• Women skiers, this is the place for you -- an online community without the male-orientation you'll find in conventional ski magazines and internet ski forums. At TheSkiDiva.com, you can connect with other women to talk about skiing in a way that you can relate to, about things that you find of interest. Be sure to join our community to participate (women only, please!). Registration is fast and simple. Just be sure to add [email protected] to your address book so your registration activation emails won't be routed as spam. And please give careful consideration to your user name -- it will not be changed once your registration is confirmed.

Reservations: two philosophies

Susan L

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
Taos ski valley will not have a reservation system for season pass holders but will operate at 50% peak capacity, but they were never really busy other than during holiday weekends. They are also limiting the traffic by pricing ALOT of people out, especially kids and seniors. Last year my unlimited pass was $950, this year it is $1600. Kids and seniors unlimited were $400 last year, $1360 this year. Anyone who wants to ski weekends will have to buy the unlimited pass.
Ski Santa Fe will have a reservation system for everyone. Passes have low upfront cost of $149/$249, you pay $30 for the first 10 reservations and $10 thereafter. Passholders can reserve up to 3 or 5 days on their pass, and everyone needs to have a reservation before heading up to the mountain.
I don’t want to pay $1600 but I don’t want to be limited by the reservation system either. I play golf everyday but I hate tee times. It is so busy at my club that I can no longer walk on whenever I want to. Getting a tee time is a pain when there are over 600 members, and especially when people don’t show up and they open up the spot in the last minute. My solution is to join a more exclusive club that only has 40 members so I can play whenever I want to. For the same reasons, I opted for the TSV pass, assuming less people will be willing to pay for it and crowds won’t be an issue.
 

Christy

Angel Diva
Based on what I'm hearing, there are only 15-25 days that ski resorts think day tickets will have to be severely limited, and most of those are during holiday periods.

I heard Rusty Gregory say that too. 15-25 may not sound like many, but it also may represent when most people want to ski--holidays and peak weekends with good snow. So those days will likely have an outsized impact on how people perceive the resort's management, on whether they think they have access, etc. In other words, you gotta manage for those 15-25 days. Crystal's lots probably only filled up, maybe, 10 times last year. But EVERYONE wanted to ski on those 10 days, so the resulting mess, with people turned away after the long drive in the snow, was all anyone could talk about the whole season and beyond.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
The most transparent approach I've seen for how a ski area decided on their approach to keeping the number of people down on the slopes was for Mt. Hood Meadows.

Warning, this got long as I tried to understand what was done back when it was announced. Took a few passes watching the video as well as looking at the website to see the end result.

Mt. Hood Meadows in Oregon is mainly a day trip for people in the Portland area. What they have planned to keep the number of people on the slopes in control is based on crunching numbers from past seasons. Their cap goal is 3000 people, about 60% capacity. Meadows installed RFID in 2014.

Mt. Hood Meadows won't have a reservation system for 2020-21. However, they aren't just limiting passes and day tickets, and hoping for the best either. Deliberate adjustments are being made to both season pass options and day tickets with the goal of encouraging people to start skiing later in the day. People who are renewing before Nov. 8 can get a discount on any of the pass options, including the 5-pack or 10-pack. Options for new passholders will be more limited. Seemed clear that All-access passes for new people would sell out quickly when the announcement was made in late Sept.

While an unlimited pass still exists, the emphasis is on the Value pass. The season pass webpage showed Value passes for the different age categories as the default, with the usual all-access pass as an "add-on" that almost doubles the price. Nov. 8 was the deadline for renewals. A Value pass is good on less busy days starting at 9am, but on busy days--weekends and holidays--it still can be used but not until 2pm. Sounds like the last couple seasons the starting time was 3pm. The hope is that more people will opt for the much cheaper Value pass.

For day tickets, the choice will be 4-hour, 7-hour, or open-to-close (including night session). Start times for a given day could be 9am, 12 noon, 2pm, or 5pm. People who want to start at 9am will pay a premium. Or put another way, there will be more of a discount the later someone starts. For example, for a Wed in Jan the price for 7-hours could be $89 for 9am, $59 for noon, $39 for 2pm. What start times are offered and pricing will be very dynamic, meaning could be different every day of the week and change week to week. People willing to commit farther in advance will have more options.

