The new Northeast Peak Pass. Your move ORDA.

This could hurt some of the smaller mountains that aren't owned by a larger company.  It could either drive them out of business or force them to sell to one of the large companies.  Look at how many ski areas Vail has bought up.  That's because it's hard to compete with the Epic Pass.  The non-Vail mountains in the west seem to have teamed together to try and compete with Vail to some extent.  The Rocky Mountain Super Pass and Liftopia's Mountain Collective come to mind.  Since the Mountain Collective now has Stowe, they have now tapped into the eastern market which Vail has not done.  The Max Pass is a partnership between Powdr, Intrawest, and Boyne.

The Max Pass works best for those who live in the Albany area.  If I lived there, I'd get a Stratton Pass with the Max Pass add-on.  Then I could do some longer day trips to Killington and Pico.  There are many possibilities for overnight road trips as well.  Sunday River, Sugarloaf, Loon, and Tremblant come to mind.  That sounds awesome, but you're still not done.  You could also do a couple trips out west and not pay anything for lift tickets.  Maybe do a couple trips combining Winter Park, Copper, and Steamboat.  That's gotta be the best pass deal if you live in day-trip reach to one of those mountains and can get a full pass there.  It's a complete bust in the NY Metro Area because your closest mountain is Stratton which is almost 4 hours away.  You can only get it as an add-on with an unrestricted pass at one of the mountains, so it can cost a lot.  For my area, the Peak Pass is the best multi-resort pass deal.

snoloco wrote

This could hurt some of the smaller mountains that aren't owned by a larger company.  It could either drive them out of business or force them to sell to one of the large companies.  Look at how many ski areas Vail has bought up.  That's because it's hard to compete with the Epic Pass.  The non-Vail mountains in the west seem to have teamed together to try and compete with Vail to some extent.  The Rocky Mountain Super Pass and Liftopia's Mountain Collective come to mind.  Since the Mountain Collective now has Stowe, they have now tapped into the eastern market which Vail has not done.  The Max Pass is a partnership between Powdr, Intrawest, and Boyne.

The Max Pass works best for those who live in the Albany area.  If I lived there, I'd get a Stratton Pass with the Max Pass add-on.  Then I could do some longer day trips to Killington and Pico.  There are many possibilities for overnight road trips as well.  Sunday River, Sugarloaf, Loon, and Tremblant come to mind.  That sounds awesome, but you're still not done.  You could also do a couple trips out west and not pay anything for lift tickets.  Maybe do a couple trips combining Winter Park, Copper, and Steamboat.  That's gotta be the best pass deal if you live in day-trip reach to one of those mountains and can get a full pass there.  It's a complete bust in the NY Metro Area because your closest mountain is Stratton which is almost 4 hours away.  You can only get it as an add-on with an unrestricted pass at one of the mountains, so it can cost a lot.  For my area, the Peak Pass is the best multi-resort pass deal.

The MAX Pass could be bought as a standalone product.  Not cheap.  Final price was about $700 for 2015-16.  I pay attention to it because Big Sky and Brighton are included, along with the northeast places mentioned.  5 days at Big Sky plus 5 days at Brighton, with a trip to one of the northeast ski areas . . . it's possible to make it worthwhile since I'm retired.  Although so far the Mountain Collective Pass has been what I've been using.  Partially because I spent at least a week at Alta, in addition to a mid-season trip out west.  This year my friends who are working joined me for one week used the MCP at Alta and Aspen, based on flying into SLC, driving to Aspen, and flying back east from ASE.

Yeah, the MC pass is the tits right now. Can't understand the enthusiasm for this northeast peak pass, unless you think Hunter and Wildcat are the coolest mountains in the world. Let's get real.

Benny Profane wrote

Yeah, the MC pass is the tits right now. Can't understand the enthusiasm for this northeast peak pass, unless you think Hunter and Wildcat are the coolest mountains in the world. Let's get real.

Don't forget - the Peak pass has Jack Frost and Big Boulder, too.

My guess is it's a proximity thing Benny.

Stowe is on the MC.

Putting aside the fact that we have a place near Gore, we love North Creek, and my Gore pass is a ticket into the Slides ...

I get maybe one "destination" trip a season, maybe. (Not this year).  If I am going to drive farther than Gore, I'm not going to Mount Snow or NH. I'm going to some place in VT north of Killington. Exceptions would be are Killy spring, or a chance at Magic.

