I still feel the pricing we see today is the issue. Normal supply in demand isn’t found in skiing nowadays.. because passes are super cheap and sold in huge numbers. My preference, raise season pass prices, significantly. Double it, triple it, I don’t care if that would bring skier level down significantly as well. Also raise mega pass prices, and include reservations/daily limits at partner resorts for them along with daily ticket sold. The raise in season pass prices offsets any losses from partnership deals having completely free rein on attendance. I have no idea what leveling allows this, just theorizing since I don’t have data to play with.
And no, I don’t buy the whole argument of how the industry is desperately trying to allow access to the less fortunate by providing cheaper passes. Do we really think the “poor” are the tourists traveling all over the country and crowding resorts everywhere..? There is severe overcrowding happening everywhere at really dangerous levels, it is obvious that providing access overall is not an issue, growing the sport is not an issue. They are just raking in the cash and allowing for the quality of experience to go way down. I’d rather pay more to play, than constantly being in danger with too many people on the slopes.. especially early season with limited terrain. Having these sorts of limits would also allow for varied limit levels to outside passes at a resort as the time of season and therefore open terrain allow. I don’t think it’s this unsolvable problem the industry likes to pretend it is, they just obviously don’t want to take the necessary steps to fix the problem that’s making them tons of cash. We either need less unchecked access volume or more resorts to open.. And I do think the resort should bear some liability in terms of shoving a huge number of people on the slopes together. There is a safe level for numbers of skiers on mountain, and with larger faster lifts being installed constantly it is feeling like we are started to fly by those numbers. How do we regulate that? I have no idea, but I don’t think the resorts should bear no liability when they knowingly allow this safety issue. It is not like accepting the inherent risks involved with the sport. People crowding to some of the recent levels being seen should not fall under “inherent risk” because they can and should control that piece in an appropriate way. And if that information isn’t readily available then the industry should be doing studies to figure that out.
Places like Taos require reservations for Ikon and also limit Ikon access to the full passholders only now. Seems like a responsible thing to do, by a mountain that does care about your experience. So why isn’t everyone else following suit? Some partner mountains have also left mega passes for overcrowding reasons. Again, there are a bunch of easy solutions to start with.. but most mountains apparently just don’t care to make any changes to what is happening currently.
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