This is in line with comments we made recently in another thread. There are a lot of good things about how passes work now. If you live near one of the resorts, then it's pretty good, You can ski your local hill often, but then also get in some bigger trips to many different places, and that didn't use to be the case. However, if you don't live near a resort, it can shut you out. It can be pretty hard to get your money's worth. I live near Wintergreen and Massanutten, and I would like to ski there very often, but then also go to some other big places. So, for me, prices are really inflated to do that, way worse than it used to be. It kind of means I need two passes, or I'm driving a lot. Losing the ability to buy a day ticket at a reasonable price really cuts down on options.
Another problem is trying to meet up with friends. When some friends are on Epic and some friends on Ikon, you can't all meet up. So, this new system is great in some ways for some people, but terrible for others.
This year, despite my best efforts, I only got in 9 days of skiing. I think this means that I don't need unlimited local access, so I'm on the waitlist for the Indy pass next year. It will be fun to check out lots of new places, but it will also suck that it basically means I won't go to any Epic or Ikon resorts next year no matter who has the best moguls.
The honest truth is that the inflated ticket prices have made things worse for me. There are still some places out there with better ticket prices, but those prices have gone up too and have been able to go up, because of the huge prices charged by all the major resorts.
There are so many ways to avoid paying the walk up rate.
For example, Massanutten offered four packs back in early December for 225 and they were valid any day except over the Christmas New Year’s holiday. So you’re skiing on a weekend for about $56. Most independent resorts have specials if you’re willing to buy early or do your homework.
And Massanutten’s full season pass is 540 and that includes four buddy tickets. That is another good deal.
in the early 1990s Massanutten‘s walk up rate was about $40 on holidays and weekends. The walk up rate is about 100 today. Skiing is much more affordable today because of the reduced season pass prices and the infrastructure and snowmaking is significantly better.
And there are so many alternatives to epic and ikon in most areas.
If you get the Indy pass, you get wintergreen Massanutten Bryce blue knob Canaan Valley And wisp. And that’s 12 days for 399.
The only change is the resorts have decided they’re not going to take all the risk regarding revenue. And generating revenue in the late spring allows them to make it through the summer and into next season.
Yeah, that's the position I've been settling on, avoid Epic and Ikon. A lot of people have been settling on that, because Epic sales have been down. I used to judge places based on the stats, acres and vertical, but now I see a lot more value in the small places. Also, since I've skied most of the big places, I'm now interested in checking out more of the small ones.
A lot of people talk about the risk of buying ahead of time in regards to who gets the snow, but I see the biggest risk in terms of where there are policy changes related to moguls (locally).
If I lived between Whitetail and Liberty, I think the Epic pass would be a great deal. Those two places as my daily driver, with an occasional local run out to Laurel and Seven Springs, and then lots of trips out West, it would be perfect. So, for big chunks of our DC population, it's pretty good. If Massanutten was on Epic, I'd consider it a good deal for me too. Instead, I bought the Indy pass for next year. That's a pretty amazing deal. I ruled it out last year, because in my mind's eye I want to go to the one place that has moguls and ski there 30 times in a year. In reality, 6 is max I can do, and next year I'm willing to ski at places even if they don't have moguls.
teleman wrote:
There are so many ways to avoid paying the walk up rate.
For example, Massanutten offered four packs back in early December for 225 and they were valid any day except over the Christmas New Year’s holiday. So you’re skiing on a weekend for about $56. Most independent resorts have specials if you’re willing to buy early or do your homework.
And Massanutten’s full season pass is 540 and that includes four buddy tickets. That is another good deal.
in the early 1990s Massanutten‘s walk up rate was about $40 on holidays and weekends. Skiing is much more affordable today because of the reduced season pass prices and the infrastructure and snowmaking is significantly better.
And there are so many alternatives to epic and ikon in most areas.
If you get the Indy pass, you get wintergreen Massanutten Bryce blue knob Canaan Valley And wisp. And that’s 12 days for 399.
I also made a conscious choice to opt out of the Epic & Ikon ecosystems ... all of our local resorts under the Indy Pass put in great efforts for snowmaking + grooming (save for Blue Knob -- can't figure out WTF is going on there with snowmaking), and subjectively just have better all-around vibes than the Epic mountains in PA. Haven't missed going to Liberty or Whitetail and being disappointed as I was many times in the 2023/24 2024/25 seasons. And Timberline is always worth shelling out $$$ for!
Stephen wrote:
Yeah, that's the position I've been settling on, avoid Epic and Ikon. A lot of people have been settling on that, because Epic sales have been down. I used to judge places based on the stats, acres and vertical, but now I see a lot more value in the small places. Also, since I've skied most of the big places, I'm now interested in checking out more of the small ones.
A lot of people talk about the risk of buying ahead of time in regards to who gets the snow, but I see the biggest risk in terms of where there are policy changes related to moguls (locally).
If I lived between Whitetail and Liberty, I think the Epic pass would be a great deal. Those two places as my daily driver, with an occasional local run out to Laurel and Seven Springs, and then lots of trips out West, it would be perfect. So, for big chunks of our DC population, it's pretty good. If Massanutten was on Epic, I'd consider it a good deal for me too. Instead, I bought the Indy pass for next year. That's a pretty amazing deal. I ruled it out last year, because in my mind's eye I want to go to the one place that has moguls and ski there 30 times in a year. In reality, 6 is max I can do, and next year I'm willing to ski at places even if they don't have moguls.
teleman wrote:
There are so many ways to avoid paying the walk up rate.
For example, Massanutten offered four packs back in early December for 225 and they were valid any day except over the Christmas New Year’s holiday. So you’re skiing on a weekend for about $56. Most independent resorts have specials if you’re willing to buy early or do your homework.
And Massanutten’s full season pass is 540 and that includes four buddy tickets. That is another good deal.
in the early 1990s Massanutten‘s walk up rate was about $40 on holidays and weekends. Skiing is much more affordable today because of the reduced season pass prices and the infrastructure and snowmaking is significantly better.
And there are so many alternatives to epic and ikon in most areas.
If you get the Indy pass, you get wintergreen Massanutten Bryce blue knob Canaan Valley And wisp. And that’s 12 days for 399.
That is a good season.
wgo wrote:
For this past season I went with the Ikon Base and a Massanutten pass. For that expense I skied:
5 days at Snowbird
3 days at Killington
1 day at Sugarbush
1 day at Snowshoe
10 days at Massanutten
Per day price for the above worked out to about $72 per day. I also had individual days at Alta, Montage, and Laurel for which I bought tickets online ahead of time. Including these increased my per day cost to about $77 per day.
