Colorado A Basin vs Loveland season pass

[Monique]

Breck is a tale of two places, the Alpine (love the T Bar) is amazing, most everything below is mostly for the tourists, crowded and flat.

<3 Breck. There's plenty below tree line. Have you skied all of the Windows, Doors, Minecrotch, all the weird tree lines @Doug Briggs finds off E Chair? Have you explored the tree lines on Peak 10? It's all short, but quite pleasing. But the crowds. The crowds. Ughhhhh.

 

[Ken_R]

<3 Breck. There's plenty below tree line. Have you skied all of the Windows, Doors, Minecrotch, all the weird tree lines @Doug Briggs finds off E Chair? Have you explored the tree lines on Peak 10? It's all short, but quite pleasing. But the crowds. The crowds. Ughhhhh.

Yes, but conditions have to be right otherwise its mogguled up trees, not my fav , You end up with the masses anyway but on some days its worth it I guess. The Alpine is just so much more consistent day in day out and the T Bar takes care of the crowds, sometimes against their will

 

[Noodler]

I somehow totally overlooked that Eldora is on Ikon. Eldora's season pass is pricy compared to Loveland; Ikon Base + Luv makes lots more sense, especially as a lot of my friends will have Ikon, too, and I'd like to get to know Copper better.

It'll still be cheaper than my current Epic Local + two Breck lesson club days. (Not to mention no longer paying for the condo ... ) And I might have the opportunity to ski Solitude in Utah, which would make me happy.

I'll be right there with ya. I'm definitely going to Ikon + LL. Just trying to figure out how to get A-Basin into the mix.

 

[nay]

I'll be right there with ya. I'm definitely going to Ikon + LL. Just trying to figure out how to get A-Basin into the mix.

After yesterday, where it took one of my son’s friends 90 minutes to get rental skis and a ticket at A-Basin, plus the lack of consistently favorable aspects, I’ve pretty much decided it’s Loveland plus an A-Basin Elevation 4 Pack. I just don’t think A-Basin is going to un-cluster the way we hope and they are going to be victim of their own “success”.

From the 4-Pack, my plans are an East Wall day in April, 2 days in May, and a June day.

I’ll probably succumb and just get the pass if this spring is really good, but right now it just doesn’t feel worth it.

 

[nay]

Oh crap, the A-Basin Elevation Pass is only 3 days. Guess have to wait and see what they offer for spring this season.

I’m stuck in the trap of wanting to have days there that I’m not going to use until Loveland closes, and the what-ifs in a big year if A-Basin goes late into June.

It’s totally fomo.

 

[mikel]

I use to buy the A Basin spring pass. It was a great deal when it was $199

 

[nay]

I use to buy the A Basin spring pass. It was a great deal when it was $199

Me, too. Question is what they’ll offer for this spring and if it will carry to next year.

 

[Noodler]

Me, too. Question is what they’ll offer for this spring and if it will carry to next year.

We should know in early April, right? So a couple weeks or so...

 

[Monique]

ALSO just realized Deer Valley is on Ikon - that's the only place my aunt skis.

 

[Philpug]

Oh crap, the A-Basin Elevation Pass is only 3 days. Guess have to wait and see what they offer for spring this season.

I’m stuck in the trap of wanting to have days there that I’m not going to use until Loveland closes, and the what-ifs in a big year if A-Basin goes late into June.

It’s totally fomo.

I think with Breck being open into May will give a good view into next season will be like. I think a good amount of Epic pass holders who didn't have any option other than A-Basin in the past years, will be heading to Breck to close out the season.

 

[Green08]

It may not be a huge crowd, but remember Epic Military passes do not include A-Basin. If I am going to ski with my dad after mid April, Breck is the only option, even though I have access to A-ABasin on my own pass.

 

[EricG]

Loveland has a lot of old school charm. Decent terrain, decent snow and the drive up is so much easier than the other options (win-win-win). I've enjoyed Loveland when we skied there and I never found the crowds to be like the others (albeit its been a few years since I've been to LL). Its easy to stop in Georgetown after and grab a drink and food. Try it for a year and see if you like it.

 

[Mike King]

Monique, go with Loveland and Ikon. You can ski WP/MJ and avoid the tunnel. Most importantly, lessons are cheap at Loveland for your non-skiing boyfriend.

Mike

 

[Mike King]

Perhaps that should've been cheap(er).

 

[nay]

I think with Breck being open into May will give a good view into next season will be like. I think a good amount of Epic pass holders who didn't have any option other than A-Basin in the past years, will be heading to Breck to close out the season.

It will be a really interesting data point as Epic and Ikon compete for season length.

I’m wondering more about the tons of people showing up who can just (barely) ski BMX. It’s not clear to me that these are just Epic people, because this is something that is growing and it’s also happening at Loveland, although easier to avoid there.

