Still hard for me to believe, but I have decided not to get a Jay Peak pass this year. Which is not to say that I will not be skiing at Jay more than any other mountain this year. Surely I will ski Jay more times than any other mountain during the season. However, I could not justify the risk of a season pass.
There are two risks in getting a season pass: financial and medical. The financial picture is very easy to work out. Take the total cost of a season pass and divide by what you would pay in ticket costs. If you can easily attain that number of days, it is a no brainer. If you will likely attain that number of days, the decision is likely. If you are uncertain you will attain that number of days, the decision is more difficult. Combine that with the risk of personal injury that would ensure you do not achieve that number of days and the picture is much more murky. Having had an injury last season that sidelined me for an entire month and a major injury three seasons ago that sidelined me for three months, I am wary of the risk.
All that said, I think there is something to be said for visiting a wide variety of locations instead of hammering just one. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and familiarity breads conceit and all that stuff. Last season I had a free season pass which freed me from the mental game of trying to get my monies worth on the season pass. One thing I really enjoyed last season was storm tracking and not feeling tied down. Not feeling like if I went any where other than my season pass home that I may not get my monies worth.
Sure, there are insubstantial benefits of a season pass such as not having to wait at a ticket window, not worrying about discounts, being able to ski a few runs and leaving without concern if the conditions are bad. But would I have ever gone and spent the money if conditions were questionable? Should a bad day of skiing even count towards the season pass equation? In regards to the ticket window, if you show up first then it is hardly a hardship and there is no line.
All signs seem to point towards becoming a wanderer again. Following the storms and visiting a lot of different areas instead of just one. I will probably see Jay ten times. But counting discounts and prepaid tickets, I can still ski Jay for little more than $40 a day as well as other comparable areas for the same seasonal average cost. I am comfortable with that.
And know I can go forward with many things on my to do list such as finally skiing Smuggs, doing a lot more backcountry, perhaps visiting a new area or two in Vermont, and getting to Pico on a powder day without feeling guilty. Without feeling like I am wasting money. Without feeling locked down. Still getting ten of the best days of the season at Jay and being able to wander? Seems like the best of both worlds. This is the season of Strider, not all who wander are lost.
9 thoughts on “No Season Pass”
Steve, something I think you think too much! Don’t misunderstand, you’re a very bright and thoughtful fellow with a lot of good observations.
So let me be the first to welcome you to the other side of the street, that of free-agency. I have never owned a pass in my life and probably never will. While I don’t live as close to the goods as you do, I am fortunate to be at one of life’s positions where this is possible. My pockets are loaded early in the season with lots of vouchers, and incessant trolling for deals is a daily activity in the winter. I pick a date depending on friends, snow conditions, crowds, price and go. Sometimes its just a whim or a vibe.
I usually don’t make the decision until the night before. Sometimes it’s the Liftopia deadline. Sometimes it’s a blackout date inhibiting. In several instances, I don’t decide until the morning, sometimes halfway there. It adds something unquantifiable to the experience. The anticipation, the anxiety of the unknown, the excitement of exploration. In a very few cases it doesn’t work out, but in the majority of the cases, I’ve been very pleased with the last minute choice I make. It’s fun to size up the New England conditions quickly. I’ve got a cornucopia of sources that I breeze through handily. It often means I ski alone.
I ski at a diverse set of areas, often not revisiting an area for a few years, often forgetting the terrain and the resort, making it like a new explore.
It’s fun to have a boat load of options in your pocket at the beginning of the season, but it’s not all anxiety late in the season. If I find I have voucher “leftovers” I often horse trade with others, or if just give it away to the needy – a little goodwill goes a long way.
In the final analysis, even if I have leftovers, the average price paid makes it well worth it. “If you can’t find deals, you aren’t looking hard enough.”
Bon a Petite!
LOL, Bill. I have always been prone to excessive pondering and internal debate. I have never thought it has been too much though. 🙂
It is more of a “welcome back” to the other side of the street. I only have had three season passes in my life (well, four but I had my first pass refunded because I broke my arm the week before the resort I got a season pass at opened). I am well familiar with the ways of the wanderer. And I am familiar with those last minute decisions. Even as a pass holder, 2/3 of my ski days were outside of my season pass mountain. I recall many times these past two seasons that I did not make my decision until I was on the road… sometimes until I was at an exit and it was all in one way or the other. Both routes have their benefits and their issues and neither is more right than the other. It all depends how you want to attack a season. I really enjoy having a season pass. But I do miss having more freedom. So I will see how this season goes.
We gotta ski together sometime, I am sure we would have a great time!
Spontaneity is vastly under appreciated in this over-scheduled world. My best ski days have been spontaneous. My best ski tracks are spontaneous. My best resort choices are spontaneous. Now, ask me the names of my favorite trail names at any resort and I am clueless. Ask me the name of the trail I just came down, I usually cannot. Ask me to describe my favorite line, I can’t, but I can show it to you. Like you, making a mid-course correction, on the road or trail is the ultimate in independence. For me, skiing is total independence from society, rules, a re-bonding with the mountains.
For me, skiing is not a “lifestyle”, but a connection to more primal, spiritual forces. I’m not pure though, I’m lazy enough to engage the resources of uphill transport, heated abodes and overpriced food., but those are a means to an end.
See you on some unnamed ski line, somewhere, sometime soon!
Steve…aside from your bad luck last year…you are really fortunate to have the flexibility to even have the tough decision to make. For us there really is no choice. We bought our property in the Adks before we really got into lift served skiing. And we wouldn’t sell it for the world. It’s really cheap and it’s the only way we can afford to ski 30+ days a year. At the distance we are from the hills…it gives us the flexibility to come on up at the last minute, when conditions look good.
Plus for your blog…the free agent stuff is a good thing. More to write about…decisions, decisions.
Oh and Bill…. by DEFINITION a blogger is someone who thinks to much. Believe me I know.
Steve – You got to stop hurting yourself.
Son #1 has a seasons pass for Jay. Son #2 has a VT, CO and NH 5th grade passport for free/cheap skiing/boarding pretty much statewide in NH and VT. I gotta start looking for Jay 2-for-1’s and other discounts for me. We’ll be skiing around quite a bit, too. Maybe we’ll see you out there this year.
Cool, keep me posted when you are around and maybe we’ll bump into each other! Best Jay discount is the passport. You have to ski it 6 days to get the free ticket to really make it worth the price. I will be using that along with cheap early season tickets and my SkiVT cards so I will probably get 10 days or so at Jay for an average cost of around $42 or so.
If I find the 2-fers I’ll grab a few for you. I can usually just find someone ready to buy a full price ticket and split it with them. Hard to beat 1/2 price. 🙂 I found two sources of them last year. I’ll let you know what I find.
Cool, keep me posted if you find a source for those 2-fers, Greg! That would certainly reduce my reliance on a Passport for reduced ticket costs.