First resort in the East to charge over $100 for a lift ticket

[MissySki]

So what do you all think about Stowe charging $108 for a lift ticket this coming season?

Personally, it's not one of my favorite mountains so it doesn't affect me because I almost never go there, but will this make you think twice before heading to Stowe if you do like it?

https://www.newenglandskiindustry.com/viewstory.php?storyid=161

 

[marzNC]

All depends on where someone lives and what they want to do to get time on snow. According to MountainVertical, Stowe has 2100 ft vertical and 500-750 acres, while Snowshoe, WV has 1400 ft vertical and 100-250 acres. Stowe's window price will be $108. Snowshoe's window price will be $84/weekends and $79/midweek. Both offer substantial discounts on lift tickets if you stay on resort. Vacationers to Stowe can enjoy non-skiing activities and choose from lots of restaurant options in town. Hardly any reasons to drive off resort at Snowshoe.

If I lived in eastern PA/NJ/NYC and had to drive for a ski vacation, Stowe would still be on the list to consider.

Did the season pass prices at Stowe go up too?

 

[nopoleskier]

OUCH.. I'm so glad I went last year! I didn't like how dark the mountain was.. had to ski w/the sun and pain to get over to the 'new area' it didn't wow me enough to want to go back at 108/day.

 

[MissySki]

All depends on where someone lives and what they want to do to get time on snow. According to MountainVertical, Stowe has 2100 ft vertical and 500-750 acres, while Snowshoe, WV has 1400 ft vertical and 100-250 acres. Stowe's window price will be $108. Snowshoe's window price will be $84/weekends and $79/midweek. Both offer substantial discounts on lift tickets if you stay on resort. Vacationers to Stowe can enjoy non-skiing activities and choose from lots of restaurant options in town. Hardly any reasons to drive off resort at Snowshoe.

If I lived in eastern PA/NJ/NYC and had to drive for a ski vacation, Stowe would still be on the list to consider.

Did the season pass prices at Stowe go up too?

Not sure on the season pass pricing.

I do know that there are just so many other options in the northeast that are not charging that much money to ski though.. To each their own of course, I may be quite biased as I don't really get all of the hype there. During Diva East last year I personally had the most fun skiing at Sugarbush not Stowe and my normal preference leans towards mountains in NH and ME overall when I compare the mountains I've skied in those states with the ones I've skied in VT.

In the West I can justify to some extent.. The resorts are way bigger, have more lifts to maintain, avy control required etc etc etc., but what is the justification here?

 

[ski diva]

Definitely ouch! Too rich for my blood.

 

[Mrs Hutchins]

Woo! Don't think it's worth that price...

But I will ski there with the discounted tickets that my in-laws find.

 

[marzNC]

Wow . . . just checked what it would cost to stay at the Stowe Lodge over a mid-season holiday long weekend. For Fri-Tue, a studio for 2 adults and 1 child is about $650 per night! That does not include any meals or required valet parking ($21/day) for those who drive. Adding breakast (1 hot entree, 1 hot drink, 1 cold drink) is $25/person. I guess there must be enough people with money in New England who don't want to pay for plane tickets for a ski trip.

 

[abc]

Stowe is my favorite resort, even though I can't afford to go there often.

In my view, Stowe is one of the best resort in the northeast. As such, it charging more than other resort in VT is not surprising. Granted, pricing and result deliver doesn't always have to be proportional. So it would be great if Stowe charges less than say, Sugarbush or Killington. But alas, that's not the case.

With so many mountains in Vermont charging pennies shy of $100, it's entirely symbolic "who's going to be the first to charge OVER $100". I don't pay much attention to that since I don't go there during holiday peak period paying full window prices. In practice, that $108 price doesn't actually apply to me, not yet anyway.

For anyone who say this opens the flood gate of over $100 ticket price, I can only say the "flood" had been building for quite a while and the psychological dam isn't going to hold it back!

I will not pretend I'm shocked, because I'm NOT shocked. I saw it coming a couple years back.

