Have the Epic and Ikon Passes RUINED Skiing? An Honest Look 

Lift-serve skiing in Colorado is Disney World now. Sit in traffic on I-70, going and coming for hours. Stand in line waiting to get on a lift. Crowded slopes full of clowns. Overcrowded restaurants with crap food and drink. It's such a soul crushing and demoralizing experience now.

This is an OUTSTANDINGLY balanced view of the impact of corporate-ization of the ski industry... as with all all pleasurable pursuits, the money comes in and changes everything... this is a great look at the positives as well as the negatives and I think the conclusion is accurate... either take advantage and exploit this leverage or stay local and intensify your experience

I spotted a sticker on a lift tower of a small area that read: "IKON'T wait for you to leave"

Maybe you can ski a bit cheaper if you ski often, but the more you look into this the more you notice how bad it is. I think the easiest way to see the difference (that wasn’t mentioned in the video) is with resort websites. They are all basically cut and paste one from the next. All uniqueness has been destroyed at these resorts. The charm of skiing is getting super commercialized. At this point a lot of us have no option but to buy a pass… but I’ll never admit to this transition being a net positive. Yea ski a little cheaper but at what cost? Crazy lines, no charm, school lunch quality food, payed parking everywhere, and now reservations are getting really bad and just strait up annoying. They’ve taken everything 😭😭😭

It created a crowding problem, things are now way too corporate but the biggest thing is that it is killing the sport. Casual people cannot go, those who aren't already into it aren't spending thousands on passes in July or even September. Those people who maybe want a ski a few days a year or try it take one look at the stupid prices and are out. Back in the old days of deals and discounts people could take their family skiing for the day or the weekend without a commitment or breaking the bank. Ask someone without a pass to join you for a ski weekend and for a family of 4 just lift tickets are $1400 that's before $30 chicken tenders, $15 beers, paid parking, and god forbid if you need ski school or rentals. No normal people can afford that and they have made that the reality. I see an activity that while always expensive was far more accessible 40 years ago than it is today and that is the opposite of progress.

Shoutout to Wolf Creek, where the price is the same at the window the morning of as it was online in September

I absolutely feel the traffic point you had. Several times I have driven 3+ hours to get to Stevens pass just to not get parking and have to go home. It’s awful…

you missed a major part of the equation. And that is that Vail Resorts buys 70%+ of real estate in every town in which they buy a resort. The point of the pass isn’t to give skiers better products. The point is to get you to travel to their towns where you spend 500+ a night that goes to their pocket. The town of crested butte fought this tooth and nail and still lost. Now the town is just another corporate carbon copy of all the others where Vails owns all the property and property management companies. Realistically at least 50 cents of every dollar you spend anywhere in a vail resorts town goes to Vail. Where it’s lodging, food, skiing of course, or even emergency services. So I’ll disagree that towns have seen a net positive impact as they aren’t towns anymore. They’re just corporate theme parks.

People who use their IKON or Epic pass numerous times to "make it pay for itself" are fooled into a sense of gratification once they "pass the point where it has paid for itself". We do buy the IKON pass because we do ski locally most every weekend when there is snow up in Big Bear and it allows us our trips up to Mammoth but it is still a rip-off. Back in the "old country" (Norway btw) a last minute day ticket at a resort called Hemsedal (20+ lifts, 3,000 ft vertical), an adult day lift ticket is currently 59.00 Euros, or about $64.00 US at current exchange rates. Divide that $1,200 IKON pass by $64.00 and you need to ski 19 times for the pass to pay for itself. By raising the price to $250.00 for a one day lift ticket one is lulled into the belief that it only takes 5 ski days to make it worth the price. Bottom line, without the IKON pass it's cheaper to fly to Norway from LAX, take the bus from Oslo to Hemsedal, stay in a ski-in hotel there for a week and buy a week's pass for Hemsedal Ski resort than to drive to Mammoth from L.A., stay in a ski-In hotel and buy a weeks worth of day tickets (I know they have "week deals" but they got that in Hemsedal too). And remember, Norway is the most expensive country in Europe.