What I mean by this is that places with very little beginner or interesting ‘light blue’ terrain have a lot of people traveling to ski them. This seems like a weird choice on paper, but I have to think maybe it isn’t. Perhaps finding an Airbnb and skiing Loveland is a great family trip compared to Keystone or whatever. And so same goes for A-Basin, which has invested a lot of money into increasing its accessibility.

This is from last Sunday. All the Loveland parking lots were full, the base was packed with people sitting around, and this was the upper mountain, dead middle of spring break, around 1:00 pm.



That’s not an unusual sight per se, it’s just that what is straining capacity is people accessing the lower mountain terrain. Not on a mega pass, but off of a mega pass.

I kinda think this is going to continue as more people shun the major pass resorts, and it is going to take another 1-2 years before we really see the effects of Ikon. I have no doubt Ikon has driven people to Loveland - the snowboarder mix in particular is way up this year, despite pretty unfavorable runout terrain off the best aspects.

Time will tell. It’s just weird that A-Basin has become day-in / day-out frustrating and it looks and feels to me like more than just Epic. You just have to get so remote now to avoid the Instagram Disneyland, and that genie doesn’t seem to want to go back in the bottle.

 

[Ken_R]

It will be a really interesting data point as Epic and Ikon compete for season length.

I’m wondering more about the tons of people showing up who can just (barely) ski BMX. It’s not clear to me that these are just Epic people, because this is something that is growing and it’s also happening at Loveland, although easier to avoid there.

What I mean by this is that places with very little beginner or interesting ‘light blue’ terrain have a lot of people traveling to ski them. This seems like a weird choice on paper, but I have to think maybe it isn’t. Perhaps finding an Airbnb and skiing Loveland is a great family trip compared to Keystone or whatever. And so same goes for A-Basin, which has invested a lot of money into increasing its accessibility.

This is from last Sunday. All the Loveland parking lots were full, the base was packed with people sitting around, and this was the upper mountain, dead middle of spring break, around 1:00 pm.

View attachment 69312

That’s not an unusual sight per se, it’s just that what is straining capacity is people accessing the lower mountain terrain. Not on a mega pass, but off of a mega pass.

I kinda think this is going to continue as more people shun the major pass resorts, and it is going to take another 1-2 years before we really see the effects of Ikon. I have no doubt Ikon has driven people to Loveland - the snowboarder mix in particular is way up this year, despite pretty unfavorable runout terrain off the best aspects.

Time will tell. It’s just weird that A-Basin has become day-in / day-out frustrating and it looks and feels to me like more than just Epic. You just have to get so remote now to avoid the Instagram Disneyland, and that genie doesn’t seem to want to go back in the bottle.

After this year I think I am done with A Basin other than going there from time to time to skin up to the summit for a sunset or before lifts open. And of course, the Pugski May meetup.

 

[tball]

I’m wondering more about the tons of people showing up who can just (barely) ski BMX. It’s not clear to me that these are just Epic people, because this is something that is growing and it’s also happening at Loveland, although easier to avoid there.

My speculation and hope is the Keystone/A-basin Pass brings a lot of beginners to A-basin that won't be there next year. I believe the combo pass has been the same price as a Keystone only pass, so folks end up with access to both then go to The Legend just to say they did even though Keystone is a better fit for them.

 

[TexasStout]

I think with Breck being open into May will give a good view into next season will be like. I think a good amount of Epic pass holders who didn't have any option other than A-Basin in the past years, will be heading to Breck to close out the season.

I know this doesn't count as it isn't May. I have one more trip planned for April because a buddy wants to ski A-Basin. I am counting on us skiing Breck again as well since we have Epic passes and a lot of the lifts to the alpine were closed due to wind on our last trip. Only high area we were able to ski last time was Horseshoe Bowl.

 

[nay]

My speculation and hope is the Keystone/A-basin Pass brings a lot of beginners to A-basin that won't be there next year. I believe the combo pass has been the same price as a Keystone only pass, so folks end up with access to both then go to The Legend just to say they did even though Keystone is a better fit for them.

Interesting point.

I think A-Basin is just plain on the map now. Their social media accounts get a ton of likes. If you look at Instagram, A-Basin’s posts and videos are getting as many or more likes and views as Copper’s. They get about 4x the clicks that Loveland gets.

I’d be curious to see a data study correlating that to skier days. One thing for sure is I’ll watch is whether A-Basin’s social media clicks decline after this season. If not...I imagine a lot of the crowding pressure remains.

 

[RachelV]

SlopeFillers has a tool that lets you easily compare all kinds of social media metrics for ski areas, FYI:
http://www.slopefillers.com/rankings/