It is interesting to note that for some on this pass their season pass cost actually rises.

Mount Snow is closer than Gore for me.  Not by much, but it is closer.

If you bought a second house near a mountain, that's where you're gonna go most if not all of the time.  I prefer to explore different ski areaa and not be so dead set on one.  I've skied at 8 mountains this year.  Killington, Gore, Mount Snow, Steamboat, Hunter, Mount Peter, Mountain Creek, and Berkshire East.  I may get a 9th if I go to Tremblant over spring break.  How many ski areas have you been to this year?

I don't think you can compare our situations as they are completely different.  For one thing, unlike many skiers, variety of ski areas is extremely low on my list of priorities. If it was a priority I would've exceeded nine.

A different question, what was your family's budget for skiing this year all in, with travel, lodging, lift tickets, food etc?

Harvey wrote

I don't think you can compare our situations as they are completely different.  For one thing, unlike many skiers, variety of ski areas is extremely low on my list of priorities. If it was a priority I would've exceeded nine.

 

BINGO!

I live where I ski, and I ski where I live. It's not about the where but the who for me. I don't like to travel as I'm more of a home body, meaning when I have the time to travel I'd rather be at my house doing the things that make me happy. Skiing, hunting, riding 4wheelers, golfing, kayaking, boat rides, walking in the woods, BeerBQ's on the deck in the sun etc, etc, and I don't have to leave home to do any of that......I don't budget for any of it because to me it's simply life.

snoloco wrote

Mount Snow is closer than Gore for me.  Not by much, but it is closer.

If you bought a second house near a mountain, that's where you're gonna go most if not all of the time.  I prefer to explore different ski areaa and not be so dead set on one.  I've skied at 8 mountains this year.  Killington, Gore, Mount Snow, Steamboat, Hunter, Mount Peter, Mountain Creek, and Berkshire East.  I may get a 9th if I go to Tremblant over spring break.  How many ski areas have you been to this year?

It just dawned on me that you would like Vail. You're always going somewhere else on that mountain instead of actually skiing.

Just settle down and ski.

Great to have some cheaper pass options in the NE, but none of these are close enough to make me want it... If I liked hunter more....

Harvey wrote

A different question, what was your family's budget for skiing this year all in, with travel, lodging, lift tickets, food etc?

It's really hard to say as there isn't a set number.  I'll try to guess as best I can.

Season passes were 1400.  Lift tickets at Steamboat were 1600, hotel at Steamboat was 2200, we got a good deal on plane tickets and it was only 400, rental car was 700.  For Killington President's Weekend, lift tickets were like 500 and the hotel 1200.  Those numbers add up to 8000, but it's really hard to keep track of everything.  To me, food is a marginal cost, and I'm going to be eating whether I'm at the ski area or not, so that doesn't count.  I'm guessing everything comes in at over 10k this year.  Still way cheaper than owning a second house.

I wasn't really expecting you to answer that.

It's an apples and oranges thing. How do you account for real estate?  You're assuming our real estate is solely for skiing.  It's a primary source of recreation and sanity all year. I know that wouldn't work for most, but it works for us.

If you want to bring in the cost of real estate, I'll bet my loan and taxes on both properties are lower than that on your house. Together they are less than 1250 sq ft.

Still, my costs were less than 10k this year including real estate.

I would think that the taxes and maintenance on an entirely separate property would be a lot.  Don't know what the taxes are on my house.  If Gore does the upgrades I'd like to see, your property value would likely skyrocket.

snoloco wrote

I would think that the taxes and maintenance on an entirely separate property would be a lot.  Don't know what the taxes are on my house.  If Gore does the upgrades I'd like to see, your property value would likely skyrocket.

Wow. You have no clue about the North Creek RE market.

You should sign up as a salesman for those Tupper mega mansions. "It'll be Youge, I tell ya, Youge!"

When your "house" is tiny the taxes and maint are low.  You could be right about property values, time will tell. I'm not focused on it because I hope to sell, never.

We just bought a house in poconos near small mountain. Bigger house , more land. Taxes 1/6 what I pay on LI. Plus its year round fun. Near lake ,near Delaware river and other fun summer stuff. Cuts my commute to Platty in half. If you can have a house or even a bungalow in the woods I highly recommend it.

Nice.

Not sure this even qualifies as a bungalow:

No kids in school = low school tax.
Harv, I was up there Saturday doing some recon. Probably drove right by your place. Nobody was there but these turkeys.