Big Sky nixes tram access to Ikon/MC/day pass holders

[raisingarizona13]

The poma up Rendezvous Bowl was fun. Only one I've ridden that had a switchback. Or was it a T bar, it was a long time ago.

They should have kept it. Good lift for south access.

[Bunion 2020]

Decision day, passes go off sale until sometime in June.

[Djongo Unchained]

The poma up Rendezvous Bowl was fun. Only one I've ridden that had a switchback. Or was it a T bar, it was a long time ago.

That Poma went up the far drift of R. bowl and made about a 90* turn towards the summit patrol cabin where todays upper gate is positioned.
It culminated in a 4 person metal topshack that faced due west. Great for night creature sunsets. Fireworks and doses in there was a hoot.

It too rarely ran and when it did, it was only a matter of time before it deroped itself.
At the time it was fairly unique, maybe their first attempt at a platter angle station.

Regarding installing it, Paul McCollister ski area owner was quoted in the local paper saying, " We thought we knew what we were doing, but we didn't."

Known as Paul's folly, it was yanked in 1993ish.

[Clownshoe]

Regarding installing it, Paul McCollister ski area owner was quoted in the local paper saying, " We thought we knew what we were doing, but we didn't."

This statement is so on the nose for a bunch of projects at my home mountain over the years.

[old goat]

That Poma went up the far drift of R. bowl and made about a 90* turn towards the summit patrol cabin where todays upper gate is positioned.
It culminated in a 4 person metal topshack that faced due west. Great for night creature sunsets. Fireworks and doses in there was a hoot.

It too rarely ran and when it did, it was only a matter of time before it deroped itself.
At the time it was fairly unique, maybe their first attempt at a platter angle station.

Regarding installing it, Paul McCollister ski area owner was quoted in the local paper saying, " We thought we knew what we were doing, but we didn't."

Known as Paul's folly, it was yanked in 1993ish.

I didn't realize it didn't run all the time. The first time we were there it ran all week without problems. It was a low snow year and warm. Being able to lap Rndvz Bowl without having to go all the way to the bottom and wait for the tram was great. Only good snow on the mountain. (We did get a good powder day at Targhee but the snow never made it over the Divide.

Much prefer pomas to T bars. My son and I--me competent, my son better than competent--were riding the tbars at WB and the tracks kept pushing our skis into each others'. We got fairly pissed at each other although we didn't stay mad longer than the ride up. (My son will drag me to some powder run I didn't know about and make me get first tracks.)
As someone who learned to ski riding rope tows, I never take the luxury of a chair, gondola, tram or funicular for granted. Skiing with my son I don't take for granted either--he's being deployed in July for 6 months. He can't tell us where but I'm guessing he's being deployed in support of the Rangers who are escorting the last troops out of Afghanistan.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Too much going on for me to pull the trigger before the 30th. Hoping they don't do something like last year and go "Oops, passes sold out! Sorry we gave zero warning."

I'm at a crossroads of being a youngish single guy who lives in SWMT to ski.....but also a youngish single guy trying to grind out a living without a trust fund (I musta got in the wrong line when those got handed out).

Fuck. Gold pass is expensive.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

[glademaster]

Too much going on for me to pull the trigger before the 30th. Hoping they don't do something like last year and go "Oops, passes sold out! Sorry we gave zero warning."

I'm at a crossroads of being a youngish single guy who lives in SWMT to ski.....but also a youngish single guy trying to grind out a living without a trust fund (I musta got in the wrong line when those got handed out).

Fuck. Gold pass is expensive.

Sent from my SM-G973U using Tapatalk

We're around the same age, and in similar spots. I live near a similarly expensive resort, and have both gone without a pass, and sacked up to buy one. I say it's well worth whatever it costs to have an unrestricted pass. You'll be happier simply from knowing that you can go skiing anytime you're so inclined/have a couple hours free.

[yeahman]

^^That's what Bridger is for.

I would not buy a Big Sky pass for anything but the lowest price offered. Paying an extra four or five hundred dollars would put it past the tipping point for me, especially this year being forced to buy the gold.

[Benny Profane]

Well, since we've mentioned Bridger in a thread about ticket restrictions, I gotta post one of the best ever meltdowns in customer service history, again. Maybe expect this at Big Sky soon?

[concretejungle]

His ticket wasn’t “restricted.”

[Benny Profane]

He seemed convinced it was.

Like a lot of Ikon skiers think the tram should be included.

[singlecross]

What, he couldn’t ride the Poma either?!

[concretejungle]

What, he couldn’t ride the Poma either?!

What a fucking junk show of a dumpster fire that would be.

