Colorado Press Release: Arapahoe Basin Goes Ikon

[headybrew]

It seems to me the competition between VR and Alterra is undoing all of the hard work VR put into training their consumers to buy passes early.

If you live in Colorado's front range, SLC, SF Bay area, and don't have a condo at a resort then buying your pass early is now a fools errand (at least for the next couple of years until things settle down). $200 savings buying in April instead of September does not mean dick when that's less than 2 day tickets at walk up rates.

They raised the day rates so people could justify buying passes now I think those same high rates combined with the uncertainty of what mountains will be on a pass are reason enough to not buy your pass until late fall.

 

[Wilhelmson]

It seems to me the competition between VR and Alterra is undoing all of the hard work VR put into training their consumers to buy passes early.

If you live in Colorado's front range, SLC, SF Bay area, and don't have a condo at a resort then buying your pass early is now a fools errand (at least for the next couple of years until things settle down). $200 savings buying in April instead of September does not mean dick when that's less than 2 day tickets at walk up rates.

They raised the day rates so people could justify buying passes now I think those same high rates combined with the uncertainty of what mountains will be on a pass are reason enough to not buy your pass until late fall.

Except that for our family 4.x $200 = $800 which last time I checked is at least one male organ.

 

[KingGrump]

Except that for our family 4.x $200 = $800 which last time I checked is at least one male organ.

You must be married with children for you to price your body parts that low.

 

[mikel]

What made me laugh this morning was a local Denver tv station reporting on A basin now joining the MCP. They did the story and referenced last weeks Ikon story but at the end the anchors offered opinion and one actually questioned what was going on. He brought up the whole leaving Epic because of overcrowding.

 

[RJS]

Does a big flat roof that can't be plowed work in places that receive as much snow as A Basin does?

That's an excellent question. I'm not a structural engineer, so I will defer to folks who have experience in this area. As others have discussed, Abasin gets way more snowfall than Boston, although as @mdf points out, the suburbs around Boston can get a lot more snowfall than Boston proper does.

My inspiration for this idea is actually Snowbird. Snowbird both gets more snowfall than Abasin, and has multiple buildings with flat, green roofs: the Iron Blossom Lodge, the Lodge at Snowbird, and the Cliff Lodge. Now, it could be the case that Snowbird had to do some insane engineering to make this possible, but the point is that such structures are technically possible. But whether or not they are economical is another story ! What might make sense for Snowbird to do on top of a multistory hotel/condo building might not make sense for Abasin to do on top of a 2-3 story garage.

It seems to me the competition between VR and Alterra is undoing all of the hard work VR put into training their consumers to buy passes early.

If you live in Colorado's front range, SLC, SF Bay area, and don't have a condo at a resort then buying your pass early is now a fools errand (at least for the next couple of years until things settle down). $200 savings buying in April instead of September does not mean dick when that's less than 2 day tickets at walk up rates.

They raised the day rates so people could justify buying passes now I think those same high rates combined with the uncertainty of what mountains will be on a pass are reason enough to not buy your pass until late fall.

That's a totally fair point. We've experienced something similar here on the East Coast. This year the Peaks resorts are being incorporated into the Epic Pass, which could completely change your purchasing decision on Epic vs. IKON. Even last year the IKON went from 5 days between Loon, Sunday River, and Sugarloaf to 5 days at each of them, which is a big difference for a lot of people.

Like you said, this should settle down in the future. Ultimately, you have to make the most informed decision that you can with the information that you have available to you, and hope for the best. I'm happy that Abasin was at least frank about the possibility of joining another pass for a limited number of days. People have been speculating for months here on Pugski that Abasin was going to join MCP/IKON. In cases like this, being part of a forum like Pugski can be really insightful!

 

[tball]

My inspiration for this idea is actually Snowbird. Snowbird both gets more snowfall than Abasin, and has multiple buildings with flat, green roofs: the Iron Blossom Lodge, the Lodge at Snowbird, and the Cliff Lodge. Now, it could be the case that Snowbird had to do some insane engineering to make this possible, but the point is that such structures are technically possible. But whether or not they are economical is another story ! What might make sense for Snowbird to do on top of a multistory hotel/condo building might not make sense for Abasin to do on top of a 2-3 story garage.

Interesting. I forgot about the grass roof on the Cliff Lodge. I wonder if the grass roofs in LCC are a side effect of the buildings being built to withstand avalanches.

In contrast, the two-level parking structure (formerly known as the B-lot) at Copper has a sign on the upper level stating the maximum snow load per square foot and if I recall correctly it also translates that into 12 inches of snow. Regardless of the exact number, they have to constantly plow it and remove the snow. You can't do on a grass roof.