How many days a season would you ski if you didn't have a season pass?

[Philpug]

@LKLA 's thread Season Passes - Impact on Ski Resorts made me think on the affect on the average skier (not the person who skis) if there are no season passes, how much their skiing habits would change?

 

[surfsnowgirl]

I have 3 season passes and I'd ski the same amount of days even if I didn't have them. There's so much availability for discounts out there for daily tickets between ski council days, bulk tickets, mountain specials, ski club trips and advance purchase tickets that there's no need to ever pay walk up ticket window pricing.

 

[Sibhusky]

Maybe ten days. Given I'm on a fixed income and SS hasn't started yet, we're blowing through $$$$ at an amazing clip, so I'd have a hard time even justifying spending the equivalent amount. Frankly, if the window prices here were even remotely similar to those elsewhere, I would refuse to go at all just on principle.

 

[Jim McDonald]

I've never had a season pass (have bought MCPs twice) and I always target 40 days a season, tho usually end up closer to 30.

 

[epicentre]

I'd just put window ticket money into some touring gear and start earning my turns.

 

[graham418]

I don't have a seasons pass now, so I wouldn't ski any less. If I did have one I might ski more though. I get a 6-day pass when I go on a trip out west, or a 2 or 3 day pass if I go east for a long weekend . I will definitely ski more when I win the Renoun contest .
I do live in envy of you people that live close enough to some ski paradise to warrant a seasons pass.

 

[fatbob]

0%ish. But I'd probably be spending all my skiing time in Europe as it would put N America out of budget for me.

 

[Bill Miles]

I would probably have to move somewhere else that had a better deal for over 70. Maybe Whitefish, but I don't like fog.

 

[Started at 53]

We live in Florida and hope to ski 20 days this season
8 days at Deer Valley in December
6 days at Vail in February
Not sure about a March destination yet, but planning on 6 days at either Sun Valley, Snowmass or back at Deer Valley

If things go to plan, we are planning on Sellaronda in 18’-19 which could be 7 days.

IF we lived in a ski area there is no telling how much damage we could do.

 

[Don in Morrison]

For the past 15 years I've been getting in about 7 days a season for about $250, using a combination of 4-5 day passes and a couple of group discount tickets. Last year I had a senior pass and got in 8 days. They sold me a 70+ pass for $59 even though I told them I was 65. This year they weren't so generous and sold me the 60-69 pass for $289. So, the whole time I skied for less than $37 a day on average. I'm hoping for 10+ days this season.

Without the pass, I'd probably only be able to do 3-4 days a season, and bringing the grandkids along would probably not happen.

 

[Snowfan]

I missed the Taos Summer sale while figuring out Epic Local or Taos whatever....only have a few days to decide.....Racing Masters in Colorado, Skiing Taos Crested Butte and Telluride.........fixing to get Mountain Collective and Taos passes and will buy a bunch of Cooper for races and Breck with buddies. AB included with Taos and MC!!! Oh, and looking forward to first time Copper!!! Let's go wax our skis!!!!

 

[Muleski]

We'd ski less, but it would be based on weather. I will pretty much ski every day that we are up at the mountain, and our place. I'll ski when the snow is thin and lousy, when it's the dreaded "New England mixed precipitation", when the winds are up, crowds are big......basically anytime a sane person would probably never buy a ticket.

I might only ski a few runs. If it is really brutal, maybe two! But I'll generally get out. My wife is smarter and might not. Coffee is often still warm when I ski home.

So, yeah, I might not ski what probably is 10-15% of our total days.

When traveling, I try to adopt the "heck, we're here, we couldn't control the weather, we're skiing....." attitude.

 

[Tony]

I said 50%, but then changed to 25% less and probably would be somewhere in between. I would try harder to collect and use free days from ski shows, movies, test driving cars, cell phone companies, other giveaways and contests, etc.

If you can ski a lot of days for free, it makes the math for a pass harder to work out. The nice thing about having a pass is that you can do a partial or marginal day that you would probably skip if paying $100 or more and it counts towards breaking even.

