Greek Peak Conditions (2014-2015)

That way you will not only be able to give ski condition reports from the bar, you can stand on the deck and give them to.

Glad to hear Greek is still in great shape. My wife in I were in Utah last week, getting what may very well turn out to be their best week of their season. Skied in the Cottonwoods four days with fresh powder on 65-80 inches of base at Alta, Solitude, and Brighton, including a storm day at Alta that was amazing. Finished up the week with a spring like day at Powder Mountain where we could still find fresh lines with a little searching.

Question about Greek's pass pricing for next year - on their website it talks about a "Family" pass, but I don't see any pricing for it on there. Anyone know the details on that? How many people it includes, and what the price is? Doesn't seem to have that info on there.

The way I read the family pass info is it looks like the first pass is $399 and each pass after that is $389. Wasn't it that way last year too??

Camp, I haven't purchased our passes yet, but Wes indicated the 4% fee is a Greek Peak imposed fee versus increasing the actual pass price. $399 plus fees sounds better than $415 without fees. I believe there will also be sales tax added to passes this year, as well. I plan to purchase our passes next weekend, so we'll see what the numbers add up to.

In terms of the family pass, they really don't have one. It's $399 for the first pass and $389 for all subsequent family members, as Camp indicated. I believe there were further $10 or so price drops for each additional family member last year (e.g., $399, $389, $379,...). That's not the case this year. It's clear they are counting pennies this year.

Oh yeah, timeshares are for sale again. Some summer shares are dirt cheap like they were during their liquidation sale last year, but others are priced close to what they were before last years "make a quick buck" sale.

Got a note from KT at GP this am:

Good Morning! I wanted to share the different options we have for season passes here at Greek Peak.
Family Pass - The first member in the family is $399 and then any additional family member is $389.
We also offer a BAF deal if a SP holder brings a brand new season pass holder to the mountain the existing SP holder will be giver First Tracks for free for the 2015/16 season ($75 value).

If you have any additional questions don't hesitate to ask. We also offer Adventure Center and Waterpark season passes as  well.
 
Kathleen
 
Kathleen M.A. Timmerman
Director of Ski Area Sales & Marketing
Greek Peak Mountain Resort
Ph. 1-800-955-2754 Ext.6328
Fax 607-835-6100

Rj1972 wrote

On a different topic, there is now a mysterious 4% fee on season passes. Given increases to minimum wage, electricity, and other costs, management opted to implement the fee rather than raise pass prices outright. It makes sense from a marketing standpoint to hold passes below $400, but 4% is one of those nagging little fees that nobody really likes.

When you click through to purchase a pass their system lists the $15.96 as "Federal" - no more information.

Sale Total:   $ 399.00  
Discount(s):   $ 0.00  
Subtotal:  $ 399.00  
State:  $ 0.00  
Federal:  $ 15.96  
Total:   $ 414.96

Bet the feds can't wait to get their share of season pass sales from resorts nationwide!

Crap like this is BS. Not the 4% pass increase - couldn't care less about that - but the way it's being handled.

Is there really some kind of federal fee or tax on season passes? Is it new this year? I seriously doubt it.

So call it what it is.

RJ- Where did you see the stuff on the timeshares?  Are you talking Hope Lake Lodge or the other Arcadia Village townmones/apartments? The reason I ask is to see if they are offering fractional ownerships, how much they are...we were very happy with our investment so far and have some friends who might be interested in Hope Lake Lodge ownership. Sorry for the thread drift....

I hope the great conditions continue and you guys are able to enjoy a long season, I am hanging out in shorts here in NC...

JJ, contact Gayle Kryger. The new owners actually held back some HLL shares last year, but now put some of them back on the market. They have a number of different combinations. 1/16, 1/4, and so on. The lesser expensive ones are in the summer, and those that are in the winter (or 1/4) are nearly back to their original offering price. I didn't pay much attention, as I'm not a fractional ownership fan, but Gayle had a page or two of different offering options.

Billy, they better get their act together because I am not familiar with a federal tax on season passes. If they run a transaction as such, they could find themselves in a wee bit of trouble. Wes was clear that this was a fee imposed by GP, and not a tax.

Rj1972 wrote

Billy, they better get their act together because I am not familiar with a federal tax on season passes. If they run a transaction as such, they could find themselves in a wee bit of trouble. Wes was clear that this was a fee imposed by GP, and not a tax.

Rj - I agree. This is just a shady way for GP to try to disguise what is really a (reasonable) 4% pass price increase. They should just be upfront about it.

But they made the increase a little harder for families too.  Last year we bought four passes at $399, $384, $374, and $368 for a total of $1,525.00 (me, wife, two teenage kids).

This year our passes apparently will cost $399 + (3 * $389) + 4% on top of all that for a total of $1,628.64. That's a 6.8% increase over last year. Not sure why they decided to hit families with a bigger increase, but they did and they kinda tried to bury that a bit too. Bigger families will get hit with an even bigger effective % increase. That's not really cool, but maybe families aren't their target market anymore. At least not local families.

Oh, and for some reason I can't buy "family" passes online. I have to call. WTF Greek Peak?

