Ikon Pass

[old goat]

I skied BS a few years ago, snow not particularly great, 6 in beginning of the week and then none, big time wind, low tide, 45 min tram line every day. People always seem to want to blame the "other". Tourists. Bay area people, locals. Asians, anyone they can think of. Someone to blame for the crowds they're as much a cause of as anyone else. Some of you guys come across as whiny bitches, with apologies to actual bitches.

Btw, I was blocked at the ballroom gate by someone taking picture and that was BI (before IKON) too.

FWIW I would have bought a svam only pass this year but IKON was the only pass. I didn't want to travel and have to deal with people who think they own their home mountain. But enjoy your hill while you can. When the snow line in CA is 9K there are going to be so many of us in the Rockies you're all going to move to VT and join AZ.

: -- )

[skifishbum]

So, the tram line at Big Sky was just walk on/five minutes a few years ago?

I cant speak for big sky but no in 22 sillytude seasons and the dozen that lifts been in ive never seen a honeycomb or other lift line like this and I didn't know 7/8 of the people in it

the biggest problem there is the shitty double rfid gates whose sole purpose is for the ikon vert quantifiers
like someones gonna skin up silverfork to poach a lift to ski down the front side groomers or beaterbowl
yo phishshow backwards didn't yur boy blurred and the mircat get his nose or pole bent on the high t by xovers pain train crew a decade ago?
agroaltatudes nothin new
its how they roll in the l double c

[Bunion 2020]

So, the tram line at Big Sky was just walk on/five minutes a few years ago?

Define "a few years ago"....

Progress happens, I expect large tram lines during sunny, spring break days. Not so much cold and snowy with poor visibility days in Jan. & Feb.

Just skied my IKON days at Big Sky during the week. Lift line at the tram was 45 min. or more every day. Locals can get a regular season pass or pay $1,449.00 for the season pass which includes tram access. Needless to say they were not happy about the IKONers in the tram line.

The IKON pass has had a large impact on my home mountain. The corp that owns said mountain just raised our season pass prices by 12% and I still do not get any benefits of being a part of the IKON "family".

I may be a whiny bitch but it it comes for a reason.

[ten ply]

Fallon has an Ikon Pass 5:17

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Fallon has an Ikon Pass 5:17

We thought it couldn't happen. We thought it wouldn't get worse, but the overlords will stop at nothing. The great wreckening (I know this isn't a word, but I'm gonna roll with it) has only just begun. 12 person bubble chairs. Magic carpets 100 yards wide to the summit. Download escalators on big scary faces. THE HORROR!!!

[old goat]

Define "a few years ago"....

2 years ago if my failing memory has it right. And it was a sunny, although windy week in March. Windy enough to close the backside lifts all week. Windy enough that they were bombing Big all week despite no new snow, and had to close it for avy risk one day. Great hill, even in low tide. I'll be back, IKON or no IKON.

BTW, what about the impact of all the meetings Big Sky seems to have. When we were there it was rocket scientists. I get brochures for medical meetings at BS all the time. Meet early morning and late afternoon, ski in between.

("Whiny bitch" --we're all whiny bitches from time to time. I'm a whiny bitch about Truckee weekend traffic when I'm trapped in my house. People keep multiplying but the world isn't getting any bigger. The lines and the traffic are going to keep getting worse, no doubt about it, with or without IKON passes.)

[Bunion 2020]

The Tram was still walk on until right around 05/06, coincidentally right around the time the BSIA pass was rolled out. It has gradually gotten more crowded. And again, this year the increased crowding was very noticeable especially given the good snow coverage across the west.

Big Sky has been a regular stop on the circuit of different seminars and symposiums. Wilderness Medical has been here for at least 20 years.

For all the back and forth my biggest gripe isn't that IKON is this or that.

It is ALL about our local mountain and that they charge a shitload for a full access seasons pass and then basically give the same thing away for peanuts to folks who do not live here. I gamble on conditions with my money by buying a pre-season pass at a very high rate.

I kind of doubt that about lift lines getting worse. In my view skier counts are destined to fall off a cliff in the next 20 years unless Climate Change forces a lot of less favored areas out of business and concentrates the remaining skiers into a smaller and smaller pond.

[Shaaarrrp]

Is 7 (full Ikon) or 5 (base) days really the same as a full season pass?

[boardtodeath]

Literally just got the email from snowbird. No chairs only passes, no college passes anymore.

My pass price just went from $550 to $1000.

Oddly their site still shows the college pass but no chairs only.

[BobMc]

Literally just got the email from snowbird. No chairs only passes, no college passes anymore.

My pass price just went from $550 to $1000.

Oddly their site still shows the college pass but no chairs only.

Also only one day of Wasatch Benefits, not so beneficial.

[Skidog]

Also only one day of Wasatch Benefits, not so beneficial.

Wow...whats the biz model here? Shut out the locals? Weird.

[boardtodeath]

It looks like, upon inspection of their site, they will still offer a college pass but it's no longer chairs only and is $680 instead of $550. I'm not a student anymore though so I need to buy a full pass instead of being able to go chairs only. This sucks.

[2_1_3]

Cool site I stumbled across.

https://ikonorepic.com/

LOL, dammit I was hoping this would be like a ski version of Homeless or Hipster?

