 Poster: A snowHead
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Anyone planning to a trip to Whistler this season needs to get their skates on and get their lift pass before early December, before season pass & discounted lift ticket products go off sale. Right now the website is saying prices go up Nov 17th & in practice there's 2, sometimes 3 weeks left before the final deadline.
After this date, lift tickets are ~C$250/£140 per day, even if purchased in advance. (The only exception is if you are taking lessons - the lift tickets bundled with lessons are extremely cheap.)
For anyone planning a one week trip, a WB Day Pass will likely work best. These are for 1-10 days and cost ~C$110/£60) per day. Can be used on non-consecutive days.
For a 2 week trip, or if you are planning a longer trip across Canada & the US, the Epic Local Pass (US$778/£602) might appeal. This includes 10 days at Whistler (or Vail/Beaver Creek) and unlimited skiing at other Vail-owned mountains (Heavenly, Park City, Breckenridge etc). Plus 5 days at Andermatt or Crans Montana. You also get 20% off ski lessons and food on the mountain with the pass.
All of the passes/cheaper tickets can only be refunded in case of injury/pregnancy/job loss - have to do a lot of box-ticking with an insurance company but it's doable. (The job loss coverage only holds if you've been employed for >1yr and are a fulltime employee, and your doctor would have to write their note to meet the very specific terms on the form)
FYI: There is a workaround for anyone thinking about doing part of a season/career break trip but who isn't in a position to pull the trigger yet: The ski camps such as Yes! and Alltracks Academy can get you a season pass after the deadline has passed.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@AndreaC, I’m contemplating maybe 3,4 or 5 days next season. Visiting my granddaughter, is there a bargain I might miss out on?
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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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Hedge your bets and buy 4 day passes now I'd say.
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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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Agree with Dave - unless your granddaughter is working for the mountain and can get staff rate tickets, you unfortunately have to commit to your trip rather soon.
If you buy a 4 day WB Day Pass now, it’ll cost you about C$450. Wait a month and a 4 day lift ticket will be >C$1000. So I suppose you could consider the Day Pass a bargain of sorts - although it’s really Vail being insidious and forcing people to hand over their money well before anyone knows how the snow is looking!!!
Fwiw, at least El Niño is over now so it won’t be a *bad* snow year. It might not be a stellar year - the weather pattern hasn’t fully flipped to La Niña (those have a good snow record) - but it’s at least neutral = average conditions. The snowpack has started building up a bit earlier than last year at any rate.
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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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| AndreaC wrote: |
| Right now the website is saying prices go up Nov 17th & in practice there's 2, sometimes 3 weeks left before the final deadline. |
Are the prices going up on the season pass? I don’t recall that’s the case in the past.
Maybe the “Epic Day pass” is going up in price instead?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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They creep a little bit with each intermediate deadline - there's a very useful website that has tracked how the Ikon & Epic prices creep up between March to whenever sales are closed: https://www.epicorikon.com/price-history.
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