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BC.

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Does anybody see anything about purchasing now for 2019-2020 and being able to use this spring? (ie. Breck)

For example...I can buy IKON for next year.....and be able to use this spring at.....(ie. Mammoth)
 

Snowflake2420

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This is somewhat appealing because the Epic Local without A Basin has definitely lost its luster for me. Breck and Keystone don't get me super excited to be my local mountains.
 

Philpug

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I would say there is a strong double digit percentage of skiers than went from an Epic pass to the Ikon pass this past year. The one thing in comparing these two passes right now is that the Ikon pass will give you skiing this year if you buy it now where the Epic pass does not. If Epic wants those people to come back, that would be the hook that I thought they would have used.
 

Coach13

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Does anybody see anything about purchasing now for 2019-2020 and being able to use this spring? (ie. Breck)

For example...I can buy IKON for next year.....and be able to use this spring at.....(ie. Mammoth)

It’s not an option with the Epic Pass. It should be as I think it would make the pass more immediately attractive, but it’s not.
 
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laine

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It’s not an option with the Epic Pass. It should be as I think it would make the pass more immediately attractive, but it’s not.

That's pretty annoying, and I think, a mistake on their part. Even if they announced you could use it after April 1, it would be a draw. But definitely frustrating that I wouldn't be able to use it in the spring. I was really hoping to do that.

We were thinking of a restricted Epic for next year on top of our unrestricted Ikon. But honestly, there are so many choices, I'm stuck in a little analysis paralysis. Looking at:
Epic Local - All mountains, holiday restrictions
Tahoe Local - Tahoe and some Colorado mtns, holiday restrictions
Epic Day Pass - Too many options

But since I can't use it in the Spring, it kind of takes away the urgency. I understand that pass prices will go up, likely by $50 sometime in late April/early May, but we also don't have a sense of what our ski travel plans might be next year and if we might take a vacation to an Epic resort or an Alterra resort.

Another general observation re: Alterra vs. Epic. I had a friend visiting and we went to Squaw. I went up to the ticket window with her to get her a buddy pass. I showed my pass, they scanned it, and then she paid for a ticket, and we left. Took all of 3 minutes. We went to Northstar last weekend (I don't have Epic). I was booting up at the lockers, so my friend Ivan went to the ticket window to buy me a buddy pass. First they told him there were two options, so he and the ticket person had to figure out which was less expensive. Then they asked him for my name. He gave it. Then they asked him for my birthday. He made one up (got the month right). Seriously? It's a day ticket. I definitely understand the idea of CRM (I work at Salesforce), but that's quite a bit of information for a day ticket.
 

Goran M.

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That is much, much better from Vail. Just the fact that they did acknowledge the "situation" with day passes and did "something" about it.

I think that this would motivate a lot of families that are skiing 1 week a year to visit their properties. IMO, this is the most significant new product/initiative for this year re. ticket pricing.

7 days, family with 2 kids and 2 adults = $1888. That is a reasonable price drop comparing to the next "best" option (Epic Local) that would cost family of four $2136

Or $2222 vs. $2856 with no restrictions.

IKON is still a bit better option for a "family ski pass". $2296 (IKON Pass) vs. $1616 (IKON Base) but really so close in pricing that it is hard to favor one over another. IKON base offers only 5 days at many resorts so that could be determining factor for some ...

Now, much better still does not mean good enough ... Same arrangement in Val D'Isere (7 day "family pass") would cost family of four $1327, no restrictions and no advance purchase. Decide to go to La Thuile/Courmayeur and family of four can ski 7 days for $950 ! But that is another discussion ...

Next logical step is to drop "advance" purchase requirement and offer this as a "family pricing" option. Realistically, it is very hard for many families to plan that far ahead their ski trip (school, work, kids get sick and so on ...)

Now, that would be really nice.
 

Tricia

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It appears that Vail plans on starting pass sales on March 5th. The only info I have found on it was here, www.epicpass.com.

