Pacific NW/AK/BC Crystal Mountain to discontinue weekend walk up lift tickets

[Analisa]

Crystal Mountain announced that they’re discontinuing walk up lift tickets after 2 weeks of parking lot mutiny & lots of social media complaints. Really curious to see how this plays out once the powder-craze with the late start to the season dies down, or whether it’ll be enough to help. (Or whether they’re asking for more complaints - I feel like the type of skier who does walk up tickets isn’t the type to stay on top of resort updates. Seems particularly harsh for beginners and people who aren’t privileged enough to be really plugged into the outdoor community. Almost in a gatekeeper kind of way)

Has anyone else’s mountain ever implemented something like this? Stevens has been notorious for parking scarcity, but the attitude has always been more like “get up early, especially over the peak January & February weekends.”

I’m not sure how people didn’t see this coming - we bought Ikon first, but committed to both when we knew so many people going for Ikon passes.

 

[Sibhusky]

And they are doing this why? To reduce weekend skier count? It seems to be getting rid of the "cream", the more profitable body. I could see turning people away when the lots are full to control skier count, and they certainly wouldn't be the first resort to do that. I'm not sure what this accomplishes other than a bunch of people in the customer service area screaming at them.

Maybe they should have stopped selling season passes after a certain count.

 

[James]

I agree with your issues with it. The people it will affect are not the problem. They’re the ones who are “oh, let’s go skiing”.

Never heard of it.

 

[Analisa]

@Sibhusky - Less limiting people vs. the number of cars. Lots have been full and traffic pretty gnarly for the past 4 weekend pow days.

Season pass limits get tricky since it’s Ikon and it’s hard to determine who’s buying it to ski Crystal every weekend vs who’s buying it predominately for other trips.

 

[Tony S]

Season pass limits get tricky since it’s Ikon

Maybe for people who aren't up on the details, it would be good to clarify exactly what "it's Ikon" means in this context?

 

[Lauren]

 

[fatbob]

Presumably tix will be available online though for day customers ( though maybe they'll have a midnight or 6am cutoff). Doesn't sound too crazy to me, provided they implement with one or 2 amnesty weekends to allow time to get the word out, invest in enough advertising and generally don't try to use it to penalise casual skiers.

After all what's the point of 10am drive ups turning up for a wak up ticket if they can't park anyway.

 

[Brian Finch]

https://www.crystalmountainresort.com/the-mountain/crystal-blog/an-open-letter

At least they recognize that there are some larger issues at play, yet sad that Ikon is being vilified..... again.

The letter goes on to identify several structural issues at the area they’re causing these problems.

 

[Analisa]

Maybe for people who aren't up on the details, it would be good to clarify exactly what "it's Ikon" means in this context?

Ikon sells two passes: unlimited and a base pass. It doesn’t matter if you ski Crystal or Steamboat or Squaw, there’s no differentiation or place to specify your “home” mountain. It’s just those two products. So it’s impossible to throttle tickets just in Western Washington.

 

[fatbob]

It's illogical for the whiners to blame Ikon. They are in fact just blaming seasonpass holders like themselves - probably with a dose of "I was here first" entitlement. But easier to blame something new than a correlation of big storms with weekends. Try on a 3 or 4 week drought and see how much problem Ikon is causing.

 

[Green08]

Crystal is needing to take similar steps ABasin grappled with outside Denver for the last several years. How do you limit peak visitation to just what the roads and parking can handle? I commend them for being open and honest.

Of course the downside is that a place like Crystal can easily become just for those people who can afford and commit to a season pass.

Hope they can put the master plan for parking into effect fast.

 

[Brian Finch]

This is not an Ikon prob.

 

[Ogg]

Presumably tix will be available online though for day customers ( though maybe they'll have a midnight or 6am cutoff). Doesn't sound too crazy to me, provided they implement with one or 2 amnesty weekends to allow time to get the word out, invest in enough advertising and generally don't try to use it to penalise casual skiers.

After all what's the point of 10am drive ups turning up for a wak up ticket if they can't park anyway.

If they're only going to sell them online they really should make them available or purchase the same day at least until a set quota is reached. That way if someone uninformed shows up early enough they may still be able to get a ticket with their phone.

 

[Tricia]

It surprises me that they are just going to quit selling walk up tickets on weekends.
Most other resorts that are having parking issues have just started with paid parking.
Either way, there is going to be push back.
Imagine loading your family in a car for a spontaneous Sunday on the slopes and arriving only to find that you can't buy tickets.

That's not quite the same as loading your family for a spontaneous Sunday on the slopes and arriving to find out you have to shell out $$ for parking.

 

[Core2]

When the lots get full the ski area here deals with the parking situation by stopping traffic at the gate well below the mountain and letting the traffic back up out onto the highway and back into town. As someone leaves, they let a car go up.

 

[tball]

Is there an issue with lift lines at Crystal on the busy weekends, or is it just a parking problem?

As I recall, there seems to be a lot more uphill capacity at Crystal than parking. If true, why limit lift tickets? Seems like it's solving the wrong problem.

Eldora is on the Ikon Pass and has major parking issues. It's the closest ski area to Boulder and you don't need to drive I-70. For years folks have been turned around most weekends when the lots fill up. Last year they tried to start charging for parking and there was a huge backlash and they backed off. They are now moving forward to expand parking, something they should have done years ago:

Boulder County Planning Commission holding public hearing on Eldora parking expansion

Eldora is seeking to rezone land to construct a new 560-space parking lot above its north lot and to add 235 spaces to an existing lot near the Nordic Center, according to spokesman Sam Bass. The p…

www.dailycamera.com

 

[Jilly]

We have similar problems at Tremblant. With 2 major cities that are only 1- 1 1/2 hours away, it gets crowded. Ikon hasn't helped the situation, but it was there before with the Max pass. So the main parking lot is paid parking, but they have allowed the employees to part there this year. It's always full by 8am with the race teams. There are secondary parking lots with shuttle buses. P2 has a lift that takes you up to access either the south side base or the Versant Soliel. P6 has a bridge over the road that takes you to P2, walking. Also most of the hotels charge to park your car. A lot of the employees that are not on skis, park at the hotels. In past years they have enforced a strict NO PARKING on the road rule. So far this year that doesn't seem to be the case. Personally I would park on the north side and forget about it...

I agree with Tricia that paying to park might help, and getting people to car pool. Running shuttle buses from distance parking lots might help too. I thought that Ski Diva, Geargrrl mentioned they were doing that. But to totally cut off ticket wicket sales...that's gonna hurt. You've a friend come to visit, "lets go skiing". Sorry no tickets available!

I believe that Batchelor is having similar problems from a friend on Facebook.

 

[DanoT]

View attachment 90029
This is not an Ikon prob.

Where was this pic taken? I need to know so I don't make the mistake of ever going there.

 

[Ken_R]

View attachment 90029
This is not an Ikon prob.

Then some people wonder why Alpine Touring is the largest growing segment of the ski industry...

 

[PNWRod]

The picture looks like Crystal Chinook chair. I've stood in that line on Friday pow days in years past. They used to turn cars around at the start of Crystal mountain Blvd.