 Poster: A snowHead
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Hi everyone,
I am planning a trip to Whistler next year and this is the cost of the ski pass right now. I spoke to a Crystal rep who said that seems very expensive and that they do change their prices occasionally. She couldn't remember anything specific, but said that last year, the price jumped up in August, but it had been cheaper in the summer as an incentive to book early.
Anyways, does anyone remember what a normal price is for the pass for both mountains? Any ideas about when's a good time to book? And where did you book it?
If you have done this before and have any other advice, particularly about when to book flights etc, that'd be appreciated.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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That's for a 9 day pass by the way
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Whistler is ridiculously expensive for lift tickets
prices only go up from now! you can buy a season pass for £712 sterling and use it for some places in europe as well (with small print)
https://www.epicpass.com/
Check the dates but you can possibly get a ten day epic local pass with restricted dates for $699 usd
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Ok, I think in that case, I might sack Whistler off in favour of Banff. It'll be £600 cheaper for both of us just on lift passes.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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That's a lot of beer tokens!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Never heard of the epic pass. Sounds amazing...
I only ski in Europe, in resorts that should be covered by it:
4V in CH, EK, Paradiski, 3V in France. Arlberg and the Dolomites.
Usually one week in each of them.
Seems way better than any other offer.
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drporat, Check the small print/ restrictions can apply for Europe.
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If you go to Sunshine Village do look at their Super Card (previously known as the Marmot Card), https://www.skibanff.com/ski-ride/passes/super-card-benefits. With it the 1st, 4th and 7th days' skiing is free and discounts on other days .
This season its price was 133CAD + GST, but at one point in the Autumn (for one day only) was on sale for 80CAD+GST.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Woah that’s steep! That’s why we returned to Banff this year and didn’t try Whistler.
When we booked Banff last May we went through Ski Safari and they had discounts on ski passes if you booked before a certain date- it was quite a good saving- think it was by end of May. You can also get lift passes through them separately ie if book independently or through another TO
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| Quote: |
Ok, I think in that case, I might sack Whistler off in favour of Banff. It'll be £600 cheaper for both of us just on lift passes.
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As said above the epic pass is about £700 and gives you unlimited skiing at whistler. Epic local pass will be even cheaper but you only get 10 days and there are some blackout days. I can't see how it can be that much cheaper to ski Banff? How many days do you need the pass to cover?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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9 days. At Banff the pass is about £400 each.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| Bones wrote: |
| drporat, Check the small print/ restrictions can apply for Europe. |
Yep. 2 days in EK and 2 in Paradiski. Not suitable for my plans Still a good deal for US.
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If you can use the 10 day local pass it works out £540 each, £280 more expensive for the both of you. Still a lot of beer tokens!
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You know it makes sense.
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Depends on when you go, I'll take skiing Whistler over Banff, even for £280 extra. No faffing with buses everyday. Terrain is much more varied, and all the skiing are lift linked.
On the other hand, scenery is much better at Banff. So figure out what you want.
After shelling out flights and lodging cost, do you really want to "save" £280 and NOT get what you want?
Last edited by You know it makes sense. on Sun 7-04-19 3:27; edited 1 time in total
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@bobcat, here in Whistler at the moment, our 7 day pass ( ski 7 days out of 9) cost 707 Canadian dollars, (£404 ), expensive compared to any European pass. The lift system is pretty good ( but not in the same league as , say, Saalbach), however the ski area is undoubtedly one of the best I’ve been to - it is literally epic!
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Poster: A snowHead
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The full Epic pass now includes 7 days skiing in the 3 Valleys, as well as 2 days at Espace Killy and 2 days at Paradiski - as well as unlimited skiing at Whistler, Vail and many other US resorts, limited ski days in other parts of Europe, Japan and Australia - 69 resorts in total)
What a deal for $939! (Currently about £722). 
Those 11 European days alone would cost about £480.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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WASHOUT - Is the local pass both Whistler and Blackcomb or just one? And which website are you using? I'm not finding that skibanff website to be very helpful - can't find 7 or 9 day passes or the local pass.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Both inc the peak to peak which links both hills together from the top, handy for changing hills half way through day. Tbh I don't think you can buy a Whistler or blackcomb only pass.