No details there yet, just a note on the homepage.
Edit:
Pass Details are out.
Vail is adding an Epic Day Pass to the mix.
Epic Pass $939.00
Epic Local Pass $699.00
Epic Day Pass - Pick how many days you want and if you want to include holidays through the season.
I took the liberty of editing the OP of this thread to include the link and a few details about the Epic Pass announcement this morning.
If someone wanted to ski just a holiday vacation the new Epic Day Pass could be worthwhile.
Screen Shot 2019-03-05 at 10.21.46 AM.png
 

Seldomski

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Yes the new flexible individual tickets are really good for casual skier who travels to ski for 2-6 days a year. I ski with some friends that plan on doing 1 trip annually typically with 3 ski days. Anything more than that is really unreliable. So I can see them opting for 3 days of tickets. Likewise, my uncle does an annual week long trip to Vail in early December. This would be a great option for him - he could get 5 days at $450-ish. He does maybe one other trip, but not to a Vail property.

I am curious to see if Ikon answers this type of flexibility. The base Ikon is still too big for many of the 2-6 day per year skiers I know.
 

raytseng

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It’s not an option with the Epic Pass. It should be as I think it would make the pass more immediately attractive, but it’s not.

correct, the days of this years' spring access for free are gone.
In past years, at best they will allow you to apply today's ticket price towards the pass and maybe you get tmrw's ticket for free too; So at best you get one free weekend.
They do not advertise this on internet, but it's always been on the lunch tables and flyers in Tahoe physical. You will need someone local to confirm for you though.

If you show up with a pass already bought, and expect to ski there with it; there is absolutely nothing they will be able to do for you other then buy a day ticket.
From a fairness perspective, it would be unfair to that you get a secret deal that is not advertised.
 
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raytseng

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Yes the new flexible individual tickets are really good for casual skier who travels to ski for 2-6 days a year. I ski with some friends that plan on doing 1 trip annually typically with 3 ski days. Anything more than that is really unreliable. So I can see them opting for 3 days of tickets. Likewise, my uncle does an annual week long trip to Vail in early December. This would be a great option for him - he could get 5 days at $450-ish. He does maybe one other trip, but not to a Vail property.

I am curious to see if Ikon answers this type of flexibility. The base Ikon is still too big for many of the 2-6 day per year skiers I know.

SquawAlpine have been offering the 4-pack for under $400 even after they stopped Ikon pass sales. This is a fair shake of a deal versus the window inflation to reinforce pass sales. So it does seem that Alterra resorts still have some autonomy to do their own promos and their own local partnerships and customs (e.g. utah superpass) rather then having the strict ticket lockdown. You may need to check resort-by-resort if you know where you will go; but maybe next year they'll have it as a network option.
 
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crazytoaster

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Yes the new flexible individual tickets are really good for casual skier who travels to ski for 2-6 days a year. I ski with some friends that plan on doing 1 trip annually typically with 3 ski days. Anything more than that is really unreliable. So I can see them opting for 3 days of tickets. Likewise, my uncle does an annual week long trip to Vail in early December. This would be a great option for him - he could get 5 days at $450-ish. He does maybe one other trip, but not to a Vail property.

I am curious to see if Ikon answers this type of flexibility. The base Ikon is still too big for many of the 2-6 day per year skiers I know.

Copper has already announced their 4 pack for next year at $250. Winter Park and Eldora each had a 4 pack last year for about $230ish also. This is still cheaper than Vail's new Epic Day Pass assuming you go at least twice.

Ikon and other resort groups could create more flexible 4 / multi day packs too. For example, Powdr could create a 4 pack with Copper and Eldora. Alterra could create one with Winter Park and Steamboat.
 

Seldomski

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@raytseng Good to know. I like the epic product because it is 1-7 days at ANY of their resorts. So we can commit now and then plan to go wherever snow is good/best air bnb or hotel promo. The 4-packs at different resorts is much more limiting and a lot to coordinate for these friends...

2-6 days of skiing is really two 3 day trips. Lift ticket costs are just part of the overall trip expense, so there are a lot of factors to juggle. Having more flexibility on what resort, even if the daily lift price is higher, can yield greater savings overall.
 

raytseng

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I suppose at least a chunk of that Alterra $27.1M for customer technology is to figure all that out so they can launch those new product offerings by next season.
 

