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PNWRod

Getting off the lift
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Nov 9, 2017
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301
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Crystal Mtn
Cont...once you get up the mountains higher lifts it thins out and lines aren't bad.
 

crgildart

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The Bull City
I noticed what appears to be a trend in this direction at Appalachian Ski Mountain last month. The $5.00 special turned out to be not available at the walk up ticket window, online only. I've gotten it at the ticket window th past 10 years straight until now. They have also added a dozen or so self service kiosks where you can search for your online lift ticket order and print it out.

It appears to be a move to automate away cashier positions and other counter support staff. The workaround is to pull out your phone and buy a ticket and/or rental package online then go to the kiosk and print it out.

Pretty sure this is how SkyNet gets started..
 
Last edited:

fatbob

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I think the basic problem is skiing is too fun and therefore too many people are prepared to go through all sorts of crap to do it. Resorts should concentrate on sucking all and any joy out of skiing and then their problem would solve itself.
 

Seldomski

All words are made up
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'mericuh
I think the basic problem is skiing is too fun and therefore too many people are prepared to go through all sorts of crap to do it. Resorts should concentrate on sucking all and any joy out of skiing and then their problem would solve itself.

If they sell enough passes, the fun will be balanced by the misery of crowding. If it gets miserable enough, people will stop buying passes. The problem solves itself!
 

PNWRod

Getting off the lift
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Crystal Mtn
Interesting. For this coming Saturday all online tickets are sold. Sunday still has a few left. I'm curious what the number of pass skiers are compared to the number of day ticket skiers. I can't believe it's $129 on the weekend now for tickets but then again I remember $13 Monday/Tuesdays at Crystal when the normal ticket price was $28
 

crgildart

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The Bull City
I think the basic problem is skiing is too fun and therefore too many people are prepared to go through all sorts of crap to do it. Resorts should concentrate on sucking all and any joy out of skiing and then their problem would solve itself.

If they sell enough passes, the fun will be balanced by the misery of crowding. If it gets miserable enough, people will stop buying passes. The problem solves itself!

Get the pass money, then start charging passholders for parking. keep raising the price of parking until problem goes away... then close the resort in March with tons of snow still available and start charging folks for golf and mountain biking instead.
 

crgildart

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I'd be pretty pissed if I got up at 5am and drove 3 hours to be told either at the lot or at the lodge they weren't going to sell me a lift ticket.
 

fatbob

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Whatever - ultimately I'm sure like everything else they'll solve it with the $, put up the cost of everything until they have manageable numbers, with just everyone left more pissed off. Rather than seriously put in a public transit solution because that would actually cost them.
 

PNWRod

Getting off the lift
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Crystal Mtn
"Our customers have overwhelmingly cited the Ikon Pass as the singular cause of this recent crowding phenomenon. While this of course has played a significant role..."


Personally, I'd rather they charged more for the Ikon pass then start charging for parking. But I'm sure I'm in the minority as the pass price doesn't affect me but charging for parking does.
 

Jersey Skier

aka RatherPlayThanWork or Gary
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"Our customers have overwhelmingly cited the Ikon Pass as the singular cause of this recent crowding phenomenon. While this of course has played a significant role..."


Personally, I'd rather they charged more for the Ikon pass then start charging for parking. But I'm sure I'm in the minority as the pass price doesn't affect me but charging for parking does.

What percentage of Ikon Passholders will actually ski at Crystal? Probably a tiny percentage.
 

PNWRod

Getting off the lift
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Crystal Mtn
What percentage of Ikon Passholders will actually ski at Crystal? Probably a tiny percentage.
Well from my limited experience this year most everyone that I ride the chairlift with is an IKON pass holder. Everyone in the lunch line is using their IKON pass for 10% off lunch. Was the price of the ICON pass $1299 or so in November? If so that's the same price as a Crystal only pass so why buy the Crystal only pass?
 