The video explaining the thinking that went into the plan includes graphs of usage from past seasons that were the basis for the plan.

 

altagirl

Moderator
Staff member
I'm still not super clear how limited things will be at Alta. They said:
  • Managing skier capacity. We will determine daily mountain capacity based upon weather, snowpack, available terrain and the capacity of our indoor facilities. Daily capacity will be managed through available parking on a first-come, first-served basis.
  • Increasing Communication. Please check alta.com for road and parking status updates before skiing Alta.
I guess that just means go ridiculously early and hope for the best, but knowing that capacity limits are a day to day decision is a little... vague. I do understand that having more lifts and terrain open = more area to spread people out.
 

Abbi

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I'm still not super clear how limited things will be at Alta. They said:
  • Managing skier capacity. We will determine daily mountain capacity based upon weather, snowpack, available terrain and the capacity of our indoor facilities. Daily capacity will be managed through available parking on a first-come, first-served basis.
  • Increasing Communication. Please check alta.com for road and parking status updates before skiing Alta.
I guess that just means go ridiculously early and hope for the best, but knowing that capacity limits are a day to day decision is a little... vague. I do understand that having more lifts and terrain open = more area to spread people out.

I can’t see that ending well on a lot of days at Alta. It’s a long drive up the canyon already. Getting there and being turned away is not going to make people happy. But you already figured that out!
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
I'm still not super clear how limited things will be at Alta. They said:
  • Managing skier capacity. We will determine daily mountain capacity based upon weather, snowpack, available terrain and the capacity of our indoor facilities. Daily capacity will be managed through available parking on a first-come, first-served basis.
  • Increasing Communication. Please check alta.com for road and parking status updates before skiing Alta.
I guess that just means go ridiculously early and hope for the best, but knowing that capacity limits are a day to day decision is a little... vague. I do understand that having more lifts and terrain open = more area to spread people out.
Agree that Alta doesn't really have a plan that makes sense. With the RFID data, they know how season passholders and day ticket folks normally act. But this won't be a normal season at all, so not sure how well past seasons serve to predict what people will do in 2020-21.

If Alta doesn't provide discounted lift tickets at the usual outlets both locally and on Liftopia, that may cut down on demand.

Snowbird is using parking reservations. I bet Alta will watch and see how that goes during early season, especially for the first few powder storms.

All the lodges up LCC will have reduced capacity, so the number of people staying slopeside will be reduced. Alta Lodge isn't using the dorm rooms or any of the Original Lodge rooms that don't have a private shower/bath. Also will require reservations for dinner so that fewer tables can be spaced appropriately in the dining room. Room service is also an option. Snowpine and GMD usually do dinner reservations so that's not as much of a change.

I'm a little surprised that Solitude isn't doing parking reservations. But Alterra seems intent on avoiding reservations in general for passholders, including those who use Ikon for their home mountain. Solitude also has years of RFID data to drawn on to decide how many day tickets to release to the online ticket system. They were the first . . . way back in 2005.
 

aliwill

Certified Ski Diva
What start times are offered and pricing will be very dynamic, meaning could be different every day of the week and change week to week.

That's a really interesting system at Meadows! I do hope that new work-from-home policies and the fact no one can take vacation days for far-flung trips *does* mean more spreading into midweek. I know I'm taking lots of random Tuesdays off this winter.

It frustrated me in the past when resorts have told people "just ski midweek!" as a solution to crowding—don't they think people would if they could? Few people ski Sat-Sun if they have the ability to go any day, so cheaper tickets aren't going to suddenly incentivize them to do it. Though I suppose making the tickets so cheap that it's worth burning vacation days does help.

Maybe we'll see growth in night skiing, too. Especially great for learners, who don't need a lot of runs for a beginner lesson. That would be amazing!
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Maybe we'll see growth in night skiing, too. Especially great for learners, who don't need a lot of runs for a beginner lesson. That would be amazing!
My home hill in VA has been doing Monday Night Madness for years. For something like $25 for the lift ticket can also get a cheap beginner lesson. Night sessions start at 4pm and end at 9pm so can get in several good hours.

On holiday weekends when doing trips with kids, we would ski 9am-12pm, take a long lunch at the condo, and then go back around 2:30 or 3:00 and ski into the lights until the kids wanted dinner. Was a great way to avoid the lines at the base lifts when they were still beginners.
 

