Riding out the back door: May 2014

After a slow start to my mountain biking season, May has turned out to be a pretty good month. I’ve been getting out two or even three times a week all month, mostly on the trails out my back door. I’ve logged a couple rides on the Luther Forest trails (three actually), but haven’t hit Spier Falls or SMBA yet (that should change this week).

Season passes: How about an Adirondack Alliance?

Last week, in my post about season passes, I made note of the increasing prevalence of multi-mountain passes and partnerships. Not only do these pass products deliver significant value to the passholder, they help the ski resorts expand revenue and build skier loyalty. I wondered if there might be an opportunity here in the Adirondacks, but didn’t provide much in the way of specific ideas. Well, here’s what I’d do.

Adirondack ski areas by the numbers: Season Passes

The 2014-15 ski season is more than 6 months away, but now is the time to consider purchasing a season pass if you want to take advantage of early purchase discounts. The decision is easy for our family: we want the flexibility of skiing on holidays and weekends, and we know we’ll ski at least double the number of days it takes to break even on the cost of our passes. So we’ve already plunked down our cash to take advantage of the best pricing on next winter’s Gore-Whiteface-Belleayre Ski3 passes.

Pricey? You bet. But considering the fact that we’ll get enough use out of our passes to drive our per-person per-day cost down to about $20, I consider it a good value. And compared to season pass pricing in Vermont, our Adirondack passes are a bargain.

Season Pass Breakeven, 2014-15

	Daily lift ticket	Season pass	Breakeven # of days
Whiteface	$85	$759	9
Gore Mountain	$75	$759	10
Titus Mountain	$45	$449	10
West Mountain	$45	$399	9
Willard Mountain	$40	$325	8
Oak Mountain	$36	$290	8
McCauley Mountain	$30	$259	9
Killington, VT	$89	$1099	12
Sugarbush, VT	$89	$1049	12