This is classic corporations at work. Boost revenue in the early season/summer with pass sales, then sustain it through the season with the higher day users and parking.

ski in europe , italy / switzerland / austria . $60 per day , great charm and it so much nicer then us ski resorts. We get an air bnb for $1,500-2000 for a week in swiss alps. Much better the. usa crazy prices

As a longtime Epic Tahoe skier (Kirkwood was home,) I can tell you they've ruined Tahoe. This year, I bought the Cali Pass, which is only for smaller mountains south of the lake (namely, Bear Valley, Dodge Ridge, and China Peak.) So far, I'm having a lot more fun and dealing with a lot less gaper madness. At Bear, even on weekends, I can lap chairs nonstop with virtually no wait times, parking is (relevantly) easy, and I don't feel like I'm supporting an evil corporation that treats its employees and its customers like disposable garbage.

Great Vid , love the POV shots of the variety of Eastern, Western, and Canadian resorts. Very informative .

My family owned property in Breckenridge for over 40 years, and saw multiple changes of ownership of the mountain and several boom and bust cycles over the years. The only thing worse than being part of Vail, was not being part of Vail and the Epic pass. As a business person I have wondered about the financials behind the Epic pass, as in the 90's when I was living in Europe I did an analysis of worldwide season pass pricing, and the average costs was around 16 full day tickers. The two passes hear are now down to 6-8 days for break even.

I have been skiing for 60 years and for the first time I have serious concerns about the monopolization of ski resorts. I am retired so can justify the purchase and use of one of these passes. However my children who work and have children can certainly not justify the cost of the passes as they have limited time to ski, usually on weekends which are prohibitively expensive. As a result when they try purchasing single day lift tickets they soon realize that $150 per day to ski a crowded resort is just not justified. Not to mention the cost of accommodations going through the roof I can only foresee the decline of your average to lower income person participating in this sport. Monopolization is never a good thing especially when the huge profits benefit only a few at the top of the food chain. Look at the inflation we are experiencing at this time and we hear about food chains making 30% gains in profit year over year don’t think for one minute that the ski industry is immune from the same scenario’s it is happening as we speak.

As usual, great video, thanks. Still ski a ton, but I miss the days when I moved to Colorado in 93 when we would literally make are decision on where to ski as we were driving up to the mountains. Can no longer ski at any resorts not offered on my ICON pass.

I love the IndyPass. It allowed me to visit cool little towns and go to resorts I didn't even know existed. I bought a Timberline season pass last year and had the most fun I've ever had snowboarding as it is part of the PowderAlliance and gave me 3 free days at other Alliance resorts which tend to be smaller, independent resorts. I got the Mt Shasta season pass this year which is also part of PowderAlliance with the same perks. Don't sleep on Indy and Powder Alliance.

Great infomation! This is great to know as I start planning for the 2024-25 ski season.

great video just for all of the b roll of mixed resorts, great footage. so fun trying to spot every familiar run. and what was said I largely agree with as well. cheers,

Love the videos man, keep it up!

Most ski areas are built by permit on public US Forest Service land. PUBLIC land. This situation should never have been allowed to become a haven for corporate mega mergers and price gouging that makes skiing expenses now out of reach for a huge percentage of people. The conglomerates should all be broken up. Let ski areas be independent again and locally run. This is yet another instance where respect for money (capital) takes precedence over respect for people’s lives and what benefits our community; and the fact that it is done on PUBLIC land is just a huge slap in the face.

3rd IKON Pass, 10 resorts, 2 states, about to reach 80 Days this season!

Great breakdown of ski pass politics. Glad I was such a road warrior in the past and hit my share of good resorts when ticket prices were still double digits. Now I just ride my locally owned hills who all joined forces together under the CALI Pass.

Good job researching this!

You mention a lot of good points in the video. I do wish hotel prices would have been covered.

I haven't skied in years here in Colorado because of the horrible drive from Denver. It wasn't worth it to go a handful of times because the cost was so high. This year i bought a pass and committed to go a bunch of weekdays to make it worthwhile. But the drive is so bad i wont do it again next year. Not 10 times like im doing this year. When this season started i thought about buying new gear and really investing in this awesome sport. But now after this winter ive decided im done with the traffic and im giving up skiing. I would love to go A few times a year, but at $250+ per trip, i cant justify the cost. The industry has lost me forever. I also know how profitable the big corps are, so they wont miss a local day skier like me.