I've had MCP and some level of Vail pass for 5 years if you include the upcoming season. Before that I had passes 7 out of 8 years. The one (pre-retirement) year I did not have a pass, I only skied 17 days which is 1/3 of my last two seasons (or 66% less) and 20% less than other pre-retirement seasons.

 

[TonyC]

I marked zero but the reality is that I would pass up a few bad weather days at Mammoth with severely limited lift operations. On marginal days now I will nearly always go up to check the situation out. If it's crummy I may bail after an hour or two, but sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised and glad I took the chance. If you're buying a day ticket you have to make an educated guess up front whether it will be worth it. And there were times before I first got the pass in 2005 when that decision was no.

My current ski budget is a mix of expensive (exotic travel, cat/heli) and very reasonable (Mammoth, Snowbird timeshare). 42 of last season's 73 days were at Mammoth or MCP areas. A big virtue of the MCP is its geographic diversity. When California had a horrible season in 2014-15 I skied only 6 days in California but another 21 at other MCP areas out of 67 total.

If I need to cut the budget, I would not necessarily ski less but would redirect a higher proportion to Mammoth and MCP areas. As I'm retired all of the western US MCP areas are within driving distance. There is no question that the season pass programs introduced since the Millennium are a huge benefit for the most avid skiers.

Given I'm on a fixed income and SS hasn't started yet

Yes, I suspect skiers in our age bracket are healthier than average, which calls for deferring the startup of SS benefits and also for not taking IRA/401K distributions until required at age 70 1/2. But if push came to shove I would tap those income sources earlier rather than cut back on skiing.

 

[Dwight]

Since I seem to represent the family with limited funds, almost no skiing would happen. That is why I patrol. Unlimited skiing for family at local hill. Have a few friend families that are excited this season because they have a pass now. Ski some more and don't need to stay the whole day and night.

 

[surfsnowgirl]

Since I seem to represent the family with limited funds, almost no skiing would happen. That is why I patrol. Unlimited skiing for family at local hill. Have a few friend families that are excited this season because they have a pass now. Ski some more and don't need to stay the whole day and night.

That's why I work at 2 mountains; teach at one and work courtesy staff at the other. Both equal free skiing for me. I know many people that do this kind of thing as who wants to pay full price for anything. I'd love to patrol one day, maybe if/when I get tired of teaching and when I become a way better skier.

 

[Jilly]

Probably about 1/3 less. There is a local hill that has a non-holiday pass that I would probably partake of. With the Tremblant pass I ski holidays. Without a pass, no holiday skiing...they up the price 10% for the daily ticket during the holidays.

Or I could go back to teaching....ugh...beginners on a190' bump....

 

[Doug Briggs]

I said '100% - V2'. Fortunately my season pass is affordable (middle triple digits) and good for a dozen areas or so. I ski two on my pass 95% of the time. The other days are comped or at a place I'm an employee.

My retirement plan is to ski backcountry chasing storms during the winter. Summer will be finding nice places to mt. bike. I could be convinced to get a multi area pass some winters, too.

 

[Muleski]

My retirement plan is to ski backcountry chasing storms during the winter. Summer will be finding nice places to mt. bike. I could be convinced to get a multi area pass some winters, too.

One of my college friends implemented that plan last fall. Was offered a nice retirement package. His wife also was ready to retire. No kids. They bought an F250, and a great trailer that he re-fitted for biking in the summer, and skiing in the winter. Properly insulated, and well thought out. Did the work himself to insure it was done right. The carry six bikes in a section of the trailer that's like a work room. Converts to a ski room. And they did A TON of backcountry last year, and also visited a lot of less glitzy areas. Places on his list, Like Bohemia. Silverton, where he had never skied. The tour continues, so it's all good. They are having a blast. Have met a lot of fun people. Wishes he had been able to start earlier.

 

[crgildart]

What changes when you don't have a pass is how long you ski on any particular day. Folks are more willing to ski longer in mediocre conditions when they've paid walk up ticket window price for that day. Folks are more likely to ski 4 or 5 runs then decide not to put the boots back on after taking a break if they have a pass and ski many days and it's all already paid for season long..