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Pay more, get faster access at 4 Powdr resorts.

ski diva

Administrator
Staff member
Like to ski at Copper, Killington, Mt Bachelor, and Snowbird, but hate waiting on line? If you got the bucks, you're in luck. Powdr is launching dedicated fast-access lanes at the most popular lifts at these four resorts. To access the lanes, guests will need to buy a daily Fast Tracks pass, which will start at $49 a day. These will have dynamic pricing based on peak periods, holidays, and days of the week. They go on sale November 1.

All I can say is Holy. Crow.

Could Vail be far behind?
 

Christy

Angel Diva
Ohhhhh.

Maybe I'm being hypocritical. I pay for fast border crossings/TSA pre-check, although, that's only about $50 for 5 years, rather than one day, and part of that is getting fingerprinted and background checked so the border agents don't have to scrutinize you. I pay for lounge access if I don't get it with my airline ticket. I almost always pay for at least premium/plus airline seats and maybe first if it's not outrageous so I don't have to sit in regular coach. I'm not sure I'm ready for this though. I'd also slightly fear the reaction the people in the main line if I skied into a shorter line.

I think I'd rather see a Disneyland style Fast Pass, where you get a pass for a certain time, for free.
 

Jilly

Moderator
Staff member
For years this has been a perk of owning a mountainside condo at Tremblant. They opened it up to people willing to pay extra. Last year it was nuts. It seems that all the racers and their parents bought in. So this year the "fast pass" was only available till the end of March I think. And the price went UP!! It doubles the price of the Ikon pass base.

But it's damn handy when you can only ski weekends and holidays...
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Similar pay-for-fast-access add-on has been available at Snowshoe for years. It's called the Primo pass. They sell out in fall. What's different for 2021-22 is that the Primo was only available as an add-on to an Ikon pass. Snowshoe still sells 1-location season passes.

Wintergreen in VA has express lanes for property owners only. What's more unusual is that someone who doesn't own property at the resort cannot get a season pass that includes Saturdays 9am-4pm for any amount of money. The ski area is public but is clearly a major amenity for people who use the resort as a 4-season vacation home.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Pretty sure the former three Snowtime resorts in PA allowed season pass holders to ride the lifts early on weekends. It was a free perk. No longer available with an Epic pass.
 

Jilly

Moderator
Staff member
Pretty sure the former three Snowtime resorts in PA allowed season pass holders to ride the lifts early on weekends. It was a free perk. No longer available with an Epic pass.
That's not the same as an express line pass. "first tracks" is a privilege add-on to any pass at Tremblant. You also get some other stuff too for your $99.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
That's not the same as an express line pass. "first tracks" is a privilege add-on to any pass at Tremblant. You also get some other stuff too for your $99.
I understand that.

I thought about the early access that Snowtime had because it was a perk that was lost. Not sure if Peak Resorts did it or Vail Resorts. The situation for people who live in the Washington DC area and ski locally is quite different than for in other regions where there are true destination resorts at big mountains.

Vail Resorts, Alterra, Powdr, and Boyne Resorts clearly pay attention to what other multi-resort companies do, as well as what independent destination resorts do. VR and Powdr seem to want to have more similarities across their resorts than Alterra and Boyne.

PGRI (Ragged, Wintergreen, Wisp, Powderhorn, Mt. Washington) and Mountain Capital Partners (Purgatory, Arizona Snowbowl, Nordic Valley, etc.) are the other multi-regional, multi-resort companies I check now and then.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Powdr is launching dedicated fast-access lanes at the most popular lifts at these four resorts. To access the lanes, guests will need to buy a daily Fast Tracks pass, which will start at $49 a day. These will have dynamic pricing based on peak periods, holidays, and days of the week. They go on sale November 1.
Hmm . . . .dynamic pricing with $49 as the starting price. Would be interesting to know what type of numbers are likely. 100, 200, 500, more? Obviously can't see too many or else that would just create another line that people would complain about when the slopes are busy.

Copper, Killington, Mt Bachelor, and Snowbird serves very different markets. They all used the same parking reservation system for 2020-21. So far, only Snowbird has announced the plans for 2021-22 parking.
 

MissySki

Angel Diva
Sunday River did a pilot of this sort of thing several years ago.. from what I understand it did NOT go over well and got abandoned. I do like skipping the line in my seasonal lessons though! It’s way cheaper per day than this too haha. I believe it works out to $25 per session if you did all of them (30 days).

