NY Taxpayer Ski Free Day?

Fair enough. Based on history it's hard for me to be objective. I wasn't there, I'll accept your/glade's version of the facts and try to refrain from comment on this.

Glade says I'm his biggest fan.

Nice to hear that he thinks that.  I definitely admire his passion for skiing, always hitting the powder days and skiing 100 days a season.

I would argue $35 is the regular price for skiing one trail. Who in their right mind would pay $60 to ski one trail? That being said, I hope Platty is able to survive. I don't think it's fair one of its main competitors is subsidized by NYS taxpayers. The other is offering multi resort season passes for less than 3 day per week season pass at Platty. Good luck Laz, you're gonna need it.

Man I would really rather be skiing today then arguing about skiing but I'm stuck at home. I think people nowadays think that everything is a gray area to be argued but not everything is. For instance.




All you have to do is read it. I don't think we have to guess what constitutes a full price ticket since it's right there above the discount disclaimer. I would not like paying $60 for one trail (though I've come close to that in the past, elsewhere) but, based on the testimony so far, Laz didn't ask anybody to pay that rate. He offered a discount. It wasn't quite as good as a BOGO but everybody got a deal. People who showed up with a BOGO coupon had access to a slightly better deal, just not a ridiculous one.
I'm not made of money and I'm always looking for ways to save on skiing but earlier in this thread, somebody used the phrase bait n switch, which this isn't. Bait n switch is a phrase that has an actual meaning; it's a disreputable business practice and there are laws against it. Accusing somebody of that is like saying they're a con man or a thief. If you're gonna make that accusation you should have something to back it up with.
I don't know Glade and can't say how his little ancient-history-drama at Patty unfolded.

Brownski, perfect. I was trying to find the original BOGO when I made my post but couldn't. Thats exactly what I recall.

Thats about as straight forward as it gets. If Glade went there with some idea that he qualified for the BOGO with the discounted price, especially given Platekill doesn't advertise any early or late season rates, then he was fairly delusional to drive all that way without even the basic level of due-diligence before hand (and really based on that Ad, its pretty clear cut).

The beauty of a privately owned business is that the customer is't always right.

Cornhead wrote

Perhaps Platty should've opted to not open at all.

Agreed. I don't their sales covered their cotst that day. Like maybe 10 people there and most of them were passholders. I spent a lot on lunch that day. Speaking of bag lunches, I actually think that ski areas should at least try a "no bringing food in lodge policy" similar to amusement parks. To make this reasonable, they should drop the price of food slightly to make it more accessabke to everyone. This was not my idea actually, it was a friend of mine who owns three resturants who had been incredibly successfull doing so. He is a skier too. One of the things I see happen a lot at plattekill that pisses me slightly is people actually bring a whole cooler with extravagant lunch makings, taking up an entire large table while they spread everything out. I even see people bring their own coffee maker. Give me a break. An easy fix for that would be to eliminate accessible outlets. Platty has fantastic coffee, and I get some every time I go there.

Passholders are important. If you only opened on days when you "made money" a full time mountain would be open 20-25 days a year.  The rest is for brand and passholders.  How much would you spend for a pass if a mountain was open only 20 days a year?

In addition, Plattekill want to open as much as possible.  If there is a shot they can break even on electric and wages vs ticket and F&B revenue they will definitely do it. The more employment you offer, the easier it is to retain good employees.  This is even more crucial given their operating schedule.

snoloco wrote

NH has state run ski areas, or at least did have them.  Winter Park was state run, until they farmed it out to Intrawest.

I think Cannon is the only one in NH now.  They do a deal every Wednesday: $25 tickets for NH residents.  So, not free, but that's a good discount.  They also do two-fer Tuesdays & Thursdays (buy 1 get 1 free, or $49 for one ticket on those days).  I don't see that Loon, Waterville, or Gunstock have anything comparable.  I know at least Loon isn't hurting for business, though, and they're right down the road from Cannon.  The caveat is that Cannon is very old school and no frills, whereas Loon is definitely more of the resort feel.  They attract very different types of skiers.  

