Colorado Arapahoe Basin Is NOW a Free Agent (8/2/19 Update: A-Basin has joined IKON)

[mikel]

There are bunches of us who have been Ikon/RMSP pass holders for years and also purchased an A-basin Pass or other pass product.

We welcome the Epic Pass holders who love A-basin to join us in supporting the area by doing the same. For those unwilling, plenty of Epicness awaits elsewhere.

Have you received any of the Ikon/WP/POWDR/Copper surveys yet? I know in another thread someone was talking about them. I have received 3 in the last week.

 

[tball]

Have you received any of the Ikon/WP/POWDR/Copper surveys yet? I know in another thread someone was talking about them. I have received 3 in the last week.

Nope, nada. Any hints about A-basin in the survey?

 

[Mike King]

I'm keeping an eye out. I have barely skied this year and am strongly considering ditching the mountain condo. If I'm driving, either A Basin or Loveland seem pretty attractive, and lots of friends have one or the other. And of course, long season.

If you still like to ski, then I wouldn't dump the condo. My buds left Superior at 5:30 am on Saturday and it took them 2:30 to get to Copper. Insane. There were reports of 3:45 drives back from Keystone leaving at 3:30 on Sunday.

Mike

 

[Monique]

If you still like to ski, then I wouldn't dump the condo. My buds left Superior at 5:30 am on Saturday and it took them 2:30 to get to Copper. Insane. There were reports of 3:45 drives back from Keystone leaving at 3:30 on Sunday.

Mike

At my current rate, it's a lot cheaper to get a hotel room! There are a lot of factors, of course. But I would never drive east at 3:30 on a Sunday. That's just poor planning.

 

[mikel]

Nope, nada. Any hints about A-basin in the survey?

In the Copper survey they had 7 specific POWDR questions. I wish I had done a copy paste. It was basically asking if you are familiar with the parent company and their goals. They also had questions around partnering and passes. They were general questions, nothing specific to A Basin. In the comment section I asked very specific questions including about A Basin and was very open with my feelings. It certainly felt like they were trying to get an overall feel from their customers about partnering. I will let you know if they respond back.

I received another survey from "Bovitz Inc. on behalf of Winter Park Resort" "We would like to better understand the reason you did not purchase a 2018-2019 season pass and learn how you will spend your winter season"

 

[Green08]

If A-Basin is going to go down the route of partner days at other resorts, they either nothing is finalized or the cat is being let out of the bag.

Monarch has started to push their a season pass product for next year, the Wings Pass. They details the partnership which are already secured. A-Basin is currently not listed as a partner resort for Monarch. And if A-Basin was going down the partner days route, Monarch would seem to be a likely canary in the coal mine, with all the partnerships they offer.

 

[oswaldr2]

19/20 Season Pass price is out, $399

No added partners from last year, just 3 days at Taos thus far.

 

[Monique]

19/20 Season Pass price is out, $399

No added partners from last year, just 3 days at Taos thus far.

Tempppting.

Hey @Philpug @Tricia - do you guys expect to continue the A Basin Mother's Day tradition after the break from Epic?

 

[jmeb]

19/20 Season Pass price is out, $399

No added partners from last year, just 3 days at Taos thus far.

Will be very interesting to see if things change across the summer / fall. I trust nothing at this point. People who get in now may very well score a great deal as prices increase and bonus days at partner resorts get added.

Or people who get in now may be disappointed to see it added to the IKON and end up pretty damn disappointed.

There's already enough wagering / hedging with passes about snow and health -- adding pass products changing is another headache.

 

[Philpug]

Tempppting.

Hey @Philpug @Tricia - do you guys expect to continue the A Basin Mother's Day tradition after the break from Epic?

Honestly, after this year, a lot depends on who they align with. Just as A-Basin proclaimed their free agency after almost 13 years, we have to also.

 

[nay]

A-Basin just announced their season pass price for $399. That’s what I expected, and it’s $379 for renewals. That sounds right in line with market value.

 

[nay]

 

[Monique]

View attachment 67462

Ohh, half day lesson included. That's a nice perk.