Tony S

I have a confusion to make ...
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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?
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.

Okay, so I researched this myself and discovered what I suspected might be the case while trying to understand what you were really getting at. Crystal is one of the mountains that not only honors the Ikon pass but provides UNLIMITED ACCESS to Ikon passholders. It's not about Base Pass vs. Full Pass; it's about Crystal being owned by Alterra, I imagine. So having the Ikon Pass effectively gives you a season pass to Crystal. Your comments don't make sense without understanding that.
 

Pequenita

Making fresh tracks
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Well from my limited experience this year most everyone that I ride the chairlift with is an IKON pass holder. Everyone in the lunch line is using their IKON pass for 10% off lunch. Was the price of the ICON pass $1299 or so in November? If so that's the same price as a Crystal only pass so why buy the Crystal only pass?

Ikon passes stopped being sold after a certain date, but the Alterra resorts still are selling resort-specific passes. I moved west mid-winter one year, so I could have been in a position where the multi-resort pass was no longer being sold, but the resort-specific pass still available.
 

scott43

So much better than a pro
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Great White North
On the one hand, this is a great problem for a resort to have. On the other, there's not much a good pandemic can't cure.. :roflmao:
 

David Chaus

Beyond Help
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Okay, so I researched this myself and discovered what I suspected might be the case while trying to understand what you were really getting at. Crystal is one of the mountains that not only honors the Ikon pass but provides UNLIMITED ACCESS to Ikon passholders. It's not about Base Pass vs. Full Pass; it's about Crystal being owned by Alterra, I imagine. So having the Ikon Pass effectively gives you a season pass to Crystal. Your comments don't make sense without understanding that.

Yes, and.....

It doesn’t matter. Most of us who live and ski in the PNW, ski in the PNW. Crystal is not attracting destination travelers from other regions. I think what makes the Ikon pass more attractive to PNW locals than the previous Crystal Mt season passes, for the same $$$, is the limited and unlimited access to other destination resorts. They may or may not actually utilize this benefit, but it is a perceived added value. I’d like to see numbers of Ikon passes sold to WA residents, compared to the numbers of previous Crystal season pass sales.

I bought an Ikon pass to attend the Gathering, and am adding on Big Sky and Deer Vally this year to my Gathering trip. I might be able to swing a trip to Revelstoke, or Banff, or decide to do Mammoth in the late spring. That’s my main reason for buying Ikon, and even for buying one for my SO, rather than pay for walk-up rates at Big Sky and other places, even if discounted.

The fact that my Ikon pass has unlimited access to Crystal, or more importantly, no blackout dates, is just something I’m just going to have to learn to live with. I am savvy enough to avoid weekends until after President’s Day, at which point I will be on my way to Gathering anyway.
 

Jersey Skier

aka RatherPlayThanWork or Gary
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Metuchen, NJ
Well from my limited experience this year most everyone that I ride the chairlift with is an IKON pass holder. Everyone in the lunch line is using their IKON pass for 10% off lunch. Was the price of the ICON pass $1299 or so in November? If so that's the same price as a Crystal only pass so why buy the Crystal only pass?


Maybe they should just reduce the cost of the Crystal season pass. Raising Ikon's price by a couple of hundred dollars could make Alterra another $100 million a year but might not affect the crowding at Crystal at all.

Not sure what the real answer is. As someone who hates crowds and holds an Ikon Pass, I never ski weekends.
 

Eleeski

Making fresh tracks
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Nov 13, 2015
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San Diego / skis at Squaw Valley
While the photo of the crowds looked awful, someone stated that there were lifts away from the crowds. If the limiting factor is parking, charge (more) for the parking. Perhaps that will be an incentive to build more parking.

I realize that people hate a new parking charge but Disney gets away with expensive parking. Granted, Disney has plenty of efficient parking - paid for by the fees?

Next will be the Ikon season parking pass. More expensive than the lift pass?

Eric
 

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