Industry News
Ikon Pass holders have been required to make reservations at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, WY, Summit at Snoqualmie, WA, and Taos Ski Valley, NM, this season. The decision came after complaints from locals about overcrowding in previous years.
In a move being applauded by skiers, Aspen Snowmass, CO, Big Sky Resort, MT, Loon Mountain, NH, and Brighton, UT, will also require reservations next season, reports Lift Blog.
Updated list of @IkonPass partner resorts managing capacity through reservations next season:@jhski @TaosSkiValley @SummitSnow411 @AspenSnowmass (New)@bigskyresort (New)@loonmtn (New)@BrightonResort (New)
— Lift Blog (@liftblog) March 29, 2022
The initiative has been welcomed by locals fed up with lift lines, crowded slopes, and full parking lots at their home mountains they say are caused by the Ikon Pass.
Reservations were initially required during the 20/21 covid ski season when government and state mandates limited the number of people allowed on the slopes in an effort to prevent the spread of the virus. With those systems now in place, and the increasing popularity of Ikon and Epic passes driving visitors to the larger ski areas, reservations seem the obvious choice to control the crowds and deliver the experience of a lifetime for all passholders.
Vail Resorts has yet to announce a similar scheme. And though you might think it would be unpopular with guests, the opposite is closer to the truth, with many on social media requesting it.
It seems a tipping point has been reached and the cheaper passes and tickets we coveted for years are contributing to a declining ski experience. Neither Alterra, Vail Resorts, or the guest wants to see prices increase, so reservations might be the sensible compromise. Only time will tell…
Hey @VailResorts …..manage capacity….make it a good experience
— Matt Jones (@tgrmontanaskier) March 29, 2022
For all the east coast skiers; put on your jeans and go out. You’ve been doing it forever so what’s the problem????
happening to the idea of dignity to human species if this population growth continues at its present rate? ] “It’s going to destroy it all. I use what I call my bathroom metaphor. If two people live in an apartment, and there are two bathrooms, then both have what I call freedom of the bathroom, go to the bathroom any time you want, and stay as long as you want to for whatever you need. And this to my way is ideal. And everyone believes in the freedom of the bathroom. It should be right there in the Constitution. But if you have 20 people in the apartment and two bathrooms, no matter how much every person believes in freedom of the bathroom, there is no such thing. You have to set up, you have to set up times for each person, you have to bang at the door, aren’t you through yet, and so on. And in the same way, democracy cannot survive overpopulation. Human dignity cannot survive it. Convenience and decency cannot survive it. As you put more and more people onto the world, the value of life not only declines, but it disappears. It doesn’t matter if someone dies.“ — Isaac Asimov
Source: https://quotepark.com/quotes/1785984-isaac-asimov-in-response-to-this-question-by-bill-moyers-what/
IKON’t ski cause of areas all being oversold and under-delivered means I just sit in my car in traffic and not only just stand in liftlines on metaverse over hyped pow days.
Glad I got it the past 30+ and way back when men were men skis, were skinny and corporate dweebs and tech geeks knew better than trying to think they could even ski.
I like my hill better…you get to ski at 830am with a season pass from the backside lot/lift. 9am the ropes drop for everyone else on the mtn. After 10-12 laps, I’m home at 1045am
“Liberal” led to the “corporate model”? I’m sorry that your echo chamber has led you astray to believing that “liberal” means “bad”, because those two terms don’t match up as being on the same side and you just seem confused and ignorant.
Skiing in America is crap any more. Stupidly drove up to Jackson, but the tram line was over an hour. Went elsewhere. Over hyped over promoted over hashtaged completely screwed.
As a first time Ikon pass holder, I hope resorts currently accepting the pass will continue and more resorts will join. I grew up skiing in Utah back when long lift lines were rare. This year for the first time I have skied at Steamboat, Palisades and Schweitzer. I have also used my pass at my home resorts of Alta/Snowbird, Deer Valley and Solitude. Sorry if a few whiny locals, who don’t own the resorts anyway, don’t want skiers/boarders to come and support their economy. Get over it! Scribbling your opinion on a car window isn’t going to keep anyone away or it shouldn’t! I’ll think twice about supporting resorts that make it difficult to use my pass.
An- I thought you were a free-market guy?
With the surcharge for access to Aspen, Ikon pass purchasers subsidize free Ikon passes for every Aspenite with a season pass. The upcharge Ikon pass buyers pay to ski Aspen affords them just 5 or 7 days total spread between 4 mountains, and now only on days Aspen danes to grant them an advance reseration when it doesn’t inconvenience the locals. No more. For Aspen to further limit Ikon pass buyers’ access to Aspen with limited reservations, while, at the same time, demanding that Ikon Pass buyers pay a premium to subsidize free Ikon passed for every Aspen season pass holders’ to ski for free at all the other Ikon resorts, that is ultimate in greed and hypocrisy. The solution is to boycott the Ikon passes with access to Aspen and any other resort that limits access specifically by Ikon Passholders, while simultaneously extorting a surcharge to subsidize free Ikon passes for all the season passholders at that mountain. If I’m not welcome on ‘your’ mountain, don’t expect me to buy your free pass to ski anywhere else.
It does kinda end powder chasing if you have to make a reservation for skiing! The end of chasing powder is really sad . I knew it would someday but didn’t think it would be this soon . I’m suddenly ok with higher season pass prices . Maybe the high gas prices will have an effect on people traveling the long distances for powder chase
Skiing has become a burden. Reservations, overcrowded…nevermind just getting to the resort. This is a labor.
What’s the future of the sport going to look like for the hardcore skiiers? Pushed out to new locations w/ a stronger backcountry presence?
There is a point where the juice is not worth the squeeze.
Colorado is the garbage liberal state where vail resorts and their corporate model was founded.
So none of these resorts are owned by Alterra…kind of makes me wonder how long some of these places will stay on the Ikon Pass. I doubt Vail would do the same – they actually own all their resorts.
That isn’t fair. For rocky mountain skiers that generally only get one east coast ski resort vacation a year they will have to pretty much go at the last minute to fly to Boston and get a rental car and drive to the middle of nowhere to get to Loon only to find that the roads are covered in ice and they can’t get out of the city let alone a rental car with AWD and real snow tires.
WoNt SoMeBoDy ThInK oF tHe EaSt CoAsTeRs?!?!
Great, so powder days are now going to be a complete crapshoot for east coast skiers that generally only get one Rocky Mountain ski resort vacation a year, even if they could otherwise go at pretty much the last minute when they see a promising weather forecast. Almost makes you prefer paying the premium at the window if it’s not priced too insanely (and if you’re not restricted by a reservation system for that) while crossing your fingers that you get your money’s worth for a pass skiing enough weekends and days in the northeast (because I generally only do those drives and spend that money on days / weekends that conditionswill be above average)…otherwise an IKON / Epic Pass might not even be worth it.
Sucks.