[Vitamin I]

...The IKON pass has had a large impact on my home mountain. The corp that owns said mountain just raised our season pass prices by 12% and I still do not get any benefits of being a part of the IKON "family".

Maybe you should WANT more price increases. In Squaw history, whenever a year seemed extra-crowded, it usually seemed attributable to 2 things: media hype in BayArea about "good snow" (didn't seem to matter whether the snow was actually good or not), and low-priced lift access. After an extra-crowded year, plenty of locals would beg for INCREASED prices, because they knew they were themselves dedicated enough to eat ramen all summer to afford a higher-priced season pass, while BayArea gapers might be less dedicated to save up. Instead, the Colorado influence crept into Tahoe, and prices went down over time---not up.

...It is ALL about our local mountain and that they charge a shitload for a full access seasons pass and then basically give the same thing away for peanuts to folks who do not live here...

Not the same thing at all. 5 days vs 100. But yeah, it sucks that ski areas want profits. Best for skiers to remain mobile with diverse options (e.g. even pursue dual citizenship, etc.), especially with climate change a' comin.

RUMOR: BigSky is in negotiations to sign with Epic, to become the first triple-sellout (IKON, MtnCollective, & Epic)...for maximum profits. [/kidding]

.

[AdironRider]

Damn, $680 bones for a college pass? That is insane.

Apparently no one there actually went to college if they think college kids can afford that.

[Skidog]

Damn, $680 bones for a college pass? That is insane.

Apparently no one there actually went to college if they think college kids can afford that.

they meant Laurie Loughlin type kids....

[AdironRider]

I guess my point is why even bother having a cheaper college pass if that is the target market?

[The SnowShow]

3 tram wait all afternoon in Jackson....so Ikonic.

[passholer]

3 tram wait all afternoon in Jackson....so Ikonic.

i bet the frozen bumps in the bowl were humbling

[Ski220]

Math is hard but 80 days a season amortises the $700 ski pass to 8 bucks a day




the problem is that people don't ski enough

"

Must be. $700 ÷ 80 = $8.75. Which is more like $9 then $8.

Still your point is made. Whether you purchase a season pass or some other type of pass such as Epic, Ikon or MC, you do so in order to lower your cost of per day skiing.

Just put 2 more days in on my Mountion Collective pass for a total of 23 days when using the MC at a now cost per day of $48.52.

[Shred Baron]

FWIW I would have bought a svam only pass this year but IKON was the only pass. I didn't want to travel and have to deal with people who think they own their home mountain. But enjoy your hill while you can. When the snow line in CA is 9K there are going to be so many of us in the Rockies you're all going to move to VT and join AZ.

: -- )

Oh believe me, if you buy in January they have a Squaw only pass. No IKook food discounts, tickets nothing. Plus an extra 300 dollars. If you really want it’s here for you.



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[The SnowShow]

i bet the frozen bumps in the bowl were humbling

Sun came out, softened everything up.

[old goat]

Oh believe me, if you buy in January they have a Squaw only pass. No IKook food discounts, tickets nothing. Plus an extra 300 dollars. If you really want it’s here for you.



Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

Didn't know that. Thanks. Is that a definite thing or something they did this year that they may or may not do next? Holding off on buying pass this spring for health reasons.

[TahoeJ]

Didn't know that. Thanks. Is that a definite thing or something they did this year that they may or may not do next? Holding off on buying pass this spring for health reasons.

You may want to ask them about your situation - you may be able to do the insurance and if you're not back up to speed in time then you can get refunded.

[mmmm...pow!]

Maybe you should WANT more price increases. In Squaw history, whenever a year seemed extra-crowded, it usually seemed attributable to 2 things: media hype in BayArea about "good snow" (didn't seem to matter whether the snow was actually good or not), and low-priced lift access. After an extra-crowded year, plenty of locals would beg for INCREASED prices, because they knew they were themselves dedicated enough to eat ramen all summer to afford a higher-priced season pass, while BayArea gapers might be less dedicated to save up. Instead, the Colorado influence crept into Tahoe, and prices went down over time---not up.





.

I used to kind of agree with this logic, but not anymore. The way things are going right now, bay area folk wouldn't even flinch at paying an extra grand if it meant the hill was more "exclusive" and they didn't have to deal with the pesky locals - those are the people who should be serving their food and tuning their skis and shoveling the roofs and driveways of the houses they overpaid for and turned into hotels which further fucked over said locals. They can and will pay more for anything than locals. And obviously the ski areas are trying their best to toe the line between maximizing pass profit per person versus selling as many as they can and banking on all the extras.
I'm kinda wondering how it's possible that every single mountain on the ikon pass is (anecdotally) more crowded, as I suspect that people aren't really skiing that much more than they have been the past few years, with snow conditions being an obvious influence. Maybe they are spreading out more with the new passes? Squawpine does seem to be a bit less crowded than the past few years, based on being able to find parking mid morning on Sundays and not seeing cars parked all the way down the valley.
I, too, would be pissed if I was paying for a pass at a non-Alterra resort having to deal with extra crowds with nothing in return. Seems like it wouldn't be much for those passholders to get at least a couple freebie tix to other resorts, or even twofers, would probably more or less not affect numbers and maybe ceos wouldn't feel the need to write letters of non-apology to the local papers if people felt they weren't getting bent over by the local management.