Eating Snow: Lift Ticket Prices & How To Avoid Them
I was out moving the car this morning, complaining to myself about the frigid weather in the greater New York City area… and then I realized, I had not posted a gripe yet this week!
Well this weeks gripe: lift ticket prices.
Thanks to a Mammoth Mountain forum I was able to track down, they outline ticket pricing and highlight top end resorts on both coasts: http://forums.mammothmountain.com/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=8301&start=45 )
I knew Killington (tied with Sugarbush for 3rd on the list) was $82 last year… they jacked it up to $84 this year but for comparative purposes we will focus on last years pricing and it is no surprise the resort is in the top 10. Then there us Stowe at $89 for a one day pass. Are you kidding me?! So after the $30 on gas, $15 spent on lunch, and $20 spent at the bar – your conservative total for the day is $154 for 6 hours of skiing.
I just don’t understand it, aren’t we in a recession?? Shouldn’t ticket pricing be diluted??
My buddy suggested organizing some ‘funemployment’ trips to local mountains this season. Maybe if we go midweek, get a group discount, and get fake ids that say we’re only 16 we can make it affordable for everyone to go. We’ll see.
Or you can try a different strategy. This is how I beat the system at Mount Snow ($79 – #8 on the list) my freshman year of college.
This was college for most people; you were poor, you used to try and sneak into the mess hall without a mean plan, and you would only go to happy hours if they served free food (see: Noah’s in Poughkeepsie, NY for free wings and ziti on Thursday & Friday HH). So an $80 lift pass was out of the question. Sorry Mount Snow, I can pay for it now – but as a broke college kid it wasn’t gonna happen.
To their credit they do have a *Our Snow Guarantee* that I like – basically if you don’t like the snow within an hour of skiing you can get your money back.
But we aren’t talking about guarantees, we are talking about shredding the gnar. Not only was the ticket way too rich for my blood, but they didnt have any student pricing… I had to figure out a way to beat the system.
As I remember it, 8 years ag0 (Jesus I’m old) Mount Snow had a 3 tier pricing system. Youth, Teen, and Adult. Well the youth pass was $20 cheaper than the Adult and fifty something sounds a lot better than seventy something doesn’t it? So I pretended I was 13 years old – on my 19th birthday.
It’s cold, I’m wearing a mask… I can DEFINITELY get away with this. Well, it actually worked out pretty well until the last few runs of the day. The new liftie started giving me a hard time in line but we got through. I was skiing with my freshman year roommate & best buddy Jay and we both decided 2 more runs and we’re done for the day. We should have known we were testing our luck.
We get to the bottom… we were dumb as could be for going right back to the same liftie. Of course he was on his little walkie talkie, “uhh, I got em, yea… they’re right there”. And then he made us wait for his boss. The entire time I’m formulating a what to say to the next wave of mountain management that was about to yell at me. So then this guy showed up on a snowmobile – looked JUST LIKE Santa Clause, I kid you not – and then started grilling me. So here is the exchange:
Santa: I’ve never seen a 12 year old with a beard
Bearded 12 year old: It’s not really a beard, it’s pretty patchy.
Santa: (Pointing at Jay) Who’s this guy and how old is he?
Bearded 12 year old: Oh, thats my cousin Jay and he is 19. He’s watching me while our parents are at the bar catching up (Jay is Puerto Rican btw)
Santa: Do you have any identification?
Bearded 12 year old: Oh course not, my middle school ID is in my wallet at the house and are you looking for a drivers license or something sir??
So he finally let us go. I mean, honestly, what is he going to hold us for? I told an impeccable story and he had NOTHING. That last run we took was bitter sweet and I have never had a grin quite like that written across my face since I was 12 years old.
So anyway… the moral of the story is the best way to avoid the high lift ticket prices is to pretend you are still in 7th grade. If that is not a viable option other alternatives include; finding online discounts (http://www.onthesnow.com/lifttickets_guide.html?gclid=CIubsf3686UCFU1-5QodBBm2nw), joining community ski clubs (Hoboken Ski Club for example), or find your local ski shop and buy some before you get to the mountain. Any of those options will probably save you 15% or so – and when you’re paying $80 / day to ski anything helps.
Happy shredding fellow coupon clippers! Cheers,
Ryan
Ski Till I Die Chronicles 