First time buying the epic pass. It appears as though the price doesn't increase the closer we get to the season? Meaning buy now vs wait till October is the same price?
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Epic Pass 20/21
I paid $750 for a season pass to Purgatory. In 1994.
Sorry, I just have to remind myself of that when I’m tempted to think these mega passes are getting too pricey.
I might have to get the Summit Value Pass next year. This year I only have Keystone and honestly it’s been fine. My recent misadventures in Utah kind of put me off the idea of traveling far and wide to try different places, and I can have fun skiing anywhere. But it might be worth it to have one more option.
Sorry, I just have to remind myself of that when I’m tempted to think these mega passes are getting too pricey.
I might have to get the Summit Value Pass next year. This year I only have Keystone and honestly it’s been fine. My recent misadventures in Utah kind of put me off the idea of traveling far and wide to try different places, and I can have fun skiing anywhere. But it might be worth it to have one more option.
It will go up, but in relatively small incremental amounts.
First thing you lose is the buddy pass counts,
Then on subsequent deadlines they will bump up prices like $20 to $40 at each bump.
Based on past policies, at the final chance to buy, it won't be more than $200 more than the lowest possible price.
Pretty sure I'll get another Epic local pass, although Saturday's at Stowe are becoming a ridiculous mass of humanity.
The Northeast pass looks useless to me since it only has 10 Stowe days. I'm at Stowe that many times in December alone.
I'll take the 20% off lessons, food, etc. though... Prices historically go up about 5% a year.
I’m an Epic guy but I think the 20% off is a heck of a deal.
At Heavenly, there is no discount for signing up for multi-day kids lessons. Kids lessons are expensive even at independent ski resorts in Tahoe (unless you go to places with very low-vertical). 20% discount on a single day lesson at Heavenly would actually make them quite competitive.
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20% off anything is better than 0% off, but to be clear:
- 20% off is only at quick service and on-mountain restaurants and applies to total spend of up to $150 per day and excludes alcoholic beverage.
- 20% off is only on group lessons, not private lessons or camps.
- 20% off lodging is only at Vail owned/managed properties.
I haven't looked at all the fine print, but am wondering if Epic offers a spring deal where if you buy a pass for next season you get some kind of access in April this season. If so, they probably will hook me.
When the Ikon pass came out two years ago I got one and broke even* in April, before the season even started.
*By "break even" I mean the Ikon pass plus both my two local passes. All three passes paid for before the lifts started turning.
When the Ikon pass came out two years ago I got one and broke even* in April, before the season even started.
*By "break even" I mean the Ikon pass plus both my two local passes. All three passes paid for before the lifts started turning.
My wife and I have the Epic Veterans passes. All I had to do to qualify was to have served on active duty and have an Honorable discharge. My wife qualifiies for the same price as a dependent. The pass for next year is $569 plus tax. Not for all Epic areas but includes all that are owned and operated by Vail. This is a really good deal for an unrestricted pass. It even includes Whistler.
Historically, no. The only deal from last year in spring was that you could apply 1 day lift ticket to the pass price for next season. This was only if you didn't have a pass from the prior season. Also, you had to pay for the pass in full.
It was called 'turn in your ticket.' And you had to use the lift ticket for it to apply. The lift ticket also had to be bought late season. I think sometime after March 20ish.
Drilled down beyond the linked Epic pass web page and found my Epic Tahoe Local Senior Pass (HV KW NS) will auto renew for $449, a modest $20 increase from this season. Thank you Vail Resorts for making it possibly for we senior hard core skiers.
Actually I was wondering about the discount restrictions.
I skied Northstar one day this season and ate lunch around 12:30, was denied my 10% discount because the discount isn't allowed between noon and 2:00PM.
I knew we couldn't use our employee discount between noon and 2, but I thought that was because employees were supposed to leave the lodges for the guests during prime lunch time. Had no idea that there was a restriction for pass holders.
I get it. We can use our Epic pass locally where neither food nor lessons are super expensive. My wife also likes to do group lessons when we travel which is typically to a Vail Resort. It will help out some no question.
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Previous and maybe currently the food discount was always part of the "Epicpass Club" set of benefits on a resort-by-resort basis, and the tahoe resorts had and still have the food 15% as after 2pm. The lodging 20% is there too, and the lessons and extra liftticket spend were previous part of the vail peak rewards points thingy which would also be worth about 15% back but really hard to find a way to cash in. So for many of these things, it's a standardization of a lot of existing hodgepodge perks from the resort level to 1 universal thing. Prices will go up, but that's to pay those corporate loans, probably not because they standardized perks.
Well, that sucks (for me at least...).
The old AIG Stowe passes gave some discount (I forget what percentage...) off the price of private lessons. That was awesome.
It is a great deal. Not as good as the one for active or retired, but still great. I am also a veteran (10 years in Naval Reserve) and have had the Liberty pass for two years. Only good at Keystone, but I also have had a Copper 4-pack.
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Yeah. The pass holder discounts at the moment are pretty limited. 10% on food is not at every location, and is almost only after 2pm, and not on alcohol. I have even had a cashier have no idea what I was asking about.
Resort charge required manually typing in my season pass number. Never used that feature again.
For the moment, the new policy seems across the board and simple. We shall see
Oh, I thought you meant because of the $150 food limit. The hot cocoas add up fast!
...as well as the Tortellini at Two Elk Lodge at Vail!
I’m also a veteran but am mooching off my DH’s retired status. Funny thing is he doesn’t even ski. I get the Epic military to ski Breck & Keystone. When Vail bought Peak Resorts last Fall, I got to ski my local hills Liberty/Whitetail/Roundtop for free and got refunded the Peak season pass I bought back in the Spring. Hats off to Vail to make skiing so incredibly affordable for active and retired military families.
as an FYi - that a pretty big swath in Vail, includes the Marriott,
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