I'm sold on getting an A Basin pass. Considering getting Loveland. Gonna ditch Epic for a year. (BIG change for me.)

 

[Philpug]

Ohh, half day lesson included. That's a nice perk.

I'm sold on getting an A Basin pass. Considering getting Loveland. Gonna ditch Epic for a year. (BIG change for me.)

Wow, I know you are a Breckenridge fan.

 

[Monique]

Wow, I know you are a Breckenridge fan.

I am, but it costs me $1400ish with Epic Local, plus 20 lessons to avoid weekend lift lines, which still leaves me to deal with holiday crowds. I also have barely skied this year, so I'm barely break even, if that. Breck reminds me of Eric, which is bittersweet. And I'm going to ditch the condo for a season and see if I miss it enough to make up for the cost. Lots of personal reasons, but A Basin clinched it for me. If I only ski eight days next season, I'd rather spend less for it and get fewer crowds.

 

[Philpug]

I am, but it costs me $1400ish with Epic Local, plus 20 lessons to avoid weekend lift lines, which still leaves me to deal with holiday crowds. I also have barely skied this year, so I'm barely break even, if that. Breck reminds me of Eric, which is bittersweet. And I'm going to ditch the condo for a season and see if I miss it enough to make up for the cost. Lots of personal reasons, but A Basin clinched it for me. If I only ski eight days next season, I'd rather spend less for it and get fewer crowds.

With the separation from Vail, I think that A-BAsin will be significantly less crowded from this spring moving forward. I think this is a smart decision on your part...you can always go back.

 

[Monique]

With the separation from Vail, I think that A-BAsin will be significantly less crowded from this spring moving forward. I think this is a smart decision on your part...you can always go back.

Exactly. I probably can't go back to Sunday lessons, but as time goes on, I am letting go of what I "always" wanted - I'm looking at what I want now. Also, I had been interested in exploring options. Eric was comfortable with Breck and didn't want to change things up.

The specifics are my own, but it's not a bad idea to sit back and look at your life and your goals with fresh eyes every now and then.

 

[nay]

Exactly. I probably can't go back to Sunday lessons, but as time goes on, I am letting go of what I "always" wanted - I'm looking at what I want now. Also, I had been interested in exploring options. Eric was comfortable with Breck and didn't want to change things up.

The specifics are my own, but it's not a bad idea to sit back and look at your life and your goals with fresh eyes every now and then.

I think you’ll also fall into the ease of skiing Loveland if you get a pass there. You might look into their women’s clinic if that’s something you really enjoy. $599 for 8 weeks including season pass.



These skiers were in a class last Thu skiing off the cat. It wasn’t a women’s clinic, but maybe an idea of what you could get if Thursdays work. The instructor was so giddy it didn’t seem much like school

 

[nay]

Not sure if this was mentioned, and I’m not even sure if this is new for next year because I’ve been buying a full season pass the last 3 years, but two legacy A-Basin options are gone:

• You used to be able to buy next season’s pass early and ski for free in the current season from April 1 to close. That could just be because this is the last spring with Vail and they can’t overlap, but it’s expressly excluded from the ‘19-20 pass.
• The $199 spring pass from April 1 to close is gone even for this season. I don’t know if that’s new, but the focus appears to now be on the $299 midweek pass, which I would buy except you then will pay for any season extended weekends in June unless you only ski Friday of those weekends.

Both of these suggest that A-Basin isn’t going to let people just ski spring on the cheap. They are pushing Elevation 3 packs for $189 (this is non-transferable), but you can beat that average day price in spring by buying at least a day in advance online, at least historically.

So for now at least, seems we are either in or out, with the only real question being willing to pass on weekends for the entire season for a $100 savings.

 

[tball]

@nay I'm not sure if we know if there is a change in A-basin's spring pass products, yet. They typically are not announced and don't go on sale until much later. The timing has been all over the board, as early as the last week of March and as late as mid May, from my recollection, but never this early.

I'm a repeat consumer of the "buy next year and get the rest of this year free" and hoping to do the same this year. We'll see.