 Poster: A snowHead
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Vail Mountain, CO, charged $229 for a day ticket this weekend and Deer Valley, UT will be charging $229 for a day ticket over the 2021 Martin Luther King Jr holiday.
As the article points out there are cheaper options, such as season passes, or multi-resort passes, which often pay for themselves after a handful of uses. However there are occasions when you do have to pay the walk up day rate, and then the prices are (to Europeans anyway) eye watering. For example a couple of years ago I and some friends travelled to the US for a holiday centred on spending 5 days inside Yellowstone in Winter (absolutely magical!) On the way back to Denver the route was going to take us through Steamboat Springs, so we arranged to have a day's skiing there. The walk up price even back then for a day was about $140! In fairness it should be stated that some locally owned ski areas such as Bridger Bowl in Montana were much more reasonable, about $55.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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It's a tax for suckers or the price insensitive. Keep on driving and go hit somewhere more reasonable like Pow Mow or Brighton or for Vail, Ski Cooper or Loveland.
Side benefit is high day tix make the breakeven on season passes look even better hence more people buy them even only for a few days use.
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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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Went to Heavenly/Lake Tahoe three seasons ago and it worked out cheapest to buy a season's pass for me (which included a number of reduced day tickets for my companion) rather than two seven-day passes. There doesn't seem to be much logic to their day ticket or week-long ticket pricing strategy other than to part the customer from as much loot as possible.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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High day ticket prices force people to buy season passes in summer as if it's their annual subscription to ski. Consequently visiting more frequently. When a bid dump is due, punters fly in for the weekend (recall Jackson Hole and Vail queues after last years mega dump).
It's "good business" bringing in money for the resort and local businesses but awful for the consumer, worker and local resident.
Added advantage is people still get caught out and buy day tickets.
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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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@Dave of the Marmottes, yes but as I said if you're just driving through an area and only want to ski at a resort for 1 day to check it out then their walk up pricing model makes it exorbitant.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Alastair Pink wrote: |
| @Dave of the Marmottes, yes but as I said if you're just driving through an area and only want to ski at a resort for 1 day to check it out then their walk up pricing model makes it exorbitant. |
Oh I agree - but the model is very much to discourage tyre kickers or looky loos like that, if you want the "status" of having skied at Vail or Deer Valley or Aspen etc they want you to have paid for it. (I once skied at Aspen with a ticket courtesy of a hangtag on a pair of Helly Hansen pants I'd bought in TK maxx for £20 so there are occasional loopholes)
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Admittedly i've not skied in the states for many years - but the pricing was set high at weekends when most US citizens could ski - but much lower midweek. I tended to ski midweek and leave weekends for travel/sightseeing when doing the resorts round Tahoe. Many offers midweek as well - 2 for 1 etc.
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How much is a season pass? Is it just expensive overall compared to Europe?
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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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| hold_my_biere wrote: |
| How much is a season pass? Is it just expensive overall compared to Europe? |
Dirt cheap if you are actually going to get say 15-20 days out of it and trivial if you're actually going to ski a full season - just buy by Thanksgiving or all bets are off. Last year I skied at Winter Park, Steamboat, Jackson Hole, Big Sky, DV, Brighton, AltaBird, Aspen and Copper for about $700. The petrol bill was nearly as much.
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If you actually read it, this is not "the walk up day rate".
I often see crazy prices quoted for Whistler too, but I've never paid anything
like that and I don't know anyone else who has/ would either. <laughs> But then I
don't know anyone who'd be at Deer Valley either.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| philwig wrote: |
If you actually read it, this is not "the walk up day rate".
I often see crazy prices quoted for Whistler too, but I've never paid anything
like that and I don't know anyone else who has/ would either. <laughs> But then I
don't know anyone who'd be at Deer Valley either. |
Yeah but that's just because they are xenophobic "elites". It's actually not terrible if you're looking for some skiing action on the drive from Wyoming to SLC - there are a couple of areas with worthyish terrain but the main amusement is watching overconfident/underskilled piste skiers crash into each other as the sublime grooming results in some distinctly polished patches. But the air of smugness coming off the mountain hosts is something to behold. I overheard a couple of them bemoaning the riff raff the Ikon pass had let in and how they had no class (which to be fair was a bit rude as I was right in front of them).