[Bunion 2020]

Vote was YES.

^^That's what Bridger is for.

I would not buy a Big Sky pass for anything but the lowest price offered. Paying an extra four or five hundred dollars would put it past the tipping point for me, especially this year being forced to buy the gold.

Yep, no guarantee that tram line will be any smaller, just more expensive.

[yeahman]

Good for them. I've been in a couple different labor unions and the positives always outweighed the negatives. I hope it works out for them.

I thought it was funny in "Miss Chelsea's" reply to you how she mentioned two hour tram waits but never acknowledged that half that was due to reduced car capacity and patrol/employee only cars every 30 minutes (or less).

[swimmy]

Bunny is right that it has been oft-expressed on TGR that most mags would be willing to pay more for less crowds and shorter lines. So we're getting what we wished for, at least at Big Sky. If this works to significantly shorten the tram wait, I'm not bitching about the cost of my gold pass, because the value (to me) will increase significantly. And I don't care if some people are being priced out of the game. Most of them could "afford" it if they wanted, it's just not worth it to them. It's worth it to me. That's life.

Biggest benefit I see are those sleeper windbuff days when the skiing is great up top but nobody wants to use a tram day because it's not a powder day. I could see the line being awesomely short on those days, and those are some of my favorite days anyway.

Preach it brother.

[Bunion 2020]

Chelsea, I appreciate the reply,

Another question. Can I buy a 2nd sky card for 5 bucks and attach my CC to purchase tram access when the mood strikes and the line is short and the cost is cheap?

And have my regular seasons pass sky card with Tram Pack for other days when I plan to ski the tram or just ski the lower mountain?

Thank you so very much.

Can't wait to hear the answer on that one.

[yeahman]

I can't really see how that would work, but it's an interesting idea. I do think they are going to need to figure out a way to give people the best price on any given day. You should be able to select autocharge at the gate on days when it's cheap, and use your tram access pack on days when it's expensive. Anything else is going to create a ton of controversy for them, and rightly so.

[406]

Should be easy enough to do that on backend. If <40 charge cc. But they might try to bundle tram packs with other products.

I have historically skied BS for less than $50 a day, so if $80 gets me walk on tram with good conditions, I'm not going to complain. I will miss the single ride days at start or end of day.

[stuckathuntermtn]

Way to go BS ski patrol!

[Bunion 2020]

Way to go BS ski patrol!

I go back and forth on this. Kudos for standing up for themselves but, as much as I think ski patrolling is a career, unionization also begins to take what was fucking awesome and turn it into a job. The concept of a union structure for patrolling means all sorts of different ratings systems and tickets to get punched in order to demonstrate why you are getting paid what your are and what rank or level of patroller you have been qualified as.

I didn't patrol for the money I did it for the lifestyle, my co-workers, collecting unemployment for 6-10 weeks on each end of the season and going kayaking or mountain biking and being paid to be able to fuck around at work a lot, and at that time we did fuck around a lot. My only regret is that I didn't fuck around even more.

With success and skier visits the fuck around factor looks to have been greatly diminished.

[Djongo Unchained]

Interesting developments in the tram fee saga.

Wouldn't it be better if you could buy an all inclusive full pass, or a non tram full pass and a few lesser full passes like a midweek only or weekends only?

Anyone wanting to go up the can without a full tram pass needs to buy a tram ticket at, say $3-$5 a pop.
Wanna do 10 laps because it's a great sleeper day, buy some tix, same for single feather in the cappers and locals crushing the gnar up high.

It would be a financial deterrent to many, would discourage multiple laps on shitty days by jerry getting every penny outta his upgrade, yet makes for simple flexibility and isn't too expensive to bear.
The full tram pass costs maybe $300 more and equates to a bunch of ticket laps before the skier breaks even.

Easy to police, produce and administer.

Tram tix for Ikoners are $6.
Trickle down.

[paulster2626]

Well, since we've mentioned Bridger in a thread about ticket restrictions, I gotta post one of the best ever meltdowns in customer service history, again. Maybe expect this at Big Sky soon?

I bet this guy double pole-plants on every left turn.

Oh, and they should be ashamed of themselves.

[RootSkier]

My only regret is that I didn't fuck around even more.

I think this same thing almost every day.

[mr walker]

I go back and forth on this. Kudos for standing up for themselves but, as much as I think ski patrolling is a career, unionization also begins to take what was fucking awesome...

Congratulations (I hope). The ballots for Breckenridge get opened in one hour. I desperately want this to be a good thing for all patrols going down this road, regardless of the voting results. But there’s that thing about good intentions and unintended consequences...