning curve when VR takes over a new ski resort, especially one that was locally owned and operated.  Those places are more likely to have local deals or approaches to discounts that aren't necessarily used around the industry.

Fair to say that pricing the Epic passes relatively low and stopping sales in early December is quite deliberate.  The hope is that by the second season, someone who paid window rates would jump to get at least a Epic Day Pass the next season.  However, I get the impression that VR marketing has generally not taken advantage of opportunities to inform newbies in person.  Seem to be much more geared to online marketing.