WF and Gore both pretty much don't compete with other NY ski areas.  They are competing with Tremblant in the Montreal market and Vt areas in the NY metro market.  Belleryre is another matter entirely which is why I didn't like the mission expansion of Orda into the Cats market.  If I was in Laz's position i would be super pissed.

Back to Ethan's original idea
Town owned golf courses usually offer a discount if you are a tax payer in that town.  I think Orda should offer maybe a 5 or 10 buck discount for NYS residents on lift tickets but they might have to raise the out of state rates to balance the discounts out.  Probably  would exclude Bellerye so not to hurt the other Tax paying businesses.  Call it a make good for all the shinanagins that went on thier under the prior regime.

Also can we all agree to stop talking about Glade

Maybe this is a bad comparison but across the SUNY system, college tuition averages about 4-5k per semester. (Not including other related expenses)  For our non-state residents, tuition is about double.

Not down with scapegoating brown-baggers. I usually eat 2 pb+j's on the lift, is my money not worth the price of admission because I don't want cafeteria food?

Why did you tag off my post?  I said nothing about brown bagging.

i just hit reply to add a post, i blame harvey

ml242 wrote

i blame harvey

You're not the only one, it's quite popular. I started the brown bag controversy and apologize(d) for it. Still I won't do it at Plattekill or Snow Ridge or Hickory.

Coach and all: If you start your reply and before you finish someone else gets in between, the forum does that. It also says you are replying to a person if you are the first on a new page. Don't take it personally.

Cornhead wrote

That being said, I hope Platty is able to survive. I don't think it's fair one of its main competitors is subsidized by NYS taxpayers. The other is offering multi resort season passes for less than 3 day per week season pass at Platty.

They've continuously operated for many years.  I don't see that changing anytime soon.  They seem to be reinvesting in their snowmaking, which will mean more terrain open sooner.

It's pretty easy to predict if a ski area is going to fold.  I saw it coming for years with Hidden Valley and Tuxedo Ridge.

Also, you're wrong if you say that Belleayre is selling multi-resort passes for less than Plattekill is selling theirs.  Right now, Plattekill is selling passes for $685 and Ski3 passes are going for over 900.

How much are the Peak Passes?

They were selling them for 600 dollars at first, which is less than What Plattekill is selling them for now.  Now, Peak Passes are going for $1000.  I thought Cornhead was referring specifically to Belleayre.

I bought the Peak Resorts pass for $400 on a payment plan.  And the payment plan had no additional fees.  This was the deal for people 18-29yo and the deal lasted until dec 15th.  Very affordable and the first time I was able to afford a season pass in 3-4 years.  I usually went to belleayre but now Hunter is my home mountain since affordable

It's basically 400 for students, 800 for adults with no blackouts, and 600 for adults with blackouts. Never saw one for 1000 this year.

Ethan Snow wrote

Cornhead wrote

Perhaps Platty should've opted to not open at all.

Agreed. I don't their sales covered their cotst that day. Like maybe 10 people there and most of them were passholders. I spent a lot on lunch that day. Speaking of bag lunches, I actually think that ski areas should at least try a "no bringing food in lodge policy" similar to amusement parks. To make this reasonable, they should drop the price of food slightly to make it more accessabke to everyone. This was not my idea actually, it was a friend of mine who owns three resturants who had been incredibly successfull doing so. He is a skier too. One of the things I see happen a lot at plattekill that pisses me slightly is people actually bring a whole cooler with extravagant lunch makings, taking up an entire large table while they spread everything out. I even see people bring their own coffee maker. Give me a break. An easy fix for that would be to eliminate accessible outlets. Platty has fantastic coffee, and I get some every time I go there.

Unless the prices come down, which they won't, I have to disagree with banning brown bag lunches.  I love bringing my lunch because I am not going to spend 10 bucks on a chicken patty and fries.  Or spend 5 bucks on a slice of pizza.  And I bring my own beer because 8 bucks for a draft is nuts.  Skiing at resorts is a rich man's sport.  Gotta cut corners when I can.