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It's Head Scratching Time On Season Passes In New England

By Craig Altschul
November 05, 2007

The Industry Report's Roger Leo, New England Regional Editor for OnTheSnow.com, surveyed the scene and found the good, bad, and just plain ugly.

The good news (might as well begin on the happy side) came from Karl Stone of Ski New Hampshire, Jen Butson of Vermont Ski Areas Association, and Greg Sweetser of Ski Maine, all of whom told Leo they have seen brisk advance sales of the limited number of discounted lift tickets offered through their respective trade groups.

"Our tickets went like hotcakes, but they sell in July, when it's hot anyway, and people knew season pass prices were going up," Stone said.

"People have been calling us non-stop, and our supply of lift tickets is dwindling," said Vermont's Butson. "I expect they'll be gone in the next two weeks."

"My sense on season passes, and it's only a sense, is that we're bouncing along where we were a year ago," Sweetser said, "but I don't think last year was anything to crow about."

Ski Maine offers the Ski Maine Passbook which offers two to four coupons to each of 19 Maine ski areas for $550. "The book has four coupons to the Tier 1 areas - Sugarloaf/USA, Sunday River, Saddleback, and Mt. Abrams, and then two tickets to the smaller areas. Do the math, it's too cheap to offer, but the reality is almost nobody gets to all the areas," Sweetser said.

Then, there's the flip side, Leo explains. "Our season pass sales are terrible," said one ski area owner who did not want to speak on the record. "The long-range forecast is killing us."

Perhaps the biggest reason, however, is the impact from unusually large number of changes in the ownership landscape of New England since the lifts shut down last spring. The American Ski Company closed its doors last summer and a new alignment of ownership or management came about with CNL's acquisitions and management leasebacks. It requires a scorecard to keep it all straight. (The Industry Report has stayed atop that scorecard, so check past issues at www.mountainnews.com/industryreport.)

The end of ASC meant the end of the All East Pass, which Stone said was the market leader in season passes in the region. That may be slowing down pass sales as skiers consider what's out there among the new pass offerings.

CNL properties and their management lessees, Booth Creek Ski Holdings Inc. and Boyne USA Inc., plus Peak Resorts, have all expanded their presence in New England. Figuring out those ramifications isn't all that clear.

Additionally, the demise of ASC has meant that pass prices are rising substantially for the first time in years.

"The All East Pass was a product of great value that other areas had to compete with, because it offered a lot of good ski areas at a very good price. That was particularly tough on a lot of the ski areas in the region, especially the smaller ski areas who were losing season pass holders to the bigger mountains. They just couldn't compete if they were going to pay their bills," New Hampshire's Stone told Leo.

"Combine that with the trend over the past seven or eight years, when season pass prices have been consistently going down or staying level, when prices of everything else from energy to labor to all the other costs of living were going up, so there is a tremendous built-up pressure on prices," he said.

A check around the region verifies Stone's contention: The Threedom Pass, one of New England's traditional leaders, which offers skiing at Loon, Waterville Valley, and Cranmore, went up in price this year. Loon then found itself allied with Sunday River and Sugarloaf/USA, and had even more pass options to offer.

"It's a time of change," Stone said, "with ski areas being sold across New England. People are re-evaluating their budgets for the winter, to see how and where they can get the most skiing for their money."

Butson said she's seeing more scrutiny from ski clubs trying to get the best deals from ski areas in Vermont by taking advantage of specific deals, skiing on certain days, or weekends. Many ski clubs, particularly in the Albany market, head to the Green Mountains.

The wholesale change of ownership and management for this season has left significant turmoil among the previously pass-faithful. The face-to-face resort-to-customer value of the Boston Ski and Snowboard Expo Nov. 15 - 18 never may have been more important for a confused marketplace.

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