Sorry - I know this is a conditions thread. Hope the rain isn't falling too hard up there. Looks like spring skiing time at GP - should be a great month.

Billy, they definitely should have continued the graduated decrease in prices for subsequent passes. $10 is not much to entice families to purchase a pass for a family member that might not ski that often.

I also despise hidden fees. I would happily pay $425 for a season pass upfront rather than $415 for a $399 pass with a 4% fee. I equate this to resort fees. Then again, this is the place that brought us the high speed express quad lift.

Interestingly, I tried the on-line system just to replicate what you attempted, but I added a season pass, locker, first tracks, and Nastar.  The federal tax/fee showed up, but so did state sales tax. I didn't have time to play with it, but it looks like some items may be taxable and some not.

jjbrady wrote

 

I hope the great conditions continue and you guys are able to enjoy a long season, I am hanging out in shorts here in NC...

It was FKNA great yesterday! Firm, carvable and fast in the early AM then turned to complete hero snow.....wicked good skiing heading our way at the Peak

Rj1972 wrote

 

I also despise hidden fees. I would happily pay $425 for a season pass upfront rather than $415 for a $399 pass with a 4% fee. I equate this to resort fees.  

 

I too despise "hidden fees", but how are they "hidden" when it clearly states, up front,  season passes are $399 plus plus plus??

They aren't entirely hidden, Camp. They do disclose that taxes, tips, and fees are not included. But if they felt a 4% price increase was necessary, they should have simply increased the pass price. The GP consumer is used to paying the face value for a season pass. Also, they shouldn't call the price increase "Federal," as that suggests a federal tax.

I agree the Federal thing is kinda crazy. It has to be some kind of federal tax, cause you can't just make that up, right? Must be previous pricing was all inclusive and now it's just broken out for us all to see.

It's marketing.....is what it is.

Hell, I'm the smartest guy to NEVER, EVER own a ski resort and NEVER will.

Camp - what's being hidden, or obscured at least, is the fact that there is a price increase in passes this year.

I assume that whatever expense or tax that is covered by that 4% "Federal" adder was there last year but just contained in the total end cost of the pass price. Breaking it out as a separate fee is just an attempt to disguise a price increase.

So next year when Greek decides to hit you with a 15 or 20% increase they can claim they haven't increased pass prices in two years. But that's false. Sorry, it's sneaky, shady, underhanded. Plus as I pointed out, they took away the graduated discount for additional family members.

Camp, I know you love the place, and lots of good stuff has happened over the past couple of years there. But stuff like this gets on my nerves. If they'd just said pass prices are going up 4%, fine. That's not what they did -  instead they're trying to passively portray it as no increase.

I won't derail the conditions thread anymore with talk about pass pricing. But remember what I said last year Camp - in a few years GP pass prices will be close or equivalent to Elk's - by the 2019 - 2020 season. You can buy me a beer if I'm right.

Edited to add: a quick google search shows that back in 2009 NYS considered a 4% sales tax on ski passes. I didn't see anything that confirmed if it passed or not.

billyymc wrote

Camp - what's being hidden, or obscured at least, is the fact that there is a price increase in passes this year.

I assume that whatever expense or tax that is covered by that 4% "Federal" adder was there last year but just contained in the total end cost of the pass price. Breaking it out as a separate fee is just an attempt to disguise a price increase.

So next year when Greek decides to hit you with a 15 or 20% increase they can claim they haven't increased pass prices in two years. But that's false. Sorry, it's sneaky, shady, underhanded. Plus as I pointed out, they took away the graduated discount for additional family members.

Camp, I know you love the place, and lots of good stuff has happened over the past couple of years there. But stuff like this gets on my nerves. If they'd just said pass prices are going up 4%, fine. That's not what they did -  instead they're trying to passively portray it as no increase.

I won't derail the conditions thread anymore with talk about pass pricing. But remember what I said last year Camp - in a few years GP pass prices will be close or equivalent to Elk's - by the 2019 - 2020 season. You can buy me a beer if I'm right.

I hear ya, Billy. Really I do. Again, it's marketing and from that standpoint GP is making a smart business decision. Show me some sort of marketing that isn't sneaky, shady, or underhanded. It's like a zero down lease add ---- NO MONEY DOWN -- NO MONEY DOWN!!! You get there and you need first payment, sales tax, dmv fees, and dealer fees. I mean who the hell really believes it's no money down??

You are 1000% correct in that I love the place, and I'm a 100% Homer, so my opinions for sure are biased. One thing for sure is that I'm certainly glad it's still around, and the way things are going it's looking like she'll be around for a long time. Let us not forget that Marc and John ARE NOT taking a paycheck out of the place......nobody is paying more of an increase than these guys.. LOL

I'll gladly buy you a beer anytime you're around, seriously.

The goal is to be long term solvent. Right?

Harvey wrote

The goal is to be long term solvent. Right?

Got no issues with that Harv - just don't cloak price increases as some bogus "federal" line item. Shady.

billyymc wrote

in a few years GP pass prices will be close or equivalent to Elk's

When that happens I'll head up highway 81 a little farther to a little place where there's more snow, less grooming and less dicks.