MarkG

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For the Tahoe perspective (albeit limited to the resorts I'm most interested in.) Pass combination options below are to mostly diversify North/South, Microclimates or Traffic Issues. Apologies to the Mt Rose, Homewood and Diamond Peak crowd. R=Restricted; U=Unrestricted. Epic Day Prices are an average of Northstar, Heavenly, Kirkwood 2018 Windows. Ikon Day Prices are 2018 Squaw.

upload_2019-3-5_14-43-50.png
 
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Seldomski

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I don't know if this is new this year, but day tickets bought after March 5 can count toward pass for next season:

https://www.epicpass.com/info/tiyt.aspx

To qualify, participants need to:
  • Have purchased a ticket to ski on or after 3/5/19
  • Not be a Season Pass holder for the 2018/2019 season
  • Pay in full for a 2019/2020 Season Pass - no $49 down
  • Only credit one lift ticket to each pass
  • Turn in qualifying ticket before May 27
Probably doesn't work for many, but it happens to apply to my case.
 

raytseng

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This was always an in-person in-resort deal at vail resorts to ski today free and was on all the lunch tables and flyers.

Looks like they are expanding that promo to make it official and available over the phone too; and with much larger flexibility for the day you skied versus turn-in date.

There was always a bit of a hack, where if you find someone you knew wouldn't be getting a pass or had multiple day tickets, to give you their used ticket then you could use that credit off your new pass purchase. But I believe they take down name to associate with tickets at the window, so might not fly
This is along the lines of ski bums bumming people that were done for used tickets around 3PM to get some free skiing as well.
 

Seldomski

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This was always an in-person in-resort deal at vail resorts to ski today free and was on all the lunch tables and flyers.

Looks like they are expanding that promo to make it official and available over the phone too; and with much larger flexibility for the day you skied versus turn-in date.

There was always a bit of a hack, where if you find someone you knew wouldn't be getting a pass or had multiple day tickets, to give you their used ticket then you could use that credit off your new pass purchase. But I believe they take down name to associate with tickets at the window, so might not fly
This is along the lines of ski bums bumming people that were done for used tickets around 3PM to get some free skiing as well.

It looks like they have closed some other loopholes for the situation above.
1) They also want you to use your same credit card from the lift ticket purchase.
2) You must not be a current season pass holder.

So this is a perk to people without Epic Pass now who want to ski late season AND were thinking of buying a pass for next year. Kind of sucks that it's just 1 day maximum. Better than zero I guess. In our case, it's ~$100 off the pass for next year. I didn't ask if this applies to both Local and full pass... will report back later when/if I get this deal.
 

raytseng

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typically in person, they had a closer deal, to give you 1 extra day free; so you'd have a spring weekend to try skiing as a new Pass holder. you would not ever find that in print though.

LOL< Suprised you wear able to escape VR's clutches paying "only" a $100 lift ticket
 

laine

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It looks like they have closed some other loopholes for the situation above.
1) They also want you to use your same credit card from the lift ticket purchase.
2) You must not be a current season pass holder.

So this is a perk to people without Epic Pass now who want to ski late season AND were thinking of buying a pass for next year. Kind of sucks that it's just 1 day maximum. Better than zero I guess. In our case, it's ~$100 off the pass for next year. I didn't ask if this applies to both Local and full pass... will report back later when/if I get this deal.

Yeah, that's frustrating. I did go to N* with friends recently. But my friend went and bought my buddy pass while I booted up and then I Venmo'd him - just so that we both wouldn't have to wait on line. So I guess I'm screwed there - no credit card receipt for me. Think Venmo would work?
 

Seldomski

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Sounds like you would need to use your Buddy's credit card to buy your Epic Pass. Then pay your buddy back. But if you had an Epic Pass for this year (2018/19), then the deal would not apply to you.

In any case, you could try calling them. My guess is their heads would explode.
 

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