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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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| hold_my_biere wrote: |
| How much is a season pass? Is it just expensive overall compared to Europe? |
A local Epic pass covering unlimited skiing at Breckenridge & Keystone; and 10 days (in total) at Beaver Creek or Vail is about half the price of a season pass for the 3 Valleys 
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There was a documentary about this a couple of years ago. it all started with Intra-west and the american ski company (ASC) resorts, they were basically being run as Wall Street businesses with the product just happening to be skiing it could have equally have been selling loo roll!
The accountants / share holders do not like the uncertainty of the depending on weather to ensure profits and at the time snow making wasn't that great so what they basically decided to do was guarantee a set value of income every season (costs + a bit of operating capital). the calculation was to make the season pass SOOO (cheap) attractive that huge numbers buy it and then gamble that they will use it or not. That way the resort was guarantee the money in the bank pre-season, even if it was a crap snow year they still had money in the bank, it also removed the required to always live in the business overdraft borrowing to pay bills and waiting on the money come in, because they had your money already. Add to this if the weather does arrive then you would be stupid to drive to a rival hill to pay day pass prices when you had a season pass to that leads to food and beverage income.
I skied in Killington for a few seasons while this was all starting and it was common for people from Boston (2.5-3hr drive) to have a season ticket, they only needed to have 6 or 7 ski days in a year to make it break even.
This then leads nicely to the 2nd money pot....property, the resorts would build / sell property next to the hill, having so many guaranteed season ticket holders it pushed the property prices up for buyers as they had a captive market (less risk).
In the end the skiing / lifts were basically a side business.
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You know it makes sense.
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| Alastair Pink wrote: |
| @Dave of the Marmottes, yes but as I said if you're just driving through an area and only want to ski at a resort for 1 day to check it out then their walk up pricing model makes it exorbitant. |
Go to one of the independent hills that cost about a third.
Plenty for a day - particularly after snow.
Oh or get a Loveland season pass for about $430 when bought early that offers unlimited skiing at Loveland plus a Powder Alliance pass and heaps of days at other great hills.
https://skiloveland.com/season-passes/
https://powderalliance.com/
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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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| sbooker wrote: |
| Alastair Pink wrote: |
| @Dave of the Marmottes, yes but as I said if you're just driving through an area and only want to ski at a resort for 1 day to check it out then their walk up pricing model makes it exorbitant. |
Go to one of the independent hills that cost about a third.
Plenty for a day - particularly after snow. |
Yes as I mentioned in my previous post Bridger Bowl (which is locally owned independent) was very reasonably priced, about $55 for the day. 
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Poster: A snowHead
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That is some difference. I looked at Steamboat a few weeks ago for a fantasy trip but the pass is $200 a day.... Even as a fantasy trip that put me off
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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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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seem to recall someone on here posting a few years back that you could score day tickets for reduced prices by picking them up at the local walmart or equivalents?
I also know from colleagues in the states that our company is signed up to some "perks at work" scheme that get them discounted ski passes in certain resorts
Makes you wonder at $200+ for the day rates what a beer on the mountain would cost you in some of these places
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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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| Quote: |
Makes you wonder at $200+ for the day rates what a beer on the mountain would cost you in some of these places
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$14.75 at Heavenly 
Unsurprisingly I didn't make the mistake again
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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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| Quote: |
I overheard a couple of them bemoaning the riff raff the Ikon pass had let in and how they had no class (which to be fair was a bit rude as I was right in front of them).
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Was it the £20 T K Maxx trousers that did it?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| pieman666 wrote: |
| That is some difference. I looked at Steamboat a few weeks ago for a fantasy trip but the pass is $200 a day.... Even as a fantasy trip that put me off |
You could buy an Ikon pass and ski not just Steamboat (unlimited) but another 43 or so ski resorts in North America, Japan, and South America too for about $US799. They have stopped selling the pass for the season.
I did a trip about a decade ago that was last minute when they didn't have Ikon or Epic passes yet. But the Mountain Collective was a new thing. I paid that eye watering $140 or so for two days at Steamboat as it wasn't on the MC pass yet, but both days were powder days. Then dropped about $69/day for Aspen-Highlands-Snowmass for 3 days of skiing plus two free days on the MC pass. The whole focus of these passes is to get you to travel to the resorts, book hotel, and rent skis, boots, and pay for lessons and spend money on food and beverage. A lot of that is out the window with the COVID, but I have seen folks taking lessons on the hill this season.
With the COVID, the ski resorts are selling limited day passes w/o the need to make reservations through Ikon or Epic. So, you are basically paying through the nose to get a pre-reserved ski day. There's enough rich folks out there with plenty of time and cash on their hands to go skiing if the conditions are right. The resorts are trying to make up for lost revenue. So, if you want a ticket to ride, and you don't have a season pass, you've got to pay the premium.
