Fast Tracks: Paying to Cut the Line

[Milo Maltbie]

Ikon is a price fixing partnership among Powdr, Boyne, Alterra and Jackson Hole. Now all the partners are adding their own fees to the fixed price. I’m thinking there’s something going on among the partners. Maxpass didn’t last long and maybe Ikon won’t either.

mm

 

[TheGreatAbyss]

Good idea. Help with a title?

"POWDR TO THE PEOPLE (who are rich)"

 

[Ripitz]

Imagine if you could cut the tram line on a powder day. Lol

People hire powder guides in Big Sky to cut the tram line. They are met with boos as they load and snowballs are thrown at the cabin as it passes overhead. “Why are those people throwing snowballs at us daddy?”, asks Jerry Jr. “Because we are rich assholes. They are not people they are dirtbags”

 

[Campgottagopee]

People hire powder guides in Big Sky to cut the tram line. They are met with boos as they load and snowballs are thrown at the cabin as it passes overhead. “Why are those people throwing snowballs at us daddy?”, asks Jerry Jr. “Because we are rich assholes. They are not people they are dirtbags”

Maybe, maybe not. Could be some are on a bucket list trip, and simply living it up.

 

[x10003q]

People hire powder guides in Big Sky to cut the tram line. They are met with boos as they load and snowballs are thrown at the cabin as it passes overhead. “Why are those people throwing snowballs at us daddy?”, asks Jerry Jr. “Because we are rich assholes. They are not people they are dirtbags”

Nah.
We have been watching lessons/privates/guides cut the lines our entire ski lives. I have never seen any real reaction from those of us in the main corral.

 

[MarzNC]

Good idea. Help with a title?

To me the question is, does an affordable day ticket matter?

My guess is yes, but that is just a guess.

At a destination resort? Maybe, maybe not. In New England and NY. there are plenty of other places to have fun skiing for a few days a season without all the trappings of a resort with slopeside lodging options. I wonder what percentage of people who want to ski >10 days even think about the breakeven point for a local 1-location season pass.

The Indy Pass is tapping into the market that skis < 6 days a season, likes a little variety, and is willing to do a bit of driving either for day trips or a ski weekend or two.

 

[MarzNC]

Ikon is a price fixing partnership among Powdr , Boyne, Alterra and Jackson Hole. Now all the partners are adding their own fees to the fixed price. I’m thinking there’s something going on among the partners. Maxpass didn’t last long and maybe Ikon won’t either.

mm

Aspen Ski Co. worked the same deal as JH. Have to pay extra to get 5 days at Aspen or JH if getting Ikon Base.

What I find a little unexpected is that the Mountain Collective Pass still exists. Most, if not all, of the independent Ikon Partners like Alta, JH, and Taos are also on the MCP. Grand Targhee joined the MCP for last season, but not Ikon. Serves a different market I guess.

 

[MarzNC]

Nah.
We have been watching lessons/privates/guides cut the lines our entire ski lives. I have never seen any real reaction from those of us in the main corral.

I dunno. Seeing someone going to the Ski School line with an instructor/guide in a resort jacket is a bit different than having a separate "express line."

I felt differently at Wintergreen about the express lane the few times I skied there on weekends when my kid was in elementary school. There has been a special line that only property owners could access for quite a while. It does help that Wintergreen is one of the few ski areas in the region with detachable high-speed lifts. But the wait on weekends is still 15-30 min and there are only three lifts, including one that only serves black trails. Getting away from the crowd is not possible.

 

[Tjf1967]

People hire powder guides in Big Sky to cut the tram line. They are met with boos as they load and snowballs are thrown at the cabin as it passes overhead. “Why are those people throwing snowballs at us daddy?”, asks Jerry Jr. “Because we are rich assholes. They are not people they are dirtbags”

Being rich doesn't make your an a-hole. The dirt bags are they ones being a-holes is they are making a big deal or of it.

 

[MC2]

Being rich doesn't make your an a-hole. The dirt bags are they ones being a-holes is they are making a big deal or of it.

I agree that nobody is going to jeer or throw snowballs at the people in the express lane, but I also think that “the poors should just accept their lot in life without complaint” is also the wrong attitude.

Of course, I think the real thing is that skiing is an elitist sport to start out with (you get in your SUV, don overpriced weatherproof apparel, click your $400 boots into $600 skis, get ferried up a mountain with powerful machines, ski on fake snow made from water sucked from local rivers, etc.). Adding one more level of elitism is hardly the end of the world.

Once the paid parking thing happened, it was all downhill ?