Do multi resort passes make for more relaxed skiing?

[geepers]

A season pass - whether single or multi resort - certainly makes it more relaxing for us. There's no need to lay down extra cash to have a test run if conditions seem marginal and no need to sweat ROI if conditions deteriorate during the day.

Also provides chances to ski when it wouldn't otherwise make sense. Back home in Oz we have a 6 hour drive home at the end of any ski visit. Which means we generally quit the mountains about lunch time. There is, so legend has it, a morning pass but it's only a few $ cheaper than a full day pass so not good value.

 

[Ski&ride]

Upon further reflection, I’d like to refine my answers further.

1) Having a season pass with unlimited days does make me MORE “relaxed”. That sometimes translates to shorter days. Other times it translates to “checking out” runs that requires hiking even when conditions are not too promising.

2) Those multi-mountain passes makes me LESS relaxed when visiting mountains that I only have limited days. Basically, I view those x number of days as though I had to pay for each day! After all, once I used up the days, I can’t go there no more.

 

[Wilhelmson]

Maybe a little now and then but I"m out to ski. If it's below zero you might find me taking more breaks than usual and enjoying a hot or cold beverage.

 

[Seldomski]

No, the only reason I slack off (i.e. ski less on a day) is if I know I am getting more than X* days of skiing this season. If it's the last day of the season, I generally ski as much as possible that day.

*I suspect X may decrease as I get older and accumulate more total lifetime ski days...

 

[Sibhusky]

I haven't purchased a pass since the winter of 1968-69, but I'm thinking that we'll probably have to for next season. Don't know what it will be because I don't know where I'll be

Well, you're free here.

 

[Guy in Shorts]

I tend to ski every day from Oct until June unless we are away on vacation. Skiing is always relaxing.

 

[Norther1]

I'm an outlier in that I feel like I have to ski more when I have a pass. If I've paid for a pass, I want to get my money out of it.
When I was starting out and just buying day tickets to wherever I might want to ski, I didn't feel the pressure to get the most for my money. If the conditions were going to be "eh" I just would decide not to go.

 

[ADKmel]

I like the multi resort pass, I 'beat' the pass on the 4th or 5th day and I have gone to so many different Mts. with more to go! On bitter cold days I have no problem going hiking or sightseeing and skiing the afternoon, so definitely is more relaxing. That said, I'm still a snow pig, there's no friends on a powder day and sometimes the snow and skiing are so good I'll ski bell to bell..

 

[4aprice]

Relaxed is an interesting word. I have had at least one season pass for many many years, now I carry 2. I guess my skiing habits have changed somewhat. Certainly with the pass at our local area here we can cherry pick days and pass up or shorten any bad days. We are pretty much empty nesters with no school age children any more. I purposely spend any holiday periods here at home as I try to avoid travel and crowds and of course having the pass means we can ski or not ski as long as we want.

But with our 2nd pass (which is an Ikon) things are a little bit different. When trying to plan out things the ski season becomes a lot shorter. I do like the idea of having all these places to go and knowing our destinations in advance, I do believe is a little relaxing. Based here on the east coast we of course annually plan a western trip (or 2). With connections in the Denver area (son) and Salt Lake area, we have had some great trips over the last several years with Max and now Ikon. In that sense things have gotten easier as we have ideas of what we want to do and where we want to go in advance. But here on the east coast we also like to weekend up in northern New England. When you subtract out the holidays and the planned western trips the season becomes real short. That and the fact that we do not want to travel up north each and every weekend. So we pretty much set a schedule to visit the 4 Vermont/New Hampshire resorts on the pass. We've had mixed results with that as our weekends at Sugarbush and Stratton (Late Jan and early Feb) were pretty rough, but the weekends at Killington and Loon (Late Feb and early March) were great. I also keep a couple of weekends open for travel, one being the 1st weekend in March where we went to Sugarbush and Pico, the 2nd being the 1st weekend in April where the plan is Killington. Pretty much the plan is to stay with this schedule next season and the point I'm trying to make is that regardless of the conditions or weather we go those particular weekends. I guess its relaxing in the sense that on our last trip to Killington we bagged the 2nd day due to a storm that we just didn't feel like skiing in. Overall I'm very pleased with this set up and hope to continue it though I have been reading and am aware of the locals views at many of the resorts out west which makes me a little sad. Hard to see how my 12 days out west would affect many but I guess when you multiply it times the amount of people on the pass it can get crowded. .