The ikon pass killed weekendability at my local resort I have a seasons pass at. This is my biggest complaint... At this mountain in particular there is no good reason for a season pass. No significant discounts or parking advantages. Crowds are manageable since the mountain is big, however its not designed to get the amount of flow its receiving and the parking is reflecting that. I am glad people are able to get out here and try out some new resorts and get rad experiences, however as a season pass holder I feel a bit shortchanged.

Great analysis. Good job.

I just paid $600 for a season pass here in Sweden. If I had purchased before Nov. 1st, it would have been $500. No parking fees. I drive up to the gondola, put on my skis and am skiing in 10 minutes. It gets busy during winter break and Easter, but nothing like the lines I’m seeing in the US. A day pass is $60. Europe, baby… I used to work as a musician in Aspen, Breckenridge and Vail in the early ‘90’s. Sad to see the corporate takeover of skiing.

I skied a local mountain on an Ikon Pass mid-week. The next day I received E-mail from Ikon stating I had a Reservation Violation Notification because I did not reserve a day in advance. Any more violations will result in a 30 day suspension of my card. True, I did not make a reservation because I was not aware of that & should have read the entire Ikon page. Never had to reserve before I got Ikon. They are phasing us out.

Nothing's driving me to the backcountry more than this whole resort consolidation ( mono/duo-polization?). After this year, I'm ditching Ikon/Epic for good and if I get a pass, it'll be for something at Indy resorts. Regardless, I'll focus my time on getting prepped for the time I enjoy most: Spring into early Summer backcountry!

i wish more skiers realized that having public transit to mountains is FAR more important than parking lot size. we need frequent busses to resorts, ESPECIALLY ones so close to metropolitan areas! bigger and cheaper parking lots are not the solution!!

Very imformative video- clear and understandable to a simple guy like me. Thanks!

Passes are great if you ski a ton and live close to a mountain. But if you only get out around ten times a year (or less) you’re screwed. Day passes should not cost over $200 a day

The military discount both passes provide has been an absolute blessing for our family. We are super grateful!!! Thank you to both pass companies, we really appreciate it.

I had Park City season passes from 2014-2023, but with how crowded its gotten, and parking became impossiblee, its just not worth the trouble any more...

I stay local out East and it's still fairly affordable. I'd love to go back out West at some point, but even with one of the passes, the airfare and hotels would blow any affordability out of the water. I try to stay away from any place that Vail has bought, a couple of spots out East that used to be good are now way overpriced and Vail isn't putting any of the money back into the mountains. I can take a decent midweek trip in the WV/NC mountains and don't feel like I'll be broke for the rest of the month, plus the small mountain towns like Davis/Thomas, WV and Maggie Valley, NC still have that great local feel where you can just relax without huge crowds.

Well done very thorough

Used to live in denver. Now Chicago. Got epic local. Will ride wilmot here and there. Hit vail in early December , week after Presidents’ Day and then Tahoe April. Always go during week. Almost zero lift lines. This is the way boys and girls

Just another aspect of modern life. A malignant corporation buys everything, creates a monopoly, and commences the shittification of the thing to boost profits. Corporations are the enemy.

Parking reservations have definitely helped control traffic in Big Cottonwood canyon in Utah. Previous years you’d have to rush up at 6-7am to snag a spot. This year I’ve been able to leave at 8-9am even and still get a spot thanks to the parking reservation.

I think this is bad for folks out west. BUT, as an east coaster in Ohio, who's home "mountain" was just purchased by Vail and is now in the Epic network, it's kind have been a god send. They've put a lot of money into Brandywine snow making, and the snow has been "decent" for our area this season. It's a catch 22 in all honesty.

The reason I hate it is because I don’t always get a chance to ski more than 6-7 days per year, and I really enjoy mountain hopping on a single trip. I feel like I need to choose either Epic or Ikon, because buying 7 day passes is exorbitant, and then I’ve self limited what mountains I can visit.

