What the Skunk, East Coast Season Passes ???

Epic Season Pass to ski at:-
-Vail
-Beaver Creek
-Breckenridge
-Keystone
-Heavenly
-Northstar
-Kirkwood: $659.
Unlimited Riding at Kirkwood, no restrictions: $379
Unlimited Gold Pass for Squaw Valley AND Alpine Meadows: $749

Season Pass at Belleayre: $667.
Hunter Mountain: $749 Early Bird, Currently $849
Gore: $869
Windham: $1259
Stratton: $1569

Yeah, I realize you have to get to Tahoe even if you are in California, But This is BULLSHEEYIT......
If you have ever been to Kirkwood, it is worth it to get the season pass and sleep in your truck for 10 days that place freaking rocks...... They have it all, big bowls, cliffs, gulleys, Cornices......

Western areas don't have as extensive costs regarding snow making and grooming. Also, I suspect most western areas rely more heavily on visitors that travel to destinations whereas around here most skiers and riders are day trippers or doing weekend trips. So there is probably a lot more competition for local season passes. And a low season pass might entice destination travelers to lock into one mountain which would also net the mountain food and lodging for your stay. It is entirely different economics.

No, it isn't "entirely different" economics. Although many skiers at Summit County and the Vail mountains are multi day tourists, most are from the front range. (This is why Summit County and Vail RE has held up well in this recession, while Eagle RE, which is west of Beaver on I70, has crashed big time. Summit has become Denver's Hamptons, attracting Denver and Boulder second home money. It also has the same godawful traffic on the weekends, sometimes worse in the summer) Yeah, they don't have to make so much snow, but, the mountains are huge, and require LOTS of grooming and other labor intensive facilities. The Vail pass has been around now for over ten years. If it was a failure, why is it still around, and expanding? Killington also has it's fair share of multi day, package skiers from all over the East, and even Europe. The biz model is smaller, not different.

I, for one, cannot understand why a there is more merging of mountain ticket pricing in the East. It is the tipping point for me in buying a pass, which I don't own right now. If Killington and Sugarbush got together right now, like they did in the early ninties, I'm there in a flash. I'm not spending 1200 bucks to get "locked in" to one mountain, although I like the place. Ala carte is actually cheaper. Why is Bellayre not on the Gore/Whiteface pass, now that they all have the same boss? Oh, wait, I forgot that there are politicians running those places, not sensible business owners who know how to market.

skunkape wrote

Windham: $1259
Stratton: $1569

Dear Lord. Hate both places, but, people actually pay that much to ski there? Why? Well, at least the 1% are being diverted to crappy hills.

I Ski NY Gold Pass: 2012-13 - $938
Holiday Valley Resort Holimont
Peek 'n Peak Resort
Kissing Bridge
Brantling Ski Slopes Bristol Mountain Four Seasons Golf & Ski Center
Greek Peak Labrador Mountain Northampton Park
Powder Mills Park Song Mountain Swain Resort
Toggenburg Mountain
Val Bialis Ski Center Woods Valley Ski Area
Dry Hill Ski Area
Big Tupper Ski Area Gore Mountain McCauley Mountain
Royal Mountain Ski Hickory Titus Mountain
West Mountain Whiteface Mountain
Maple Ski Ridge Willard Mountain
Hunter Mountain Plattekill Mountain Windham Mountain
Catamount Ski Area Mount Peter Thunder Ridge
Tuxedo Ridge

Some Private mountains may have weekend/blackout rules.....

whoa!  that's a lot of coin!!  

I ski GP...300 bucks...American

The cost of snowmaking definitely comes to mind, but I hadn't really thought about sucking in destination skiers and getting them to commit to all of your mountains.  You get all their "ancillary spend" which is probably significantly more than lift tix and the lifts are running anyway.

I also don't understand why more mountains don't group passes together.  I guess if you have two mountains and one is "way better" than the other, that would lose out?  But still you get the F&B spend.  There must be a reason.

That Stratton Pass is the one that lets you cut in line and ski first tracks.  I think it used to be more.  $1800?

Just a guess: Bell will be on the ORDA pass next year.

riverc0il wrote

Western areas don't have as extensive costs regarding snow making and grooming. Also, I suspect most western areas rely more heavily on visitors that travel to destinations whereas around here most skiers and riders are day trippers or doing weekend trips. So there is probably a lot more competition for local season passes. And a low season pass might entice destination travelers to lock into one mountain which would also net the mountain food and lodging for your stay. It is entirely different economics.

Well the areas are actually much larger, and they groom everything but the glades and bowls. I would say that they do a much better job making money on everything else. Getting you to the mountain is just half of it. If you go to Kirkwood, you will eat in the restaurant there (not a cafeteria, an actual restaurant with waiters), go to the store and spend a little money on gear that you need/forgot, stay at the slopeside lodging, go to the Bar and get drunk after the lifts close.......At Heavenly, there is a Yurt bar in the middle of the mountain with a full bar and hot soup.

At Belleayre there are no amenities to speak of...They don't even try to make money, they don't have to as long as the state condones it.  Hunter does a pretty job of making money on the "others", with shops, better food, lodging, on-mountain photos, apres-ski drinks..... Same for the Vermont destinations .I can't imagine that making snow is that much pricier than operating a Big mountain.....

skunkape wrote

I can't imagine that making snow is that much pricier than operating a Big mountain.....

About a $1000/inch/acre last I heard.

Gotta add a couple zeros.  I was told 100K to cover 1 acre w/ 1-inch of snow.  An acre is 43,562 feet there about....  

And it's widely known that western resort revenue is driven from tourist and not season passes....

ScottyJack wrote

Gotta add a couple zeros.  I was told 100K to cover 1 acre w/ 1-inch of snow.  

  Are you shittin' me?  That blows my mind.

That can't be right.

If it's $100,000 to cover an acre with an inch...

then it would be $1.2 million to cover an acre with a foot.

Then if a mtn covered 300 acres of terrain with a foot it would be $360 million.

I think Gore's entire operating budget is +/- $6M and maybe 25% is snowmaking?

My math is bad or somebody is pulling somebody's leg.

My guess is $5k an acre foot.

It is not right......

"The Cost per Acre Foot of Snow is a critical measure. Among
our surveyed clients, this figure averages $2,100. But it’s the
range that flabbergasts me: $680 to $3,100."

Source: A Report Card on Snowmaking

 http://media.legitify.com/markhorton/documents/snowmaking.pdf

Snowmaking is also undergoing efficiency gains in the last decade. Automated
systems have been proven to be far more efficient than manual operations.

Also , snowmaking capacity has become critical for the survival of Ski Areas.
The areas with High speed lifts and snowmaking are the ones that survive and
even profit in lean winters..