How many resorts on the MAX have 4 hours drive therebetween or less?
Stoneham - Mont Sainte Anne 1 total
Gore - Belleayre 2
Gore - Whiteface 3
Okemo - Stratton- Killington - Pico that's 9 possible multiday pairings so far.
Eldora - Winter Park - Steamboat 12 pairings
Copper- Crested Butte 13 pairings
Brighton - Solitude 14
So that's at least 14 possible combinations of resort pairs that are achievable without spending a full 8 hour day in a car and without extra flying...............
I'm with ya, but don't forget Windham between Belleayre and Gore, the RCR cluster of Fernie-Kimberley-Kicking Horse-Nakiska and Crystal-Summit at Snoqualmie-Cypress (though Cypress might be questionable with the border crossing) in the PNW.
Aspen cannot be considered a MCP cluster because there are only 2 "free tickets" in total available for the four mountains.
That seems exceedingly lame. In the few analogous situations on the MAX pass (Killington/Pico and Boyne Mountain/ Highlands iirc) you get the full allotment of tix at each location.
Seeing as what was Intrawest is now in the Aspen/KSL group, MCP will probably take Stratton and Tremblant in the east, Steamboat and WP in CO, Snowshoe in WV and Blue up in Ontario. Those will be fairly significant losses for the MAX pass, especially in CO, but probably not a deal breaker for those of us who want more than two days at each resort given what's left over. Perhaps MAX can pick up some independent areas to make up the loss.