I'm in a ski club and I believe the pass system has been a big driver of a dramatic increase in trip costs. As an example, in 2018 a week-long trip to Taos Ski Valley, including 6-day lift tickets, week of ski lessons, airfare and hotels cost $1,800. That same package cost $2,800 in 2024. The lifts aren't dramatically more, but hotel/condo rate are now far higher. The passes increased demand for an activity where it will take many years for increase in lodging to keep up (if it's even possible).

The passes are a great value for those who ski a lot. As someone who lives up in the Colorado mountains, I really don't like it though. The corporate feel of areas like Vail, Brek, and Beaver Creek are pretty bad. Vail is like Downtown Disney. Of all the areas, Steamboat and Crested Butte still have that good feel. The last couple years I decided to support the indy resorts and bought a Loveland pass instead. I'll probably be doing the same in the future.

As a Utahn who has seen what Epic & Alterra have done to my nearby Cottonwood Canyons, I fully support independent resorts now and would rather drive 2 hrs to support Beaver & Pow Mow, and even 4 hrs to Eagle Point, than deal with the crowds nearby. Indy Pass has been great over the past two years; the only thing I'd like to see is maybe 3 or 4 days at each resort rather than just two!

The down side is eliminating the casual skier. The upside is that not only do I ski my local Stowe but also a collection of areas around the region, in the west, and Quebec for half price. For years it cost 1200$ just for Stowe, now same for unlimited and all other areas. I buy a cheaper pass with blackouts but just go to other areas when I'm blacked out. As the backcountry days shrink, I rely more on lift access. Does Vail corp have problems, don't get me started on parking fees and uphill polices , limited access to ice climbing areas etc. A good deal on universal day ticket packages i.e. half price day pass rates for multiple days packages for use throughout the season would go a long way toward accommodating casual skiers, uphill access and parking are still big problem.

I was super sick last night awake at 2am… thanks for the entertainment to get my mind off pain :D

Yes. Discounted passes used to be a reward for people working and living in the ski town. It absolutely changed Vail for the worse.

In Utah we now get traffic jams at every resort that’s in one of these passes. When Veil resorts first rolled out their pass it was because they realized that the profit center isn’t in the skiing, it’s in the shops. They made the uphill travel as cheap as they could and their profits exploded from the business in the shops. Basically the same plan as Disneyland and that’s why skiing now feels like going to an amusement park

Nice Video! That last clip sure looked like one is enogh at Kirkwood! Also looked like @DaleySpam ripping it!

I think the hardest hit resorts by this are the local hills owned by Vail / Alterra. I grew up skiing in Snowshoe WV. When I was a kid, the place was state of the art. It is now lagging behind some competitors in the area. Any profits these mountains make just get laundered elsewhere. Vail has to get a new gondola somehow!

I remember my dad complaining about how expensive season passes were back in 2006/7 when they cost only 200$ per person for the whole season & day passes were like 35$ 😅

In the mid atlantic and northeast, skiing is a waste of time if you can only go on the weekends. The effect of crowds are amplified when it takes only 3 minutes to get down the mountain. Season is compressed due to the weather as is; add to it epic pass and most places have become non-fun if you have to wait 2 hours to park, and 45minutes for each lift ride to go down. I know so many people who aren't bothering with epic passes again

A few weeks ago a kid knocked me on my back, hit me from behind without warning, while I was doing 28mph on my snowboard. Couldn't snowboard for 2 weeks. I had a bunch of muscles aches all over my body and had to wear a cast on my wrist for a damaged ligament (Luckily nothing was broken) At the fitting, the lady told me, and I quote: " That this is is number 1 reason for injuries these days. People running into each other. There's just too many people on the mountain."

I bought a SKI3 pass this fall for just $49 and get half off weekdays and 25% off weekends with no chance of being sold out for Belleayre, Gore and Whiteface. It's a crazy good deal that pays for itself on your first visit. If you live in the NY area and ski here it's a necessity IMO.

There is a big difference on philosophies between ikon and epic- epic runs the resort there way, while ikon allows the resort to run how it has been which keeps some of its unique feel.