 

[Big J]

I was going to post this under the "Ikon-Lightning Rod" thread, but I decided to start a new one..........

Do you feel that having a multi resort pass makes for a more relaxed day of skiing rather than "I paid $100 + dollars for this ticket and I'm going to ski until my legs drop off" approach? I'm finding on our current IKON tour that this is true (of course it could be old age). My wife and I seem to be willing to bag it early if we're not feeling the love,either due to conditions or fatigue. Some days are open to close or close to it whereas some days we quit at 2:00-2:30 or so. One day at Jackson Hole we quit it at 12:30 rather than fight the thick fog-we both agreed we weren't having any fun.

Thoughts and opinions?

My wife and I have the Epic Pass. We like the fact that we can ski other areas with free lift tickets. We decide to quit for the day when we are not having fun. We feel that since we have the pass we are losing nothing by doing this. Why ski when you are done? No feeling of having to get our monies worth. No matter what I ski I have probably skied the same run with the same conditions somewhere. I think the pass makes us feel more relaxed.

 

[Josh Matta]

I actually have no idea what to do when I pay to ski, in fact I have only paid for one lift ticket this whole year. MRG throw back day 3.50 cent. I rarely freeski bell to bell anymore because I have other things to do.

 

[Goose]

I think any season pass means a lot of things change. Firstly....just by purchasing one (I know ther eare always exceptions to everything) but it usually would indicate one would poses the time to hit the slopes fairly often and usually are local enough to more easily do so. And in turn that means they can more often afford the luxury of deciding when to ski or not based on favorable or unfavorable scenarios.

Too crowded? poor conditions? tired? etc,etc,...you can bail without fear of losing out what otherwise for the others is limited. You simply know you are to return another time and probably relatively shortly when the scenarios are better.

You basically have the freedom to pick and choose more precisely when things are more on your favor. The whole concept imo would have to (for most people) take a chunk of the edge off. be less stressed about it when having to deal with the less desirable situations. Id say that all makes things more relaxed over all.

 

[Andy Mink]

I think any season pass means a lot of things change. Firstly....just by purchasing one (I know ther eare always exceptions to everything) but it usually would indicate one would poses the time to hit the slopes fairly often and usually are local enough to more easily do so. And in turn that means they can more often afford the luxury of deciding when to ski or not based on favorable or unfavorable scenarios.

Too crowded? poor conditions? tired? etc,etc,...you can bail without fear of losing out what otherwise for the others is limited. You simply know you are to return another time and probably relatively shortly when the scenarios are better.

You basically have the freedom to pick and choose more precisely when things are more on your favor. The whole concept imo would have to (for most people) take a chunk of the edge off. be less stressed about it when having to deal with the less desirable situations. Id say that all makes things more relaxed over all.

And with many passes offering "finish out this season" deals for first time pass holders it's even a better value. Two years ago when Northstar (Epic) closed early I got the Mt. Rose pass for the first time in years. By the end of that season I'd already "paid" for the pass so 17-18 was essentially paid for.

For those looking to get a pass for the first time or those who swap back and forth between Epic and IKON or others, that spring ski thing is a great deal.

 

[Ski&ride]

For those looking to get a pass for the first time or those who swap back and forth between Epic and IKON or others, that spring ski thing is a great deal.

Does Epic pass has spring benefits?

I can’t quite find any information on their website

 

[headybrew]

Anyone with an IKON or Epic pass feel MORE pressure on where to ski? Say you're in Denver with the IKON and Copper gets 14" and Winter Park only gets 5". Is there pressure then to make the extra drive to make sure you get the best snow?

Any season pass product is going to lead, at least for most, to shorter ski days / less urgency.

 

[Andy Mink]

Does Epic pass has spring benefits?

I can’t quite find any information on their website

That's a good question. Not sure about the Epic now that you mention it. I assumed and you know what happens when you do that!