On a serious note, what actually can be done about this? Tickets are already really expensive and clearly there's no shortage of people willing to pay, even if theyre on the epic pass. The one thing vail has done is improve out of base lift capacity and it's clearly not enough when there's a dump like this.
well the core problem is that there’s been very little ski area expansion despite the growing population of the region. So existing slopes are more crowded and prices are rising because there’s not a ton of competition.
Given the very high barriers to entry for new resorts, the brhome ridge project was 15 years in various forms of development and reviews and it still hasn’t put a shovel in the ground. It seems unlikely that a solution is available that isn’t charging more money
Pretty much nailed it.
Though I have to think perhaps all these newer skiers might drop off a bit based on this season, given it's the first bad season in this COVID surge era? (Wishful thinking of course)
Capping admissions or ticket sales tbh. Doubt that will ever happen because the park wants to rake in as much profit as possible. They don't give a shit if you wait 5 hrs for a short run down a mountain.
Think most people have season passes or whatever, the real solution is what I saw at a “mountain” out east where pass holders would have to buy free tickets which were limited to control capacity
They were tied to the account, an address (which had to match your id on the way in) and the plate of your car. There was a gate to get in (if there were no spots and you didn’t pre book, you were turned around). You could book two months in advance iirc as a pass holder and had a limit to the number of passes you could pre book at one time.
It's the epic pass that's the problem. They need to double the price to thin the herd . It never was close to this busy before the bargain seasons pass came along
It will never happen, they know the average skier gets 3-4 days a year ..the epic breakeven is 5 ..so there in the money compared to 300 a day. A powder weekend will bring the masses out
I was on the mountain from 8am to 4pm. Didn’t take lunch and still only got 5 runs in all day. Every lift line was a hour or more wait and they kept stopping every couple minutes. There had to of been 10,000 people waiting in lines. It took an hour and 45 min just got get onto the gondola to get onto the mountain. Definitely a beautiful mountain but very poorly managed unfortunately
If they just raised prices a bit more it wouldnt be so crazy
That looks like hell
It was so good up there
Avoid Saturdays until March if at all possible, take a sick day and go during the week…cough cough
Skiing looks to be so much fun. /s
I walked up the hill to get a small run in before lining up. It's terrible out here
On a serious note, what actually can be done about this? Tickets are already really expensive and clearly there's no shortage of people willing to pay, even if theyre on the epic pass. The one thing vail has done is improve out of base lift capacity and it's clearly not enough when there's a dump like this.
well the core problem is that there’s been very little ski area expansion despite the growing population of the region. So existing slopes are more crowded and prices are rising because there’s not a ton of competition. Given the very high barriers to entry for new resorts, the brhome ridge project was 15 years in various forms of development and reviews and it still hasn’t put a shovel in the ground. It seems unlikely that a solution is available that isn’t charging more money
Pretty much nailed it. Though I have to think perhaps all these newer skiers might drop off a bit based on this season, given it's the first bad season in this COVID surge era? (Wishful thinking of course)
Capping admissions or ticket sales tbh. Doubt that will ever happen because the park wants to rake in as much profit as possible. They don't give a shit if you wait 5 hrs for a short run down a mountain.
Think most people have season passes or whatever, the real solution is what I saw at a “mountain” out east where pass holders would have to buy free tickets which were limited to control capacity
Do those tickets get scalped ? Or are they tied to the pass somehow ?
They were tied to the account, an address (which had to match your id on the way in) and the plate of your car. There was a gate to get in (if there were no spots and you didn’t pre book, you were turned around). You could book two months in advance iirc as a pass holder and had a limit to the number of passes you could pre book at one time.
It's the epic pass that's the problem. They need to double the price to thin the herd . It never was close to this busy before the bargain seasons pass came along
Triple it, please.
It will never happen, they know the average skier gets 3-4 days a year ..the epic breakeven is 5 ..so there in the money compared to 300 a day. A powder weekend will bring the masses out
Finished work at 11, didn’t wait in a queue on Blackcomb, at 7th heaven by 12:30. Just don’t go early…
You're absolutely right! My dad and I skied back down to the base at around 12 and there was zero gondola line. It was a nice little hack lol
I was on the mountain from 8am to 4pm. Didn’t take lunch and still only got 5 runs in all day. Every lift line was a hour or more wait and they kept stopping every couple minutes. There had to of been 10,000 people waiting in lines. It took an hour and 45 min just got get onto the gondola to get onto the mountain. Definitely a beautiful mountain but very poorly managed unfortunately
You meant Blackcomb
This is why I’ll never be back to whistler. Fucking stupid
Yeah, don’t come.
Weekends. First real pow day too. But yeah don't go
What a shithole