Vail Resorts RESERVED SKIING! It's gonna be EPIC!

[South tahoe skier]

fuck if i know what days im gonna want to ride lifts at this point in the season

Thats an easy answer. You ski every day.

[MakersTeleMark]

Thats an easy answer. You ski every day.

I think you are missing the point entirely.

[RonMexico]

It amazes me to see all these people still booking vacations in Vail in Jan/Feb with no insight into what the mountain/town will actually be like at that time. Limited capacity in on-mountain lodges (how do you warm up kids/family), limited on-mountain dining (how do you feed kids/family), basically no capacity at any restaurants in town, etc. Seems like a ton of money to lay out for a significantly reduced quality of experience. If there was some sort of discount available, sure. But this shit is just as expensive as it ever was and you'll be getting about 50% of the usual amenities if you're lucky.

[Ottime]

^^^^if the vacation is insured or able to cancel, why not book now?

We have a bunch of lodging booked for this season already around Tahoe and Mammoth. Can cancel all of them with less than a week of lead time. We booked now and decide later depending what happens over the months that approach our dates.

We go to ski. Not hang out in restaurants.

[optics]

We booked now and decide later depending what happens over the months that approach our dates.

I did the same.

In terms of res dates stratergery, I just booked the single weekend days that'll be spent with my kid on the hill. So that I know those are solid and locked-in.

And then I'm planning to use the week-of reservations for midweek days that look like they're shaping up well, and as-available week of for 'the other weekend day' of the with-kid weekends.

I'm probably an outlier because of being constrained to mostly weekend days with the kid, but I don't mind dealing with the res system. I have a feeling midweek days will be easy enough to snag through the season, as long as you're quick on the trigger.

And the by-product of knowing capacity is capped to a point that no one gets turned away by full parking lots...that's a nice bonus.

[9922]

Logged on at 7:12am, at 8:00, I was 'randomly' assigned with 79K ahead of me (with x number of people in the reservation system already I presumed). Finally got in at 10:40 ish. Was able to get select my best guess future ski days. Long wait, but the system was easy to use. One improvement they could have made is to indicate my blocked out the days (no a big deal). Total end to end time was appx 3.5 hrs.

[RonMexico]

My point was not about getting money back if you cancel, but rather the fact that there is zero chance that things will be anywhere near normal by Jan/Feb. So people will be paying the same amount that they would have in years past for a much lower quality experience. And that just doesn't make sense to me...

I was up at Abasin a few weeks ago and saw how they've removed all but eight tables from 6th Alley Bar and are prohibiting any ordering of drinks from the bar itself. This was an off-season October weekend and there was a long wait to even see the hostess to get seated (and then a long wait for a table) as well as lines just to go into their ski shop. Seeing that crystalized in me how awful an experience this is going to be for a lot of families coming out to ski. If you're a local or someone only concerned about skiing, then it probably won't feel all that different. But if you're someone who uses ANY of the typical on-mountain amenities, it's going to be a completely different story.

[MakersTeleMark]

The only days I give a shit about skiing are Christmas because I have absolutely nothing to do, and closing day, because I like to party. Sure, absolute shit-show days, but, eh, fuggit. Otherwise, I'll ski midweek like I always do, or a Sunday at the Beav.

[t.odd]

just got waiting roomed trying to view the WB webcams....what a shitty corporation

[summit]

I'm 286 in line... to view the webcam at Keystone

[SKIP IN7RO]

[MakersTeleMark]

Very NSFW, but relevant:
https://gay.fleshbot.com/8451669/gif...mirror-fetish/

[Hacksaw]

I'm 286 in line... to view the webcam at Keystone

Any Jerry Springer fist fights in lift line yet?

[Hacksaw]

My point was not about getting money back if you cancel, but rather the fact that there is zero chance that things will be anywhere near normal by Jan/Feb. So people will be paying the same amount that they would have in years past for a much lower quality experience. And that just doesn't make sense to me...

I was up at Abasin a few weeks ago and saw how they've removed all but eight tables from 6th Alley Bar and are prohibiting any ordering of drinks from the bar itself. This was an off-season October weekend and there was a long wait to even see the hostess to get seated (and then a long wait for a table) as well as lines just to go into their ski shop. Seeing that crystalized in me how awful an experience this is going to be for a lot of families coming out to ski. If you're a local or someone only concerned about skiing, then it probably won't feel all that different. But if you're someone who uses ANY of the typical on-mountain amenities, it's going to be a completely different story.

Maybe you should do a Mexico vacation instead this winter.....

[South tahoe skier]

I think you are missing the point entirely.

it was sarcasm. I am a skier, I ski every day I can. I thought this skiing forum with skiers in it would understand.

With the reservation system, increased demand and reduced capacity, I doubt I will hit triple digit days this year. 20/21 will be the year of lowered expectations.

[Benny Profane]

^^^^if the vacation is insured or able to cancel, why not book now?

We have a bunch of lodging booked for this season already around Tahoe and Mammoth. Can cancel all of them with less than a week of lead time. We booked now and decide later depending what happens over the months that approach our dates.

We go to ski. Not hang out in restaurants.

And then forage in the woods for dinner?

[optics]

And then forage in the woods for dinner?

I hear there are some good threads floating around with tips for using coolers - for people who are in-between restaurant-going and foraging.

[RonMexico]

Maybe you should do a Mexico vacation instead this winter.....

Luckily don't need to vacation to ski, but would probably make more sense as you'd at least get similar value for the cost as years past. Unfortunately, it won't be the case for those dropping the usual $5-10K for a ski vacation this year.

[Benny Profane]

I hear there are some good threads floating around with tips for using coolers - for people who are in-between restaurant-going and foraging.

Well, yeah, but this conversation drifted into what it may be like for a couple or family to do a week at Vail or Tahoe or the like. That's a big cooler. Probably way over bag weight limits on Southwest.

[spaztwelve]

Any idea where this chat feature is? We got through to book, but it's saying my son's pass is not available for booking. I can't, however, find any link to a chat function.

[MakersTeleMark]

So I wait in a virtual line for 4 hours, and I can't even book opening or closing day? WTF?

[Relica]

Any idea where this chat feature is? We got through to book, but it's saying my son's pass is not available for booking. I can't, however, find any link to a chat function.

I had this problem. The chat button was in the lower right, but did not appear when I was on keystoneresort.com and only appeared when i accessed the reservation site through epicpass.com.

[cravenmorhead]

Any idea where this chat feature is? We got through to book, but it's saying my son's pass is not available for booking. I can't, however, find any link to a chat function.

Any chance your kid is under 5? If so, he doesn't need a reservation.

I'm less helpful about your actual question.

[Benneke10]

Has anybody noticed days actually filling up? I got in around noon and none of the resorts I looked at had fully booked days yet.

[Toadman]

Has anybody noticed days actually filling up? I got in around noon and none of the resorts I looked at had fully booked days yet.

Probably need a few more days for all days to be booked up. It takes time to get a reservation. Don't be impatient. All the prime days will be gone in due time.