santacruz skier
Angel Diva
Think the problem is whether they will be able to get a reservation every weekend for ski team.... wonder how that will work.
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What you need to know about skiing at a Vail Resorts this season
- Thread starter ski diva
- Start date
SkiBabyMD
Certified Ski Diva
Northstar teams has a meeting next Friday with more details. DH can’t imagine teams to be fully open when VR is limiting access to the public. I hope he’s wrong! Also, what are parents supposed to do while the kids are on team if we can’t ski?!
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marzNC
Angel Diva
Not exactly "exempt." It's like a day ticket in that when someone pays for a day ticket, it comes with a "reservation." So it sounds like when someone commits to a lesson and has an Epic pass, then it comes with a reservation.
The count of reservation slots is based on whatever capacity limit is determined to be considered reasonably safe for a given period. That changes depending on how many lifts are expected to be open and how much terrain is likely to be available. Not on a daily basis, but in the sense that during early season when less terrain will be open then there will be fewer reservation slots available. If there is a big snowstorm or a series of storms in mid-Dec, then more slots may open up for the next week or two. In the northeast, If there is a warm spell ending with freezing rain in mid-Jan on a Wed and a bunch of people cancel who had a ski weekend planned, then there may be slots available to a local for Sat who checks on Thu morning.
With tested software, shifting reservation counts shouldn't be a big deal. Imagine trying to figure out how to deal with special situation with phone calls, which was what happened in Australia in June. The first couple weeks were pretty messy and frustrating from what I read on the Aussie ski forum.
At Trader Joe's, they have been dealing with capacity limits for months since the buildings are relatively small for a supermarket. For a while, some were using shopping carts to count people. When you got to the head of the line, which was outdoors and clearly spaced, you couldn't go in without a freshly cleaned cart. Actually made the experience inside shopping easier since there were fewer people and no wait to pay.
marzNC
Angel Diva
Sorry, I had to laugh!Northstar teams has a meeting next Friday with more details. DH can’t imagine teams to be fully open when VR is limiting access to the public. I hope he’s wrong! Also, what are parents supposed to do while the kids are on team if we can’t ski?!
In the southeast, most of the parents who drive the kids to ski team practice don't ski. Meaning they don't know how and aren't interested in learning. For that matter, I've seen quite a few families who are at Massanutten regularly on weekends so the kids can learn to ski/board but none of the adults in the family do anything on snow except tubing. Can be an issue when a tween who has had a few days of ski school is out on a blue slope alone.
I'll be interested to learn if VR is going to handle ski teams the same way across regions. The mountains around Tahoe and those in the midwest and mid-Atlantic are very different situations.
marzNC
Angel Diva
According to a Colorado Sun article, VR employees and their dependents will be exempt from the reservation system.
Apparently, destination resorts are seeing an increase in job applications from young adults who might otherwise be in college this winter.
Apparently, destination resorts are seeing an increase in job applications from young adults who might otherwise be in college this winter.
Ski Sine Fine
Angel Diva
I will be at my computer Nov 6 making priority reservations for 4 days at Breck and 3 days over Christmas at one of my home mountains. I’ll then roll my priority reservation days to my home mountains ahead of the week-of reservations as much as possible.
gingerjess
Angel Diva
I'm curious to see what reservations for the early season look like. The Priority Reservation system doesn't appear to be available for dates before December 8, so I'm assuming dates before then have to be booked as same-week. What's not clear to me is whether early season availability will be reliable, since non-passholders won't be able to make reservations at all.
I know I want a full week early in the season, and I was planning to do it the week after Thanksgiving, but that may be less practical if it's impossible to know if I'll be able to get on the mountain until the week before. I might see if, when priority reservations open, I can book a full week right after December 8 and just start with individual days/weekends as they become available in late November/early December. Vail also has pretty flexible lodging cancellations at the moment, so that takes at least some of the stress off.
I know I want a full week early in the season, and I was planning to do it the week after Thanksgiving, but that may be less practical if it's impossible to know if I'll be able to get on the mountain until the week before. I might see if, when priority reservations open, I can book a full week right after December 8 and just start with individual days/weekends as they become available in late November/early December. Vail also has pretty flexible lodging cancellations at the moment, so that takes at least some of the stress off.
marzNC
Angel Diva
You are correct that during early season you can't book too far in advance. Although the way I read the FAQ, sounds like you can book the week before. Meaning don't have to wait until Monday. The exception is the EDGE card, which I think applies to W-B only.