It's the epic pass website but be aware proces are in us dollars.
https://www.epicpass.com
Last edited by Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see? on Sun 7-04-19 9:45; edited 3 times in total
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@bergmeister don't forget 5 days in 4v (the small print is not bad)!
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Thank you, that's great. It may put Whistler back in the running!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Have a good read through epic website. You only get Europe if you buy the season pass, if you do consider this read the Europe small print ie in arlberg you only get it with certain hotels and they are the expensive ones but 3v very little small print.
When I priced crystal they where flying BA, the return flight is pretty late so you can get a full day skiing before transfer.
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Re: Epic pass in Europe- read carefully the difference between Epic and Epic Local. The Epic Local is still a great pass for North America but doesn’t always have the full European days on offer.
We used our days in Val d’Isere and it was very straightforward at the lift ticket window- I think we got 2 free days from memory.
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Re: The epic pass - I'm looking at skiing Tahoe next year - probably March - but would be doing a week in January in France (3V or paradiski most likely) - reading the small print you need to pick up a photo card in order to obtain your 7 day european ski pass - therefore, skiing for a week in january before going to USA would it still be possible to use an epic pass?
Any ideas please??
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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You upload photo online, they send out the lift pass to a UK address before the season opens. I accidentally left my one at home and they printed out a new one at the ticket office in Whistler in November, I needed my passport though.
A 7 day 3v lift pass this season is €350!!
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@WASHOUT, I had 3 seperate weeks, in 3 different resorts this season in France - wish they did something like that for Europe!
Thank you for info on this - looks like it would be definately worth considering!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@bobcat, the 10 day local pass is only £518 through AmericanSkiClassics - the lower price is probably due to exchange rate fluctuations.
ASC tend to have incredibly good accommodation deals, too. We booked the Fairmont through them last year and, when we tried to use Fairmont's price guarantee to get an even better deal with a direct booking (the official rate was more than double the price of my deal), they refused saying that the rate I had been offered by ASC was implausible and that I was dealing with a fraudulent online operator. I've used ASC many times over the years and I'm happy to report that they aren't fraudulent and their deals really are as good as they seem to be.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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@bobcat, I'm going through a similar process I have been quoted £594 for a 9 day pass, US and Canadian lift passes have in our experience been higher than in Europe, but then the queuing for a lift is far more civilised 
PS. With Ski Independence
Last edited by And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports. on Mon 8-04-19 10:41; edited 1 time in total
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Ahh thanks for the advice you guys, this is so helpful when you're hunting around trying to DIY. Love this forum.
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You know it makes sense.
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I am usually skeptical of package deals, but that ASC looks pretty impressive prices, but pretty sure I will beat them for Fairmont next season!
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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WASHOUT,
I mentioned "limited ski days in other parts of Europe" but didn't fancy listing them all! 
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Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@bobcat, now offered £509 for a 10 day epic local pass, with a diffrent holiday company
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@Dippy, we paid for our Epic passes in September, received an email to register for the passes in November, uploaded our photos, the passes were sent out on 26th December and arrived here around 8th Jan. The admin arrangements are a bit chaotic at Vail resorts, they don't seem to process the cards in any particular order. If you have a particular date in January when you will need the cards, make sure you start the process early and ring them to chivy it all along. It worked for us, but just. We left for Val d'Isere on 10th Jan!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Radar, who is that with?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@bobcat, Ski Safari
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@lynnecha, Thank you - thats very usefull to know! - All noted!
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Anyone know how the process for Epic passes in 3V works this year? Seems VT locations are more limited than before - is that because they need to communicate with some central system to validate your pass?
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@bobcat, If you buy a Whistler pass early you get large discounts.
Key dates are before end of August and before the Season start in Nov. August is more discount.
After that it makes your eyes water.
They only care about Epic Pass now as that is the Vail model - everything is more expensive now Vail have taken over.
Had a great time over there again this year but it is not cheap.
They do have a WB only ticket but more expensive than Epic, once you are skiing more than 7 days. There is a Locals only ticket too but you can't get those without a postal address in BC or Seattle area.
If doing DIY, Alura does apartments and will get the tickets cheaper for you too.
Local newspaper has deals in for next year now. https://issuu.com/whistlerpublishing/docs/piquewebissue2614 look at page 9. $939US unlimited right now.
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FAQ
