Vail CEO Rob Katz announced an operational plan for the upcoming season for Vail Resorts. Almost all of it is exactly what was expected when it comes to ski areas and social distancing for skiing in the COVID era: face coverings, limits to numbers of riders on lifts, limited food and bar services and cashless payments. But then he also mentioned the thing that many people did not want to hear…reservations.
It will change the ski experience for many people, and quite possibly forever. Even if COVID were to completely go away in the next year (and it won’t), once a reservation system becomes the new normal, it will likely be here to stay. Looking at the overcrowding that has been happening at mega-pass resorts over the last few season, a reservation system is the tool that would allow Alterra and Vail to continue to sell more passes than mountains can handle.
Still, I am not surprised at all that a reservation system is being put in place. I am surprised that Vail’s system is more limiting than most people were expecting. Here’s a quick breakdown of what Vail Resorts is planning. (This does not apply to Ikon pass holders):
• The reservation system applies to everybody, passholders and day ticket buyers alike. Most industry pundits had suggested that reservations would not be applied to pass holders, other than during peak periods.
• No day tickets will be available during the early season, until December 8th.
• Vail is defining their core season as December 8th through April 4th. During that time, you can hold up to 7 “Priority Days” of reservations at a time. As you use those days, you can add more reserved days. Epic pass holders can start booking those days on November 6th.
• Passholders can also book additional “Week Of” reservations. It’s a bit unclear exactly what this means. My guess is that you could say I would like to ski as much as possible between January 1-7, and they would get back to you at some time to let you know what days are available. Again, details are not clear.
• Passholders will have priority over day ticket purchases only to the extent that they have reservations made before December 8th.
• Day ticket sales will only be done online or via the phone. There will be no walk up purchases for day tickets.
• The reservation system applies only to Vail owned resorts, not to “partner resorts” that only have a reciprocal agreements.
The first takeaway here is that spontaneity is gone. Want to take advantage of a powder day tomorrow at Northstar? Yeah, that is a no go. Vail is very clearly making a plan that applies to your typical family that is skiing one or two ski vacations a year, with maybe a few scattered weekends that are pre-planned. For the ski bums like me, that want to just go every day, reservations will be a pain in the patootie. For the guy that sees a storm is headed in for the weekend and wants to load up the family and head to Heavenly next weekend, it could be a real drag when they can’t get a reservation.
The reality is, the reservation limit will not be a problem for most midweek days. It’s unlikely that resorts will be at their guest limit, with the exception of big powder days. Hopefully a process will be put in place that makes it say for those of us that ski pretty much every day of the season to make a reservation for those days.
Again, all of the above applies only to skiers and riders at Vail Resorts, which in Lake Tahoe is Northstar, Heavenly and Kirkwood. Alterra has not announced a plan yet for their resorts. So far, Alterra has been the follower, waiting for Vail to take the lead, when it comes to adjusting to life with COVID.
Whatever announcement Alterra makes is going to make will be an adjustment for those of us that enjoy the flexibility of just going whenever we want to do so. I will just be happy to have lifts spinning and having patrollers that are willing to go out and make the mountain as safe as possible. There’s going to be quite a few people that makes the decision to become a backcountry skier or rider this season…or to just skip it entirely. Not me.
Here’s the link for the brief details in Rob Katz’s letter today.
Here’s the link for the deeper details on EpicPass.com.
I’ll be the first guy to say that the calendar graphic turned out really cheesy…do better Mark!
I actually hold a couple of passes, and Epic is one. This will obviously be my last year holding it. I guess I’ll have to wait to see how Sierra is going to handle the reservation thing. Sad that after 63 yrs of skiing, it’s all about to come to an end.
So if one has the full Epic pass and would like to take a 7 day ski vacation at one of the Vail Resorts say in the middle of February, they would reserve 7 days in December. By doing this then they could not reserve anymore days to ski prior to that vacation. Is this correct?
Pass holders can reserve starting November 6
Should be interesting to see what “the ski resort with no name does”
This is the problem with the corporatization of skiing. It is all about profit. Which of below do they want to prioritize the reservations for ? The local that comes and skis a few hours and then has her pbj for lunch. The family that will: stay in onsite lodging, rent skis, take lessons, buy lunch, buy beers after skiing, and go out to dinner.
All I want is to just ski
It will become even more interesting to see how they deal with ski team members and mighty mights that usually ski every weekend. Will they give priority reservations to parents and kids if Alterra follows suit with Vail Corp
Essentially, this moves the powder day “running of the bulls” online. When conditions are good, these “week of” reservations could sell out within a couple of minutes of when they open-up.
In theory, a reservation system gives them the ability to ration reservations between different classes of skiers. Fewer reservation slots for the holders of budget passes versus the most expensive pass. Possibly more slots for day skiers paying $200 compared with passholders.
This is going to be a real money-maker for them. Essentially, in buying a season pass, you are getting a lottery ticket for the possibility of skiing when conditions are good.
I wasn’t able to use my Epic pass last year so next season is practically free. After that, I will need to look at Sugar Bowl or one of the other independents.
Anyone who promotes and willingly goes along with this Charade is a traitor to the sport.. .