season pass for $179?
October 8, 2004
let me get this straight. i could buy a season pass for arapahoe basin in colorado (already blowing snow!) for $179, or i could buy one for whitetail for $639? can someone explain the rationale behind this pricing?
it seems to me that whitetail has plenty of competition. perhaps if they tried lowering their rates they could gain some advantage over their competitors.
Supply and demand. If people will pay it, they'll sell it. Besides... who is their competition? Liberty? Roundtop? Those are the same owners. That leaves Bryce and Massanutten locally, and I'd say there's only a limited audience who can get to Bryce, Massanutten, or Whitetail in two hours or less. So who is their competition?
All that said, yes, I agree, 600 + to ski Whitetail is stupid. The Advantage Card is still the best bet for local ski hills.
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let me get this straight. i could buy a season pass for arapahoe basin in colorado (already blowing snow!) for $179, or i could buy one for whitetail for $639? can someone explain the rationale behind this pricing?
Not sure how to explain the whole thing... Arapahoe basin natural snow are free while Whitetail manmade snow will cost ya lots of $$$. j / k (bad joke, I know)
Ski pass calculous is based on the proximity of a resort to a major population center and the nearby competition. To put it another way, how many skier days could a DC metro resident hope to bag at A-Basin compared to Whitetail?
A better comparison would be the cost of a season pass at 7 Springs or Timberline vs. Whitetail. I paid $250 for a season pass I bought for Timberline in May (early bird special). If I am lucky, I'll probably get 13 days of skiing out that pass--that works out to be about $19 per day (about the price of a dinner out in DC). That's a good value, but it should be mentioned that unlike WT, T-line is not a day trip. One must spend the night there to ski it and that adds cost to the equation, and that is one reason why the pass at WT is more $. WT and its sister resorts are probably the best bang for the buck when it comes to day tripping in this area.
Before you buy a pass, you need to realistically calculate how many days you intend to ski. My colleague at work buys an advantage card because he will not be skiing WT enough to justify a full pass, but he will ski it enough to justify purchasing the A-card.
I expect where and how much you ski plays very much into the equation. We buy season passes to Snowshoe at the spring rate which is fully paid for by the 6th day of skiing. Since we do 3-4 long weekends to SS every season we come out ahead. We get the SnowTime Advantage card for those weekends we don't have time to drive to SS and that saves us a few bucks. We also have Peaks cards for Vail/Breck/etc and Heavenly (our favorite); these are good year after year, you just load them up as necessary. Then there are the discounted passes that Ski Chalet offers for Snowshoe, Wisp, 7 Springs and the like.
Frankly I don't see why anyone in the DC area should pay full lift prices. The offers are out there ... go get 'em!
johnfmh,
My Timberline season pass was 299.00 in May. Do they offer an additional discount to property owners?
It's beginning to feel a lot like WINTER!
Jimmy
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johnfmh,
My Timberline season pass was 299.00 in May. Do they offer an additional discount to property owners?
It's beginning to feel a lot like WINTER!
Jimmy
Sorry Jimmy. I re-checked my records and you are right--the pass was $299. That still comes out to $23 a visit if I can squeeze in 13 days. The Early Bird pass offered in the Spring is the cheapest pass--cheaper than the one offered to property owners in the Fall.
PS You pay for this pass after 6.9 weekend and holiday visits.
PPS It's 37 degrees right now at Timberline. Keep smiling.
John, I think they were 250.00 last year. This is my 1st season pass there. See you on the 9th?
Jimmy
Every year I go out to Keystone Resort in Breckenridge. Right down the street from A-Basin. The reason it's so checp there is b/c they are trying to lure in alot of locals from Denver and there is alot of competition. Last year when I was at Keystone I talked to some locals that paid less than $200 for a season pass!!!! Get with it NE USA!!! N\And I will most likely buy the advantage card to Whitetail since it is so close now that I moved here. If you want to get together and go shred the mountains hit me up on aim civic2fast2c or
kzot@cox.net
Does anyone know when opening day is for Whitetail? If you have the closing date u are just as cool!
Whitetatil usually opens as soon as the weather is cold enough for them to make snow--typically mid to late December, but sometimes earlier depending on weather. Whitetail has the snowmaking capability to blow a lot of snow very quickly so when the cold weather does hit, they tend to open terrain very rapidly. They pull out all the stops.
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Ski pass calculous is based on the proximity of a resort to a major population center and the nearby competition. To put it another way, how many skier days could a DC metro resident hope to bag at A-Basin compared to Whitetail?
it seems to me that a better comparison would be how far each is from the nearest major population center. a-basin is 70 miles from denver. whitetail is about the same distance from the DC burbs.
doesnt anyone think that whitetail could create more customers, and more loyal customers, by offering a seriously discounted season pass? perhaps even for midweek only? resorts in colorado and idaho (bogus basin?) have had some success doing this, from what i have read.