We do have an add on for early mornings on Sundays this year. You can only add it to gold and platinum passes, and previously it was just included in platinum only. They want $249 and that is not going over well either. Truly few people even used this option when it was already included on their pass because people can’t even get to the lift for 8am never mind 7:15am. Lol So I don’t think that’ll be a big seller, I am certainly not feeling the need to get it myself. Maybe if it were like $99, but the only time I’d want to use it is a powder day really.
 
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marzNC

Angel Diva
Sunday River did a pilot of this sort of thing several years ago.. from what I understand it did NOT go over well and got abandoned. I do like skipping the line in my seasonal lessons though! It’s way cheaper per day than this too haha. I believe it works out to $25 per session if you did all of them (30 days).
Interesting.

Boyne Resorts is charging separately for the Big Sky tram starting this season. We'll see how that works out in the long run.

Looks like people who shell out for the most expensive pass, the Gold Pass, for Boyne Mountain and Boyne Highlands get First Tracks on weekends and holidays. They get access to lifts starting at 8:30am.
 

ski diva

Administrator
Staff member
Sunday River did a pilot of this sort of thing several years ago.. from what I understand it did NOT go over well and got abandoned. I do like skipping the line in my seasonal lessons though! It’s way cheaper per day than this too haha. I believe it works out to $25 per session if you did all of them (30 days).

We do have an add on for early mornings on Sundays this year. You can only add it to gold and platinum passes, and previously it was just included in platinum only. They want $249 and that is not going over well either. Truly few people even used this option when it was already included on their pass because people can’t even get to the lift for 8am never mind 7:15am. Lol So I don’t think that’ll be a big seller, I am certainly not feeling the need to get it myself. Maybe if it were like $99, but the only time I’d want to use it is a powder day really.

7:15AM? It's still dark then!
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
Apparently at Snowbird the Fast Tracks will not include the Tram. The lifts to be included are: Peruvian, Gadzoom, Gad 2, Little Cloud, as well and the two lifts in Mineral Basin. All are high-speed quads. Peruvian and Gadzoom load near a base and serve intermediate, advanced, and expert terrain. Little Cloud and Gad 2 are mid-mountain lifts that are used by adventurous intermediates and up.

Not sure why it's needed for Gad 2 and Little Cloud. There isn't much area for lift lines and seems an unnecessary complication to add. But I don't ski Snowbird on busy days in any case.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
As for Killington, the Fast Tracks list is both gondolas, Superstar, Ramshead, Snowshed, Bear, Skye express, Snowdon, Needles Eye. For those of you who know Killington well, does that make sense?
 

marzNC

Angel Diva

ski diva

Administrator
Staff member
Here are the lifts that'll have Fast Tracks next year.

At Mt. Bachelor: Pine Marten, Sunrise, Skyliner, Cloudchaser, Outback, Northwest, Summit, Red Chair, and Little Pine.

At Killington: Both gondolas, Superstar, Ramshead, Snowshed, Bear, Skye Express, Snowdon, Needles Eye

At Snowbird: Peruvian, Gadzoom, Gad 2, Little Cloud, Mineral Basin, Baldy (NOT at the tram)

Copper will release its list tomorrow.
 

ski diva

Administrator
Staff member
So here's a question: Is Fast Track something you would pay for?
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
At Mt. Bachelor: Pine Marten, Sunrise, Skyliner, Cloudchaser, Outback, Northwest, Summit, Red Chair, and Little Pine.
Interesting. That's essentially all the general purpose lifts. Only lifts not included is the one for a terrain park and a couple beginner lifts.

A new app for Bachelor is going to include Lift Wait Times. Supposed to be available in early November. Opening day planned for Nov. 26.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
So here's a question: Is Fast Track something you would pay for?
Not at $49 and up.

I've skied at Wintergreen on weekends a few times. Property owners have a separate lift line. I think it's an option that requires extra money. It was a bit annoying. But didn't really slow down the regular lines that much because of how the traffic flow was controlled. People in the Express Lane still had to wait a bit. It wasn't handled like the VIP check-in that airlines have at big airports.
 

MissySki

Angel Diva
So here's a question: Is Fast Track something you would pay for?

Not regularly, no way. If I were on vacation somewhere crowded.. maybe? Kind of doubt it still though, and everyone in the group would have to want to. That’s unlikely to be a consensus in larger groups.

Sounds like people are making a LOT of noise about this on social media, and not in a good way. I wonder if enough bad publicity will have them rethink this..
 

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