Christy

Angel Diva
It frustrated me in the past when resorts have told people "just ski midweek!" as a solution to crowding—don't they think people would if they could? Few people ski Sat-Sun if they have the ability to go any day, so cheaper tickets aren't going to suddenly incentivize them to do it.

That's always driven me nuts too. Or when (usually retired) people say, stop complaining about weekend crowds on hiking trails (or whereever)--just go weekdays! Like we've never thought of that, or like we all have unlimited vacation days.
 

Jilly

Moderator
Staff member
Our local bump has finally announced it's plans. So in 4 hour windows you can reserve a place with or without a season pass. But there will be more spaces for pass holders. I haven't skied there is quite some time, but it was interesting to see how they were going to handle things.
 

MissySki

Angel Diva
Our local bump has finally announced it's plans. So in 4 hour windows you can reserve a place with or without a season pass. But there will be more spaces for pass holders. I haven't skied there is quite some time, but it was interesting to see how they were going to handle things.

Very interesting. Wachusett is doing the 3-4 hours blocks as well, but only for day tickets. Season passholders will not have to do reservations or be limited to the 3-4 hour blocks. At least that's their initial plan.
 

liquidfeet

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I received my Wachusett season pass today. I'm still thinking about whether it will be safe enough to drive 1.5 hours to and fro for a day of skiing there, given the vulnerability of family here at home. I cannot bring that virus back to the house. Cannot. DH is seriously vulnerable.

Breathing air in public bathrooms is the thing that worries me the most, not lift lines or chair lifts. I will stay 100% out of the lodge and boot up and down and eat in the car. If there are outdoor portapotties with open "windows" letting in outside air, I may use those. Maybe. At least the air will be exchanged. And I won't touch anything.

Or I may return the season pass and just not ski.

Or find a bathroom alternative in the car (yuk!)

I guess I could buy a P100 respirator, one of those big full-face or half-face coverings with round filter holders left and right, and walk into the lodge wearing it to use the bathroom. Oh the horror! Is this better than the N95s I've already got? Maybe not.

But who cares how goofy I look. Hmmm.... that may be what I'll do. This is the first time I've considered this way to deal with this whole thing. Hmmmmm.....
 
Last edited:

marzNC

Angel Diva
Very interesting. Wachusett is doing the 3-4 hours blocks as well, but only for day tickets. Season passholders will not have to do reservations or be limited to the 3-4 hour blocks. At least that's their initial plan.
Wachusett has RFID data from quite a few years to draw on in terms of knowing when most people were actually skiing and how long they tended to stay. Wachusett seems to have a morning-only crowd (mostly seniors), some folks who show up around lunch time, kids who show up after school, and night session people.

Are MA schools all online or are some at least doing hybrid classes? That might shift the timeframes for some non-passholders. Although from what I experienced taking a trip with my friend and her daughter, it's easier to stick to long weekends for travel even if classes are completely online.
 

kiki

Angel Diva
I received my Wachusett season pass today. I'm still thinking about whether it will be safe enough to drive 1.5 hours to and fro for a day of skiing there, given the vulnerability of family here at home. I cannot bring that virus back to the house. Cannot. DH is seriously vulnerable.

Breathing air in public bathrooms is the thing that worries me the most, not lift lines or chair lifts. I will stay 100% out of the lodge and boot up and down and eat in the car. If there are outdoor portapotties with open "windows" letting in outside air, I may use those. Maybe. At least the air will be exchanged. And I won't touch anything.

Or I may return the season pass and just not ski.

Or find a bathroom alternative in the car (yuk!)

I guess I could buy a P100 respirator, one of those big full-face or half-face coverings with round filter holders left and right, and walk into the lodge wearing it to use the bathroom. Oh the horror! Is this better than the N95s I've already got? Maybe not.

But who cares how goofy I look. Hmmm.... that may be what I'll do. This is the first time I've considered this way to deal with this whole thing. Hmmmmm.....
So much to debate and consider this year.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Breathing air in public bathrooms is the thing that worries me the most, not lift lines or chair lifts. I will stay 100% out of the lodge and boot up and down and eat in the car. If there are outdoor portapotties with open "windows" letting in outside air, I may use those. Maybe. At least the air will be exchanged. And I won't touch anything.
How long do you think it would take you to pop into the lodge and go to the bathroom? If under 10 min, really not much to worry about. I've been doing that in certain gas stations and rest areas along interstate highways when traveling since April. Presumably you would be skiing at Wachusett during times that are least busy, such as midweek mornings.

