Did you guys buy passes yet? Buying tickets?

If so, where? Same place as usual? What would ever make you jump ship from a home mountain?

I haven't bought one yet... not sure if I will or look for deals as in multi-packs. I guess the only thing I will get for sure is the Hunter Big Lift, because it's a no brainer and I'll use it on a weekday at least twice, and take a friend another day. It'll mark the third or fourth year in a row I've bought one. I think fourth.

Are there any mountains providing real value left for their passes? I always feel like WhiteFace and Jay do... they're just so far away.

Ml throw a Platty five pack on top this season.  

Then next year try the ORDA 3 pass.

Then we'd get you to Gore.

Me = Full ORDA, plus some Plattekill.

I bought my Whiteface pass last week ... before the price increase. I own a place in Lake Placid, so I'm locked in ... and I wouldn't have it any other way!!!

I love Lake Placid and I love Whiteface, so it's a win/win for me!

Just hoping for a little more cooperation from Mother Nature this year!

Awaiting my ski club's ticket sale. I'll probably go with a similar plan to last year except not buying as many tickets up front. Got burned two years in a row. Maybe a dozen tickets from my club and then 2 Mad Cards and two VT 3 Packs. That will be two dozen up front and leave me some flexibility for early/late season, discounts, etc.

May go back to a Jay pass for 2013-2014, especially with a Burke/Jay combo. Still have a little more exploring to do before returning to the realm of being locked in for 15+ days at one location. Four more areas on The List in New England and a few in Quebec. Nice getting off the pass for a few seasons to play the field.

I bought Whiteface passes for my family two weeks ago before the increase.  My oldest daughter will be 13 in November, but qualified for a Junior pass.  Whiteface's pre-season pricing and being sales tax free is one of the best ski pass deals I have found in the Northeast.

One of the few advantages of getting old is that some things get cheaper, and ski passes are one of them. With my 55th birthday looming, I sucked it up and bought a "senior's pass" at Jay Peak at the earlybird price of $499. Seven days a week, no blackouts. Compared to full ticket price, that's 6.5 days for break-even. Not bad for an old guy.

I bought myself and the family Platty passes again on the last day of the season in March.  With the crappy weather last year and some family issues, my wife probably did no break even.  But the passes paid for themselves for me and my girls.  

I've never felt more at home at any other ski area, than I do at Platty, in terms of terrain, clientele and overall vibe.  2 hour drive from my door....IMHO, you can't beat it.  

WF/Gore full boat pass. Days are getting shorter....bring it.

Greek Peak....oh yeah baby

Greek Peak also... missed the April 15th deadline for the lowest price, but they sent me a postcard stating the deadline was extended for 3 weeks... so I grabed one... and at $325. can't really beat that price.

Hope GP gets that refinancing thing worked out.

Gore/WF Full.

Everything Big D said, and the fact that it's 20 minutes away from my house.

I normally cross country ski several times a week during the winter; instead I ended up downhill skiing at GP this past winter due to the lack of snow. I'm glad I had the option to do that. I thought they did a pretty good job, considering what they had to work with.  

As a senior my tix are cheap AND i like to ski differant places but i do get TWO free season passes right now and next yr when i turn  70  damn its a whole NEW bunch o freebies and discounts

I figured I'd give Killington a try this year so went with the blackout pass.

I was thinking about the same pass... it looks like a deal this year with their LONG season. There really aren't that many blackout days, either.

Long? Maybe in the past, but, I don't know about today.

People love to complain about Killington compared to the old days but if they open in late october / early november and shut down *near* last in april or may, it's still the longest season in VT.

Skiing till June would make the pass a better value, but the late spring days aren't what makes it a value. It's already a blackout as opposed to a 5 or 6 day, with pretty few holidays.

It'd be pretty easy to throw all the numbers in a chart and divide by cost/day I think to show where the real values are. But you'd have to estimate a lot of people's seasons or base the numbers off an average of the past five seasons or something.

Would take time though.

I wonder if Jay could be convinced to make an October run.

In the worst season in forever how many days did K operate?  How many hills went longer?  How much is the pass?

Between Jay and Burke would one be better for an early run and the other for a late run a la Sunday River/Sugarloaf? Or is it Jay for both?

Jay isn't a good candidate for early operations. They don't have the elevation or short upper mountain lifts that are required to blow a full trail open in a narrow window. When Jay does blow the Jet to open, they will blow upper Jet fairly easily but getting the lower half open can be where they have trouble if the temps don't cooperate.

@Harv: Burke has even more disadvantages than Jay because their new HSQ is essentially top to bottom (excluding the lower mountain beginner area). Burke could go late if they really blew and stock piled. But Jay is a better option for sure (and not just from a bed base/waterpark/golf/resort perspective).

Areas capable of October operations (except during 1-2' dumps) are few and far between. You need a short upper mountain lift, preferably above 2500'. Sunday River got it open but even they have had a pretty hard time maintaining and expanding when the weather doesn't cooperate. You really can't beat Killington's setup (at least for current setups, not past or hypothetical ones) for going early.

Harvey44 wrote

In the worst season in forever how many days did K operate?  

http://www.killington.com/winter/mountain/mountain_info/historical_weather