So what if Stowe being the first out the gate! It's still one of my MOST favorite resort!!! And I will ski there as often as I can find discount tickets at (what I defined as) "affordable" prices

 

[CarverJill]

I also love Stowe but the resort is not worth $108! It is on the east coast after all. I'm sure the expansion a few years ago was pretty pricey so they need to make up for it. It is also the closest big/steep ski area to Burlington, VT so if they are making a lot of local business they can pull it off.

 

[ZealouslyB]

There are just sooooo many other options to choose from between VT, NH and ME I can't imagine paying that much! Stowe is cool, but there are other mountains Id much rather pay that money to ski, personally.

And the thought of spending $600+ a night for a family to ski? Geesh! Trends like that are what alienate people from skiing.

The recent article in SKI about Cherry Peak in UT, a new mountain set to open this winter, is interesting. Cherry Peak seems to take the exact opposite approach: making skiing more affordable in terms of money (and time commitment) to open the sport up to people who otherwise couldn't or wouldn't ski.

 

[marzNC]

Remind

There are just sooooo many other options to choose from between VT, NH and ME I can't imagine paying that much! Stowe is cool, but there are other mountains Id much rather pay that money to ski, personally.

And the thought of spending $600+ a night for a family to ski? Geesh! Trends like that are what alienate people from skiing.

The recent article in SKI about Cherry Peak in UT, a new mountain set to open this winter, is interesting. Cherry Peak seems to take the exact opposite approach: making skiing more affordable in terms of money (and time commitment) to open the sport up to people who otherwise couldn't or wouldn't ski.

Reminds me of discussions about "feeder" hills. Guess Stowe would not be listed as one of them.

 

[abc]

I also love Stowe but the resort is not worth $108! It is on the east coast after all. I'm sure the expansion a few years ago was pretty pricey so they need to make up for it. It is also the closest big/steep ski area to Burlington, VT so if they are making a lot of local business they can pull it off.

I'm sorry to say you got the wrong idea.

Stowe doesn't draw from Burlington locals. Those locals go to Smuggler's Notch or Bolton Valley.

Stowe depends solidly on the out of town vacationer market. It could have been two hundred mile from Burlington and it wouldn't have matter.

And the expansion had nothing to do with it either. When I started working in business consulting 20 years ago, I learned "you don't charge what it cost + mark-up, as you learn from school. You charge WHAT THE MARKET CAN BEAR!"

The northeast market CAN indeed bear that price. If you look around, Sugarbush charges close to $100, Killington charges close to $1oo. Even Okemo and Stratton, which are not even close to being also-ran, charges in the high 80-90 range!!! Most of the "mega resorts" in VT charges in that range. So no, Stowe is not out of line compare to most of other large resorts in Vermont.

There are just sooooo many other options to choose from between VT, NH and ME I can't imagine paying that much! Stowe is cool, but there are other mountains Id much rather pay that money to ski, personally.

Sure, NH and Maine can appeal to skiers from the Boston metro area. But when it comes to the vast majority of Metro NYC and NJ skiers, NH and Maine might as well be in Canada! (I do ski in NH, and even more rarely, Maine. But it's really more like once-in-a-blue-moon trip)

In fact, the amount of time it takes me to get to Maine, I could be in Salt Lake City!

 

[ZealouslyB]

There are still other resorts in VT with lots to offer that don't charge as much, offer great terrain and resort features, and that I'd be far more willing to spend that kind of money on than Stowe.

 

[CarverJill]

I was a local living in Burlington and my favorite place to ski was Stowe :( I hated Smuggs and their slow lifts/lift lines. Bolton is just....... terrible.

Sure there are people from Boston and NYC who are happy to pay the prices Stowe charges but I stand strong with saying I think $108 is too high for that resort.

 

[ski diva]

One more point about Stowe: they're probably the only resort around in Vermont that does NOT offer discount tickets. As abc said, window ticket prices for some of the other resorts are pretty high. But you can always find a way to pay less than the going rate. For example, at Killington, Vermont residents pay a reduced rate on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. And at Okemo, there's always some discount or other going on. At Stowe, never. When they charge more than $100., it's more than $100. Nothing less. Ever. So there's that to consider, too. There's no way to catch a break.