No one can really know how demand will be during early season. But limiting to Epic passholders only should help. In Australia, all the available reservations/tickets for the first couple weeks were gone very quickly. In spite of the likelihood of very limited terrain. By the time the VR system was ready, I think it was within two weeks of opening day. It's hadn't snowed much and had been too warm for much snowmaking. Of course, the lock down in Australia had been much more intense than in most of the U.S.
Pass holders will be able to make as many reservations in Early Season as available, based on capacity and pass access. Reservations will be made available on a weekly basis for the upcoming week of skiing, and these reservations do not count towards pass holders Priority Reservation Days for the Core Season. We expect that for many days throughout the season, pass holders will be able to make a reservation within the week of their desired date.
Q: How does Early Season skiing work with reservations for EDGE Cards?
A: Pass holders with Early Season skiing access will be able to make a reservation a week prior to the date they want to use their pass. These reservations will count toward your Priority Reservation Days for the core season.
santacruz skier
Angel Diva
Is this the only time that is good for you? Sometimes snow can be very iffy that early in the season ........ and limited areas will be open if that is the case.
Christy
Angel Diva
That's good, because they aren't going to get anyone in on a J1 visa...
marzNC
Angel Diva
From what I know, the ski industry hasn't given up on the idea of getting some sort of adjustment so that they could get J1 folks on board before the end of Dec.
Finding enough people and getting them all trained before opening day will be a major challenge. If there aren't enough lifties to run all the lifts once snowmaking has all trails covered, that could be a major problem even for a reduced number of skiers/boarders. Especially true at smaller mountains in the midwest and mid-Atlantic.
I wonder where the former Peak Resorts locations draw from for winter staff? They aren't scheduled to open until Dec. 19. As an aside, except for Paoli Peaks it looks like all the other former Peak Resorts locations in the midwest were moved to using RFID cards for lift access.
gingerjess
Angel Diva
Eh, it's more that I have a ton of regret from last season from only starting around the turn of the year, and if COVID shortens the new season as well, I'd rather have had all the days I could get first.
gingerjess
Angel Diva
Oh, that's an interesting question. It'd be kind of tricky to engineer a piece of software that gives you everything you want:
- Pay for multiple peoples' Epic passes at once
- Share reserved space among all the members of a household
- Individual logins for EpicMix to see lesson progress and other stats
- Allow individual members of a household to have different itineraries for the same day if they want
If they put in the work, they could come up with a system where household members can reserve some time and "invite" other household members along, but if you're on such an invitation you can't reserve other time.
marzNC
Angel Diva
My sense is that what's created is a link between accounts to create a "family" so that everyone in the family can get lift tickets for the same days. I don't know if there can be two primary account holders, but I doubt it.
Rest assured that every possible potential loop hole was explored by the Australians for the system that was put in place in June by VR for Perisher, Falls Creek, and Hotham.
gingerjess
Angel Diva
I got an email from Vail this morning that they're pushing out the purchase window from Labor Day to September 17th. That seems to suggest that their current passholder numbers are such that they don't expect any issues with accommodating them on-mountain.
marzNC
Angel Diva
Perhaps. Although with the reservation system, they don't really need to worry too much. VR knows exactly how many days a typical Epic pass holder uses, in particular for travelers. They may be hoping to get more sales from particular markets. The timing of schools is varying from early August to late September, which means some parents are still not really settled from whatever the summer vacation season was like.
marzNC
Angel Diva
This video by Rob Katz, CEO of Vail Resorts, is geared towards people who already bought an Epic pass as well as those who are on the edge of buying one. It was posted on Sept. 14, a few days before the prices go up. That is the same day that Alterra issued their statement that reservations would not be required at Alterra resorts. He talks about the basics of of how to use the Priority 7 Days. Also gives a reason that someone should consider buying Epic even though it won't mean unlimited access.
marzNC
Angel Diva
Since 7 Priority Days for an Epic pass holder is a rolling total, here's an example of how someone could plan out a couple trips that involve an overnight stay. Suppose someone sets up two trips to start with by reserving 2 days in Dec and 5 days in Jan. That should be relatively easy during the initial month-long period only for Epic passholders. Could be the same resort or could be different resorts. After skiing the 2 Dec days, then would be possible to pick out a couple days in Feb. Could potentially add a few more days for the Feb trip after the trip in Jan, but not guaranteed. Probably better to use Priority Days for any weekend or holiday days. Likely to be able to add non-holiday midweek days either as later Priority Days or even using "week of" reservations.
If that pass holder happens to live close enough to drive to an Epic location for a day trip, could also get in other days based on "week of" reservations in Dec and Jan.
If that pass holder happens to live close enough to drive to an Epic location for a day trip, could also get in other days based on "week of" reservations in Dec and Jan.
