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What will Araphoe Basin do?


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Itinerant skier

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I would love a combined AB / LL pass!! I bought the LL Pass early this year, so I got it for $419. It's got Powder Alliance and heaps of other partners, only little Ski Cooper is in the neighborhood though. A combo, together with Powder Alliance and other recips would be a formidable competitor to the other passes. Unfortunately, they are probably gonna stick with Epic.
 

jimmy

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Seconded
I already buy the Ikon Base Pass and an Abasin Doubledown pass (a 2 year pass every 2 years) so my buying habits wouldn't change but my enjoyment of Abasin would go up immenselyogsmile

Swapped my Mountain Collective for an Ikon Pass this year. I have had an A-Basin pass in some form for the last six years. I just renewed the Double Down to cover this and next season and iirc i paid between $500-600. Living in West Virginia i get to use the Abasin pass 5-6 days in May and if I am lucky 4-5 days in December. I guess if they made a deal with Alterra i would like that because the Ikon pass gives me unlimited skiing at Snowshoe WV already and then i wouldn't need the Abasin pass. I think it makes the most sense for them to stay with Epic though.
 

UGASkiDawg

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Seconded


Swapped my Mountain Collective for an Ikon Pass this year. I have had an A-Basin pass in some form for the last six years. I just renewed the Double Down to cover this and next season and iirc i paid between $500-600. Living in West Virginia i get to use the Abasin pass 5-6 days in May and if I am lucky 4-5 days in December. I guess if they made a deal with Alterra i would like that because the Ikon pass gives me unlimited skiing at Snowshoe WV already and then i wouldn't need the Abasin pass. I think it makes the most sense for them to stay with Epic though.


Somehow I doubt it makes sense to stay with Epic but I've been wrong before and will be again. The rumors are they get either $5 or $10 (not sure I believe that) every day that an epic pass is swiped. They get a lot of volume from that early and late season and less so during the main season. The size of the Epic pass crowds that they attract (in late season especially) would shrink some but not much because most of them are their for one of 3 main reasons.

1. They love the mountain. These folks will buy a Basin only pass and I personally know more than just a few that would buy the Basin pass and stop buying the Epic pass.
2. They come for the beach and those people will buy full price lift tickets because there is no other beach they can go to. (maybe MJ).
3 They have no other ski option early and late so if they want to ski then they need pony up.

The Basin has a brand, a strong one among good skiers but they are killing the experience with the Epic hordes and Al has to know that.
 

SBrown

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...The Basin has a brand, a strong one among good skiers but they are killing the experience with the Epic hordes and Al has to know that.

From what I've heard, yes, they do know that and have been trying to figure out how to make it work w/o Vail. I have no idea what the bank book looks like, though, and we all know what makes the world go round.
 

Monique

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dbostedo

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The size of the Epic pass crowds that they attract (in late season especially) would shrink some but not much...

I could swear I've heard folks lament the fact that it got so much busier early and late season when they went Epic. Is that not true? (I have no data or history to draw from... just 3rd hand comments.)
 

SBrown

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I could swear I've heard folks lament the fact that it got so much busier early and late season when they went Epic. Is that not true? (I have no data or history to draw from... just 3rd hand comments.)

They have been "Epic" for many years ... it's something else making them more crowded in the past 3 or 4 years.
 

tball

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Maybe a big clue in MTN earnings Friday?

Vail Resorts announced substantial investments next summer in snowmaking for Keystone, Vail and Beaver Creek to improve early season conditions and beat A-basin to be first to open.

“This will help to position Keystone to be the first resort to open in Colorado and the U.S. each season with the most skiable terrain, bringing forward the resort’s opening day by up to three weeks each year."
http://news.vailresorts.com/corporate/vailresorts/201920capital.htm

"The snowmaking expansion at Keystone is specifically aimed at rewarding skiers who buy the Epic Pass, Katz said. “We are really making a push here to say, ‘Yeah, we are going to have a better product open earlier.’ We see an opportunity to make a statement. This is an investment in that loyalty program and we will see real benefit from that,” he said."

https://coloradosun.com/2018/12/07/vail-resorts-stock-decline-epic-pass/
That's on top of buying Crested Butte and partnering with Telluride in Colorado. I wonder if the handwriting has been on the wall that Epic will lose A-basin.

I still think A-basin selling to Alterra could be their best financial play. They can't sell to Vail Resorts because of the DOJ. If they want to cash out, this is the time, and Alterra is the buyer. It's a great time to sell a ski area. At some point, the markets are going to remember that ski resorts are a crappy seasonal weather dependent capital intensive business and don't deserve a 30 P/E ratio. Maybe that happened this week.
 
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SkiSchoolPros

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They have been "Epic" for many years ... it's something else making them more crowded in the past 3 or 4 years.
Agree that it seems more crowded in recent years, especially mid-week spring powder. Not being part of the Epic would likely cut down on this, but not sure exactly what has caused the bump in recent years- growing front range population, more Epic passes being sold, better economy, more people ditching work, more people realizing they offer good spring skiing, relatively low number of powder days during the main season, ???
 

Philpug

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