 

[ruthies49]

So what do you all think about Stowe charging $108 for a lift ticket this coming season?

Personally, it's not one of my favorite mountains so it doesn't affect me because I almost never go there, but will this make you think twice before heading to Stowe if you do like it?

https://www.newenglandskiindustry.com/viewstory.php?storyid=161

We visited the mountain in late August since my DH skied there as a kid. Did the gondola ride and it looks like quite the luxury resort. I suppose we would for an extra special trip....

 

[tinymoose]

Stowe is only $89 a day for this upcoming season if you use their Stowe ByPass card, which we do anyhow.

ETA: So to me it sounds like by raising rates to $108 they're trying to push people towards using the refillable cards.

 

[Olesya Chornoguz]

Ouch, $108 is a lot! Granted I have never been to Stowe and I heard great things about it. Too bad I couldn't make it to Diva East last season. But compared to Stowe $108 price tag and ~9 hr drive I will prefer Snowshoe, VW with its 5 hr drive and $199 "Ridiculous" season pass (a limited time promotion Snowshoe runs in the end of season) if I am desperate for to ski when nearby PA hills are either not yet open, have limited coverage or I wanted a bigger/steeper mountain. Also like it was mentioned above flying to SLC from Baltimore takes 5 hours on non-stop flight and the fares usually reasonable. So yeah I guess I'm more likely to travel out west for skiing at this point than New England. I would still really like to check out either Stowe or Okemo at some point, but it may not happen this winter due to time and budget constraints.

 

[marzNC]

Ouch, $108 is a lot! Granted I have never been to Stowe and I heard great things about it. Too bad I couldn't make it to Diva East last season. But compared to Stowe $108 price tag and ~9 hr drive I will prefer Snowshoe, VW with its 5 hr drive and $199 "Ridiculous" season pass (a limited time promotion Snowshoe runs in the end of season) if I am desperate for to ski when nearby PA hills are either not yet open, have limited coverage or I wanted a bigger/steeper mountain. Also like it was mentioned above flying to SLC from Baltimore takes 5 hours on non-stop flight and the fares usually reasonable. So yeah I guess I'm more likely to travel out west for skiing at this point than New England. I would still really like to check out either Stowe or Okemo at some point, but it may not happen this winter due to time and budget constraints.

Even if a lift ticket is $50, from DC/Baltimore I think it makes far more sense to fly west for people who take ski vacations that include at least 4-5 ski days. Stowe has around 750 acres. Snowbasin has 3000 acres. Big Sky has a bit over 5000 acres. People don't need to sharpen their edges nearly as often in the Rockies compared the northeast.

For a family with 2 or more kids who can drive to northern VT in half a day, it's a different situation.

 

[abc]

ETA: So to me it sounds like by raising rates to $108 they're trying to push people towards using the refillable cards.

Yes and no.

I'm sure they're pushing people towards using the refillable card. You'll be pretty stubborn to NOT use the card with such a huge price difference. Though I'm not surprise to find many people didn't bother to find these discounts the last few times I was skiing at Stowe.

BTW, the $108 price everybody is so up in arms about includes the initial price of the RFID, which is $5. You never pay the $108 price ever again since you have the card after the 1st day. The actual daily price is $103, not $108.

Not that it makes any real difference. But of all the people who're jumping up and down about the price, how many had bothered to find out what that $108 includes???

Stowe is only $89 a day for this upcoming season if you use their Stowe ByPass card, which we do anyhow.

So that's the actual price that everyone NEED to pay to ski at Stowe. Same as most other mountains that has equally astronomical window prices which no one pays!

The $108 price tag is largely symbolic. It's Stowe saying "look, this is a good place, but it aren't cheap. Choose what you want"!

I was a local living in Burlington and my favorite place to ski was Stowe :( I hated Smuggs and their slow lifts/lift lines. Bolton is just....... terrible.

Sugarbush is right down the road, no more than 5-10 minutes extra driving (if at all), if you don't care for the old fashioned Smuggs/Bolton