Everyone has their own tolerance for risk. My husband is high risk if he gets COVID-19 for assorted reasons. However, he has been comfortable eating inside a relatively empty restaurant a few times since early September. He had a minor medical procedure last week at the hospital and had a negative COVID test as part of the pre-op process.

I've been careful since early March, meaning before guidelines and restrictions were implemented in the U.S. What I learned by first-hand experience and reading in Mar-Apr guided our family's approach in May-Aug. Our daughter is at college living in an apartment. NC moved into Phase 3 in September, but it's been my first-hand experience away from home in the last six months that has been more helpful in deciding what feels comfortable for us. We have adapted to a "new normal" that hasn't really changed that much in the last 2-3 months.

First ski trip out west is planned for December with a few friends. I'll be flying Southwest. Have a reminder set to get into the Ikon reservation system when it opens up in early November for one location. Won't need reservations at the other locations.
 

MissySki

Angel Diva
Wachusett has RFID data from quite a few years to draw on in terms of knowing when most people were actually skiing and how long they tended to stay. Wachusett seems to have a morning-only crowd (mostly seniors), some folks who show up around lunch time, kids who show up after school, and night session people.

Are MA schools all online or are some at least doing hybrid classes? That might shift the timeframes for some non-passholders. Although from what I experienced taking a trip with my friend and her daughter, it's easier to stick to long weekends for travel even if classes are completely online.

Schools are town by town. I think most are hybrid, but there have been some who have pulled back on that depending on the specific local situation.
 

MissySki

Angel Diva
How long do you think it would take you to pop into the lodge and go to the bathroom? If under 10 min, really not much to worry about. I've been doing that in certain gas stations and rest areas along interstate highways when traveling since April. Presumably you would be skiing at Wachusett during times that are least busy, such as midweek mornings.

Everyone has their own tolerance for risk. My husband is high risk if he gets COVID-19 for assorted reasons. However, he has been comfortable eating inside a relatively empty restaurant a few times since early September. He had a minor medical procedure last week at the hospital and had a negative COVID test as part of the pre-op process.

I've been careful since early March, meaning before guidelines and restrictions were implemented in the U.S. What I learned by first-hand experience and reading in Mar-Apr guided our family's approach in May-Aug. Our daughter is at college living in an apartment. NC moved into Phase 3 in September, but it's been my first-hand experience away from home in the last six months that has been more helpful in deciding what feels comfortable for us. We have adapted to a "new normal" that hasn't really changed that much in the last 2-3 months.

First ski trip out west is planned for December with a few friends. I'll be flying Southwest. Have a reminder set to get into the Ikon reservation system when it opens up in early November for one location. Won't need reservations at the other locations.


I will say that the few times I've used public restrooms during this time, it does skeeve me out the most out of anything. They've been empty and I haven't been as worried about the air itself, I get more overwhelmed with what I'm touching. I carry hand sanitizer so I can be sure to douse my hands once I'm out of the space though.

Yesterday when I went to Wachusett there were porta potties outside. The building was locked up except for them letting in a certain amount of people at a time to shop. I had to ring a doorbell to get them to let me in to pick up my season pass as I had to have my picture taken still. It was nice that it was all so controlled. I happily didn't need to use the bathroom during my time there, but there were lines for the porta potties. I think I'd be more uncomfortable with that small enclosed space and going in right after someone versus using an indoor one where there is more airspace overall.
 

diymom

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
There’s always the portapotty at the Bullock lodge during ski season. That one might get less traffic than one at the base.
 

diymom

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
And for quicker in - out of the main lodge there’s the smaller wash room on the side of the building nearest the greens.

Personally, I usually stop at the Johnny Appleseed rest stop just before I get off rt 2. First thing in the morning you can only enter directly from the exterior door, no going through the lobby. Maybe it’s that the composting toilets can be a bit, umm, drafty, but I rarely see anyone else in there. Especially when the lobby is still closed.
 

Latest posts

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
26,237
Messages
497,686
Members
8,503
Latest member
MermaidKelly
Top