When i first moved to CO copper had the snow day pass for 99 dollars. You could ski any day in the season with 4 or more inches . A vail ticket was 125 and i thought that was insane. Abasin was like 70 for a ticket. And it wasnt a minimum drive of 2 hours from denver

You didn't mention mountain collective which was around long before Indy pass

I almost stopped skiing in North America, but have plenty of Europe and Japan days. It is cheaper for me to fly to Europe for a week, than going to Rockies in the US

Good content. I wonder if the crowding really has anything to do with this stuff, and just the fact that the number of people keep increasing. I mean, traffic continues to get worse and worse everywhere in California - of course that's going to be the case on the mountain too.

I’ve missed the Epic/Ikon thing (and now just go to a local hill). I’ve read many comment that Euro hills remain much cheaper. Can you do a vid that compares? It’d be interesting to see WHY euro ski hills can remain cheaper (when I believe they were more expensive in 90’s…I remember chatting with a UK family in VT who said it was cheaper for them to come there than to Aus/Sui/etc)? Is it JUST a corporation/profit driven issue? Is it that more ppl in the US can access skiing than in the past?

I was well into writing a long, well thought out post, when my phone glitched and deleted the whole thing. Now you get the cliff notes version. Resorts had been becoming more commercialized long before epic and icon made the scene. Back around 2000 most of the resorts in Summit County CO fell under the umbrella of Keystone Resorts. Most of the big players either had already become destination resorts, or were well on their way. They actively encouraged non- local visitors to come for several days to a week, while making it more difficult for day trippers. Icon and epic didn’t innovate so much as consolidate. And that consolidation was already well underway. And once any industry starts to consolidate it puts outsiders at a huge disadvantage. You either join, or get pushed aside. This isn’t an apologia for what’s happened under Epic and Ikon, but a perspective that the two were almost inevitable. And as always with consolidation consumers are ultimately left with few options. You buy what’s offered at the price they tell you, or you pay outrageously elevated amounts. The illusion of choice seems like a bonus, but it’s actually limiting your options.

How does the Mountain Collective compare? It has the 2 day limit (and 50% off extra days) like the Indy Pass but includes a lot of the 5 star mountains. Good middle ground?

Discounted passes used to be reserved for people that worked in the town they skied. Called merchant passes, it incentivized working and living there. Now every one gets one. VA was a ski company. Now VR is running the show and its real estate holding company first. Thats what really destroyed ski towns and skiing. Real estate greed.

It seems like skiing and snowboarding have exploded in popularity recently with all these crowds and etc. Maybe it will drop off like skateboarding did in the 80's after the hype and things could get back to normal ???

Day tickets are bananas expensive. Must get a pass of some kind if your plan on having an active season.

Going skiing used to be simple and fun. It isn’t anymore, so I stopped.

Utah local here, after 36 years of snowboarding. And a skier the prior 10. Ive hung it up for good. Paid parking,reservations, crowds, 2+ hrs in a car at times both ways when you live less that 30 miles away. Its off the rails now completely pointless to fight it anymore. Mega corporations first destroyed the U.S. quality of life. And now they have also destroyed our hobbies and leisure as well.

This makes me love my IndyPass even more.

Corporate greed ruining another great thing.. it’s so ridiculous the over crowding and prices to ride are at now

here in the northeast, they bought up places like jack frost and big boulder, great beginner mountains for skiers. however, unless you have one of those passes and go a lot, the cost is not worth it with a day ticket over $100 for mountains that are worth about $50. This has forced me to drive further north into New York and ski places like Belleayre that are not on any pass system because it is a mountain run by the state of NY, as are Gore and White Face

Great video

What resort is it at @8:14?

A reservation for parking?! I am speechless.

I live in Oregon and have been to Mt Hood many times. Prob at least 150 times. The snow is decent maybe 1 of 5 times. The light fluffy powder is rare. Used to be fun when Ski Bowl had a long season and was cheap. This was place for young people to hang out. Well I am sure a lot of young people these days don't have a budget to pay up to 150$ for a lift ticket at Mt Hood Meadows. My one wish for any Mt Hood has always been that one of the resorts put in a gondola. The gondola is the key to having a great day of skiing. And a gondola would be so good at Mt Hood as it is high up and gets breezy.