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| pam w wrote: |
| Quote: |
I overheard a couple of them bemoaning the riff raff the Ikon pass had let in and how they had no class (which to be fair was a bit rude as I was right in front of them).
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Was it the £20 T K Maxx trousers that did it? |
No the £20 pants were legit Helly Hansen, the elegant duct tape embroidery may have been it 
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I'm so sick of tragically hip locals bitching about Ikon (and similar) passes. It is people like Ikon passholders and other cash-spending visitors that make it possible for the locals to have much more of ski area than they otherwise would have, and very possibly a job as well. Ski areas lose their six on locals. We pay the bills!
As for that $229 ticket price: I'm going to go to Deer Valley on my tired day (day four of every trip) when I go to SLC in March. A guess as to what it will cost me is around $50 based on how I have used and expect to use my Ikon pass. That is equal to what I pay in Italy and Austria, and probably less than France and CH. I concede that visitors from overseas might not be here long enough to get their daily rate that low, but you still should be able to get a day's skiing done for under three figures.
It is what it is. At least the skiing is good. The food is expensive as well, and it is awful!
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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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The eye watering prices make for a nice headline, but a tiny fraction of skiers are actually paying that price - and most of that group have too much money to care. An epic pass giving unlimited days doing at Vail is around $1000, and this is what most of the skiers will be using. (There's actually a local epic pass that gives unlimited skiing at Vail except for holiday dates for $729 - while it can't be used on the dates we are talking about, it demonstrates skiing doesn't have to be as expensive as some would have you believe.
Imo the n American pass model is fantastic for serious skiers who want to get as many days as possible in. Imagine a European iKON pass - £720 for unlimited skiing in 6 good resorts and then up to 7 days each at 11 of the top resorts. The N American model really just screws over the 1 or 2 weekend a year skiers. No different to rewarding frequent customers over 1 time visitors.
If you are ever stuck in a situation where you need a day pass, look on local Facebook groups. Often with a season pass you get some free buddy tickets for single days or ski for half price tickets. There are nearly always some ski bums looking to offload these for a little money.
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I'm so sick of tragically hip locals bitching about Ikon (and similar) passes. It is people like Ikon passholders and other cash-spending visitors that make it possible for the locals to have much more of ski area than they otherwise would have, and very possibly a job as well. Ski areas lose their six on locals. We pay the bills!
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These ski hills existed long before iKON and epic, and managed to get by ok. There is no doubt some resorts are way busier since being added to multi-resort passes, and I can see why the locals (who have been supporting that hill financially for years) get frustrated. (Although friends at Whistler say tourist numbers are way up, but the breakdown is way more lower level skiers so the good stuff is staying untouched longer than before).They do seem to invest a lot of money into some resorts, although others reports say the opposite. As with everything there are good things and bad things, I can see why some don't like the pass and are clearly not benefiting from it.
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I had exactly the same issue when I rocked up to Heavenly at Lake Tahoe. $147 for a days skiing which I reluctantly paid, and thankfully took out an extra $10 cancellation insurance if the weather got bad or a certain amount of lifts closed. I skied the morning in bluebird conditions, around 12pm a storm front moved in and the snow and wind were horrendous. Mass exodus off the mountain and off I trotted to claim my refund which took place instantly. We were due to ski another 2 days but after the horrendous prices we simply packed up the car and headed east to Utah where I stumbled across a real hidden gem, Brian Head ski resort. The lift pass was cheap, so was the ski hire. Added to that there was a real sense of community amongst everyone there and a vibe I’ve never felt when skiing. I would 100% recommend it to anyone who find them self in that area of the USA. I wrote a review at the time on my situation I’ve just outlined above, brings back some great memories on what was a truly once in a lifetime holiday - https://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?p=3038660&highlight=brian+head#3038660
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| philwig wrote: |
If you actually read it, this is not "the walk up day rate".
I often see crazy prices quoted for Whistler too, but I've never paid anything
like that and I don't know anyone else who has/ would either. <laughs> But then I
don't know anyone who'd be at Deer Valley either. |
It is effectively the "walk up day rate" for a chunk of the season. We were in Colorado for 3 weeks in Feb 2016 and the cheapest day ticket at any of the Vail resorts was $150. Vail and Beaver Creek were charging $190. Last year we were there for a week and the latter 2 were charging $220 for a day ticket.
Keystone were charging $90 just for night skiing!
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FAQ
