2023-24 Ski and Snowboard Thread - Moguls and Sitzmarks

The Game Room
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Bringing this one back instead of starting a 2024-25 thread.

What should I do about my skiing in 2024-25? It really is a decision between the Epic Pass and the Colorado Gems pass. Here is a long outline to get my thoughts straight. Please let me know what you think.

  1. Do nothing, don’t ski — It’s always an option, just not a good one
  2. Epic pass — $750
    1. Pros
      1. Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone
      2. This is the one the few people I occasionally ski with will probably have
      3. Unlimited (for me) usage
      4. Wake up and go, no need to plan ahead, and it costs the same per day whether I ski or not
    2. Cons
      1. $750
      2. Even though all of those resorts are big and world class, I get easily bored of the same runs over and over
      3. Even more expensive if I want to ski with my kid and get a lesson, as they’ve aged out of the free Epic pass
  3. Colorado Ski Country USA GEMS card, two permutations
    1. Kid pass ($67) + parent pass ($325)
      1. Pros
        1. Kids pass is amazing, as it includes 4 days each at 20 resorts — A-basin, Cooper, Copper, Echo, Eldora, Granby Ranch, Loveland, and Winterpark are the ones I would be likely to use
        2. Parents pass is 2 free days at 11 resorts
        3. Cheaper lesson prices than the Epic resorts
        4. Mostly smaller resorts
        5. Chance to try some new little Colorado resorts like Echo Mountain and Granby Ranch
      2. Cons
        1. Limited availability of parent pass, so I could buy the kid pass, then apply for a parent pass and find out there are none left
        2. Copper and Winterpark are not on the parent pass, so I’d have to pay regular price to ski there (or just not go)
        3. Mostly smaller resorts
        4. 2 days at Echo Mountain might be 1.5 days too many at a weird little top down resort with one lift
        5. Kid might not want to ski, or only go once
    2. Gems discount card ($48)
      1. Pros
        1. 2 discount days at the same resorts as the parent pass
        2. Either 2-for-1 (50% off if you have a friend) or 30% of a single adult pass
        3. Using all my days at the 30% discount is about the same price as the Epic pass
        4. Same as the parent pass
      2. Cons
        1. Still have to pay to ski each day — sunk cost something something, if I just spent $80 on a ticket and used one of my two days I’m going to stay on a bad day, and not enjoy it; but on the Epic pass I spent $750 a long time ago, so if the day is bad, I can just leave early, because it costs me the same whether I stay or go and come back another day
        2. Would have to pay for kid’s skiing
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Hard to tell how “into it” your kid is. For several years I brought my kids to the slopes to get them started and watch them progress. They never really got off the bunny slope and easy blue runs, then switched to snowboarding and achieved about the same. There were many days where they’d do 3-4 runs and get tired, and then just want to play in the snow. I was comfortable leaving them at the lodge at that age, so I could venture off, but I still worried about what mischief they were getting into. Eventually I was having to persuade them to go, and soon thereafter, they started their youth sports which essentially knocked them out from snow sports altogether. Essentially, they not were really “into it” IMHO.

When I stopped being concerned about my kids going to the slopes and went back to focusing on myself, it was just up to me, and since most of my ski buddies were migrating to the Epic pass, that’s what I did, too. For $750 and those marquee resorts at hand, it’d start paying for itself after, what, 5-6 visits? Do you plan on skiing more than that?

tl,dr: Don’t organize your ski season around what your kid “may” want to do, unless they are already showing a strong interest and energy for the upcoming ski season.