You can buy Ikon in December for like $90 more than early bird. I like to wait to see if it’s looking like a drought year. Tahoe has shifted to more of a Spring season anyway.

I was a part time instructor at a resort that was bought by Vail a few years ago. The changes were felt immediately. That said, Vail DID put in a new lift that helped alleviate traffic and congestion at the base. But...that was the only net positive. I quit teaching a few years ago, and now ride at a locally owned mountain. The drive is a bit further, but it's nice not to have to deal with tourists, entitled yuppies, and tourists. DId I mention not having to deal with tourists? And I get guaranteed FREE parking at my local hill as a season pass holder. Ironically, food is cheaper at the Vail resorts than my locally owned hill, bu that why I haul a grill in the back of the truck and make parking lot burgers.

My local mountain offers a mid week pass for Mon-Fri only $350 and I get 10+ days / season. Def beats the whole icon pass thing for such a huge price seeing as I only ride 1 mountain

The Epic and Ikon pass add it more affordable for season pass prices. However, the barrier to entry has increased making it ore expensive for a first time skier.

For the independent resorts that are NOT owned by Vail or Alterra, how much would they be paid for an EPIC or IKON passholder who shows up and wants to ride that independent mountain? What $ do they net for providing lift privileges to someone who chooses to fund the Vail or Alterra corporations?

I admit, I started hitting Breck and Keystone with Epic since COVID hit. It was just a chance that I reconnected with an old college buddy who is now an empty nester. My buddy gets an enormous discount with a military discount so I keep getting the pass to sync up with him. I'm giving some hard thought if I am going to do my typical Epic 4 day pass next year. I want to try to hit resorts that are not on Epic like A basin, Snowmass, and Loveland. I have heard that Ikon is not as packed as Epic resorts. I expect that Epic pass will go up considerably in the next few years as they have reached a boiling point with capacity. From what I have heard, you can hit some places like Crested Butte that are further away from the Denver airport and they are not as crowded. Unfortunately I think this is a trend as snow skiing is becoming more popular.

In France I ski in a big resort for 20€ as a student

10-15 years ago we would fly over from Europe and do a weeks skiing in US or Canada. Either Aspen or Banff/LL. Then kids came along and stayed in the Alps. If we came over now would we get hit with huge charges for a 6 day ski pass?

Incredible single day ticket prices. Last season I paid €180 (less than $200) for 7 days in Bormio Italy and it's two neighbouring mountains, over 100km of pistes and has a FIS World Cup downhill track. At those rates I'd be ski touring.

also move to eur much bigger resorts lower prices thats one thing to do if you dont like how it is now with icon or epic

These passes are great if you can ski midweek. We bought Epic midweek local just after retirement and we can ski as much as we want with no crowds and for a very low price. Only a few resorts have a few blackout dates, so can still ski when and where we like.

In 1971+/-, as a teenager, I went to Steamboat with my parents. Steamboat had a family plan. For the three of us, it cost a total of $27 a day. Yes, for all three of us. Unbelievable. Today the cost would be nearly $700 per day? Wow. Granted, Storm Peak was serviced by a pomalift (you younger readers may have to google that). Powder days lasted all day at Storm Peak back then. It was a blast.

Definitely a complex issue. I don't think Epic or Ikon ruined skiing, but they certainly changed it. I've been skiing for over 50 years and like anything else skiing has evolved. Nothing stays the same. There are huge operating and infrastructure costs in the ski industry, and selling seasons pass products including Ikon and Epic during the off season allows the industry to get a good portion of their revenue up front when it won't be effected by poor weather or other factors. Skiing on weekends, Holidays, and vacation weeks has always been crowded, long before Ikon and Epic came along. We just have to manage that and pick and choose when and where we ski the best we can. There has been growing pains with the mega-passes. Jackson Hole and Crystal Mountain in WA learned that and made adjustments. That's came full circle at Crystal and went back to unlimited access on Ikon this year. On one hand these passes have made skiing more affordable for frequent skiers, has likely driven up skier visits from people wanting to "get the most for their money" from their pass, and has inspired ski travel - all good for the "ski economy", but on the other hand the industry's focus on season passes coupled with the incredibly high daily lift ticket prices has likely frozen out the occasional skier or the ones that may take one trip a year. My concern with this is that in the long run this strategy may stifle the growth of new skiers and snowboarders and not be good for the long term health of the sport. I guess we'll see how it all turns out.

