snoloco
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2021
ORDA has unfortunately completely butchered the Frequent Skier Card for the 2022-2023 season. While the price of the card was reduced slightly, they completely got rid of the free first and every 6th day. Let's do some math to show how much worse of a deal it is compared to the old model. For the old model, I will assume the cost of the card is equal to the walk-up window rate. For both models, I will use the published FSC rates, and assume the walk-up ticket price is 109 dollars, based on the FSC rate being 25% off on weekends. This way, we have a baseline to compare the per visit cost using the FSC.
I'm using the format of Day x: i,a where i = incremental cost per day and a = average cost per day.
2022-2023 FSC
FSC price: 59
Day 1: 82, 141
Day 2: 82, 111.50
Day 3: 82, 101.67
Day 4: 82, 96.75
Day 5: 82, 93.80
Day 6: 82, 91.83
Day 7: 82, 90.43
Day 8: 82, 89.38
Day 9: 82, 88.56
Day 10: 82, 87.90
Day 11: 82, 87.36
Day 12: 82, 86.92
Total cost: 1043
Old FSC model
FSC price: 109
Day 1: 0, 109
Day 2: 82, 95.50
Day 3: 82, 91.00
Day 4: 82, 88.75
Day 5: 82, 87.40
Day 6: 0, 72.83
Day 7: 82, 74.14
Day 8: 82, 75.13
Day 9: 82, 75.89
Day 10: 82, 76.50
Day 11: 82, 77.00
Day 12: 0, 70.58
Total cost: 847
The numbers don't lie and show that the new model is a complete rip off compared to the old one, particularly if you ski on the weekends. It's very hard to come out ahead when you have to pay to get a discount. Also, these calculations don't take into account the online purchase discount for single day tickets, or the fact that the FSC rate is the same all year, even when they drop ticket prices early and late season. It's an exact dollar amount, not an exact percentage..
Also, comparing to other resorts, while Killington no longer has a frequent skier card in the model of Gore's, they do sell pre-season "K-Tickets" for 50% off the window rate each fall. It's a fixed dollar amount, so not really useful early or late season, but this gives you a far greater savings if you know the exact number of days you want to ski. These tickets also have no blackouts.
I believe the only people who would benefit from the current frequent skier card are those who mostly ski midweek, and those who want to avoid potential sellouts of day tickets. I was planning to get a frequent skier card at the ORDA mountains, but with them being less valuable and more expensive to use, I won't bother.
I'm using the format of Day x: i,a where i = incremental cost per day and a = average cost per day.
2022-2023 FSC
FSC price: 59
Day 1: 82, 141
Day 2: 82, 111.50
Day 3: 82, 101.67
Day 4: 82, 96.75
Day 5: 82, 93.80
Day 6: 82, 91.83
Day 7: 82, 90.43
Day 8: 82, 89.38
Day 9: 82, 88.56
Day 10: 82, 87.90
Day 11: 82, 87.36
Day 12: 82, 86.92
Total cost: 1043
Old FSC model
FSC price: 109
Day 1: 0, 109
Day 2: 82, 95.50
Day 3: 82, 91.00
Day 4: 82, 88.75
Day 5: 82, 87.40
Day 6: 0, 72.83
Day 7: 82, 74.14
Day 8: 82, 75.13
Day 9: 82, 75.89
Day 10: 82, 76.50
Day 11: 82, 77.00
Day 12: 0, 70.58
Total cost: 847
The numbers don't lie and show that the new model is a complete rip off compared to the old one, particularly if you ski on the weekends. It's very hard to come out ahead when you have to pay to get a discount. Also, these calculations don't take into account the online purchase discount for single day tickets, or the fact that the FSC rate is the same all year, even when they drop ticket prices early and late season. It's an exact dollar amount, not an exact percentage..
Also, comparing to other resorts, while Killington no longer has a frequent skier card in the model of Gore's, they do sell pre-season "K-Tickets" for 50% off the window rate each fall. It's a fixed dollar amount, so not really useful early or late season, but this gives you a far greater savings if you know the exact number of days you want to ski. These tickets also have no blackouts.
I believe the only people who would benefit from the current frequent skier card are those who mostly ski midweek, and those who want to avoid potential sellouts of day tickets. I was planning to get a frequent skier card at the ORDA mountains, but with them being less valuable and more expensive to use, I won't bother.
