I was a never-ever last year, and this year I bought an Epic Local. My experience in my ski club and their affordable transportation, lift tickets, instruction program, and comraderie is what got me hooked on the sport last year.As we have discussed, the multi-resort passes do bring skiers to more resorts, but it seems they do very little to bring in new skiers. More resorts will have to offer great deals to never-Evers and to young people, like Killington’s pass for under-30s. (I think, or was it college kids?). I think the multi passes serve passionate skiers well, and also people who can travel to ski. These passes are not going to replace the mom-and-pop ski hills that fed so many kids into the sport!
It wasn't Alterra. It was KSL Resorts, which is NOT the same company as KSL Capital Investments. KSL Capital partnered with the Crown family to for the purchases that created Alterra and then the Ikon pass.Alterra took over Camelback this year and they have already made a bunch of changes that make it less family friendly... raised prices on lessons (not surprising, they used to be so reasonable) removed the affordable slope side daycare, rerouted foot traffic to the lodge in a weird way, repositioned ski check to a less convenient place, they even changed the awesome Mac and cheese my kids have loved for 5 years! In fairness there have been improvements too but you can see the profit maximization efforts in lots of ways...
Mammoth is doing great. The are remodeling their lodges and they are crowded. Prices of parking and lockers are up... crowds are big!
A lot comes down to cost. Many ski passes for resorts out west are now $150+ just for a day, and parking at some resorts that was free is now $40 a day.
At Park City this past weekend, the lodge was selling hot dogs for $21. Granted, it's a pricier resort but still. We had some beginners in our group and with travel, rentals, lift tickets, lodging, food etc. they easily spent over $1000 for the weekend.
@newboots They called them "wagyu" dogs but they taste like any old hot dog! Technically a pretzel dog, so a little bit fancy but that's all, no sides even!
Yes, Cloud dine! I got there right as the manager was telling workers that the hot dogs shouldn’t be coming with fries. Inconsistent, so some people got fries and some didn’t.Lol, I had to order one of those for my son - cloud dine, right? The prices go up by 50% at cloud dine since it’s the highest place to eat and there’s no other place close by. Although ours came with a shed load of fries!
The best place to eat at Canyons, according to my kids, is sun peak lodge - decent tacos and a salsa bar.
Prices of parking
and parking at some resorts that was free is now $40 a day.
Very sad indeed. The sport is becoming unfordable in the US. Bad timing to pick it up again but I did see some improvements at Camelback. The food is still terrible!Alterra took over Camelback this year and they have already made a bunch of changes that make it less family friendly... raised prices on lessons (not surprising, they used to be so reasonable) removed the affordable slope side daycare, rerouted foot traffic to the lodge in a weird way, repositioned ski check to a less convenient place, they even changed the awesome Mac and cheese my kids have loved for 5 years! In fairness there have been improvements too but you can see the profit maximization efforts in lots of ways...
Welcome! Where else have you skied locally? There are ski areas without all the resort amenities of Camelback in the region that are not as expensive when it comes to lift tickets.Very sad indeed. The sport is becoming unfordable in the US. Bad timing to pick it up again but I did see some improvements at Camelback. The food is still terrible!
Yeah I have to say the coverage they have given the lack of natural snow so far has been amazing. We have had mostly great days so far as long as you can get there before everything gets skied off.Very sad indeed. The sport is becoming unfordable in the US. Bad timing to pick it up again but I did see some improvements at Camelback. The food is still terrible!