I don't know. I agree with the assessment that there are a lot of problems that have been created, and I know this development hasn't been the best for everyone. However, for me, as a Tahoe local, I have only seen a benefit. For $550 or so a year, I can buy a single Epic Tahoe Local pass and get unlimited access to several mountains, including my favorite mountain, Kirkwood. Kirkwood is mostly the same old Kirkwood. There has been very little change. Heavenly and Northstar can get crowded on weekends, but I just don't go to those places on weekends. I have a job that is flexible enough that I can ski a lot of weekdays, so I can almost always avoid crowds, and Kirkwood still doesn't really get crowds to begin with. So for me, all it really is is that I get to pay just over $500 to ski around 50 times a season... which makes it not even that expensive of a sport, and I can afford to spend more on gear and day passes at other mountains like Rose, Palisades, Sierra etc.

4:24 $299 for a one day lift pass is insane! It's crazy how expensive the US is in general compared to Europe (I'm European) compared to a few years ago because of higher inflation, the strength of the US dollar and the ski duopoly. I feel like you need to make at least $500 000/year to justify paying $299/day. To compare, a one day pass in Val Thorens in France (a huge ski resort) is $69 and $57/day for 6 days.

My only complaint about the megapasses is the egregious single-day ticket rates. I ski enough that I'd be buying a season pass somewhere so taking it multi-resort is all benefit for me, but a number of the people I know are more casual and reluctant to commit to buying Days up-front. They wind up underbuying to avoid wasting days, then deciding not to ski at window rates. I can gripe about lift lines, but to be fair this is the first serious wave of re-investment I've seen into the Ski Industry since the early 90s.

Regarding your section about crowding for unlimited resorts. My family and I will not go to Mammoth in CA on the weekends now for this very reason.

As a Texas resident (who grew up skiing in the North East), collective passes are ideal. I buy cheaply in the spring and have tons of flexibility around next season’s trips. These of course require me to drive or fly. So far this season, I’ve skid Winter Park, Steamboat, Taos, and Jackson Hole next month. I don’t have the luxury of just going, or not going whenever I want.

I love skiing and I am an expert terrain skier, however I've decided to take up other pursuits. I'm sure I'll get back to it however I'm taking a break for a while, it's not ticket prices it's the extreme crowds. I now refuse to ski Breckenridge Fridays or Saturdays because it's so crowded and it's even crowded even up at the top of the mountain. Skiing on the intermediate runs is genuinely dangerous. I am going to make sure I ski the independent passes each year.

Here’s another problem I face at my mountain: Since most sales are forced into pre-season, during the season we have constant broken lifts or lifts they decide not to run to save money, which they simply, label “On Hold” (and/or because of staffing problems). My friend looked up the job postings for lift maintenance and they are paying garbage wages and low income individuals have a near impossible task of finding living locally because it has become too expensive. Again, why do they care if they basically have a monopoly on ski access and already have your money. Personally, I despise what the industry has become. It DOESN’T have to be this way, but their profits are the primary concern.

We still got 35 dollar Thursdays in Oregon

So I used to work for one of these companies , the target demographic was not the kid who owns a season pass and skis 100+ days a year , it was the family of 4 from San Francisco that Skis 1 or 2 weekends a year , rents gear, books lodging , demos/rents skis , and eats in the villages. I hate to see this happen to the ski industry but it sold its soul a long time ago. I bailed and went to smaller mountains

Yes they have if u had any feeling of a “home” mountain. Lift lines suck on Saturdays all season long

I’m thankful for the eldora weekday pass even tho it’s an ikon mountain, when you ride there it doesn’t feel like it