comparison of season pass prices in the North East

[LiquidFeet]

This article just dropped into my mailbox. It compares pass prices at northeast ski areas to Vail's Epic Pass options.

Your Missing Season Pass Sales Are Sitting in Vail’s Bank Account

Plus one mountain cancels pass sales altogether; Loon’s season passes no longer include weekends

skiing.substack.com

"As of Sept. 28, six Northeast mountains post season pass prices that are higher than a $999 full Epic Pass. But most Northeast skiers don’t need a full Epic Pass, and the $749 Epic Local will get you unlimited access to all of Vail’s Northeast mountains outside of Stowe on holidays. Chop out the western access and holidays at Hunter, Okemo, and Mount Snow, and you’re looking at just $629 for the Northeast Value Pass (you’re also then restricted to 10 Stowe days). This product is cheaper than the full single-mountain season pass at 25 mountains across the Northeast, including smaller ski areas like Nashoba Valley and right-in-Vail’s-sites-in-the-middle-of-New-Hampshire Gunstock.
....
So how long will these resorts’ customers keep paying these inflated prices? It’s hard to say if they even still are. Publicly traded Vail makes its pass sales public, but almost no one else does. It’s impossible to determine if these Epic Pass buyers are defectors from single-mountain passes or newcomers who had previously considered a season pass to be unaffordable."

And there's a chart:

 

[BLspruce2]

Great Post Thanks

 

[GB_Ski]

A lot of them have military discount. My NY Ski3 is $469. Windham Local Pass is the stupidest thing I've ever saw, I had to call to verify that it wasn't a mistake.

 

[LiquidFeet]

Corrrection to the chart: SkiBradford, a small bump in MA near me, is not issuing season passes at all this year, and may, MAY open only on weekends. They will decide the first of October. I wonder how many other small mountains will do something similar.

 

[Tricia]

Ironcially @Philpug and I have had an IKON, Epic and Mt Rose pass for the past several years. This year we won't be getting an Epic pass.

 

[Wasatchman]

Ironcially @Philpug and I have had an IKON, Epic and Mt Rose pass for the past several years. This year we won't be getting an Epic pass.

How come?

 

[Wendy]

If one is going to travel to ski, then an Epic Pass makes sense.
If it’s day trips only, maybe not.
The Vail-owned PA areas, even when combined together, are not worth the price of the Northeast Value Pass. Small, cramped lodges, often crowded.

 

[dbostedo]

The Vail-owned PA areas, even when combined together, are not worth the price of the Northeast Value Pass. Small, cramped lodges, often crowded.

I'd agree, unless you can ski a bunch of weekdays. Then it's probably a pretty good value. What I'm concerned about, given that I'm not buying an Epic pass, is what the day ticket prices will be for Whitetail/Liberty/Roundtop. They don't go on sale until November 9th, and I presume that the Vail model will be in effect to increase day tickets and push you toward a pass.

If I DID buy an Epic Day pass now to ski there for, say, 5 days this season, it would be $600. That's $120/day, obviously pushing you to buy a season pass instead. If I just wanted to buy 2 days now, it goes up to $130/day. And these give access to all of the Vail resorts, which explains the pricing. For reference, the last couple of seasons I've been paying less than $70/day for PA.

So the Epic Day passes don't make a lot of sense for just local mid-Atlantic... so I'm curious what the day ticket prices will be come November.

 

[BC.]

I bought Epic Local...I ski Hunter on Sundays...plan to ski Stowe/Okemo....and am planning Easter CO trip. It hopefully will work out and be worth it this year.

 

[crgildart]

I bought Epic Local...I ski Hunter on Sundays...plan to ski Stowe/Okemo....and am planning Easter CO trip. It hopefully will work out and be worth it this year.

I'd love to see more Huntahhh trip reports. It's been over 30 years since I've been there.

 

[Nathanvg]

The author's perspective makes sense for people who ski a lot, 18+ days. Despite marketing, that's not a comparison to the walk up rate but rather other available discounts. For example, the "ski vermont 4 pass" includes tickets for $45 a day to 16 ski areas including Sugarbush, Killington, Jay, Stowe and many others. So if you are going to ski 18+ days, the epic pass is a better deal but that's a pretty small minority. So if the epic pass is the only discount pass option, it's a bad deal for most (unfortunately that is what has happened to many western epic areas).

Also, if you dislike crowds, which are a major factor in the East on weekends, the Epic pass will appeal to high volume skiers and encourage others to become high volume skiers which results in more crowds. Which results in lower ski quality. So for most people, the current non-season-pass model in the East is a lower cost and a better experience.

One positive of the competition is more multi-mountain tickets which is a good thing in that it provides more value to skiers with no additonal costs for the ski areas.

 

[BC.]

Ski Vermont 4 pass?.......where u see that?.....(found it.) Wish I had known about that one the past few years .

Ski Vermont 4 Pass Information — Ski Vermont

Ski Vermont 4 Pass Information: The Ski Vermont 4 Pass is an affordable way to discover and explore four (4) different participating ski areas in Vermont. Each 4 Pass entitles each bearer to a total of four (4) one-day lift ticket vouchers, to be used at four (4) different

skivermont.com

 

[Wilhelmson]

Cant beat that deal if you can find a place to stay in VT for $150 a night. We had a blast for a couple years with full Ikon.

My guess is that kids racing and convenience are more important than a few hundred for better variety.

For those that dont want to drive far Wachusett lets people do their weekend stuff and get some runs in at their leisure. Gunstock is closer than Sunapee for a large population not to mention second homes in the lakes region. Waterville 4000 feet easy drive cool village. Nashoba weekday beer league bar scene. Cannon kids racing and its Cannon. Bretton Woods is big good for kids and lodging in Twin Mountain is dirt cheap Sunday River is not hurting for customers. Just to mention a few.