New Passes Are In The Mail…And We May Have Led You Astray

Our new Ikon passes arrived in the mail the other day, and since then I can’t stop thinking about skiing. There’s always a slight bit of disappointment, as I realized we again missed the opportunity to update our pass photos to something that is a bit more creative. As long as they are going to send a new pass every year, it seems like we should be marking time with new photos of historical significance.

I guess this is the new “winter is coming” moment since Powder magazine got axed. – Jay

As always, our friends at Alterra Mountain Company included some Ikon schwag, some useful, some not. Hits: the holographic sticker and the magnetic poetry set. Misses: the lottery card (where it appears your odds of winning are 3 in 650,000) and that six pack of circular stickers that seems like they have a half life of one day. I was hoping for another lanyard, as they come in handy for things like bike lock keys.

When It Comes To Adventure Assurance, We May Have Led You Astray

Your Ikon pass, once again, comes with “Adventure Assurance” for the 21/22 season. That’s a good thing for most people, since we are not done with this pandemic thing yet. The program first appeared last season, as ski areas large and small wondered if they could remain open during the pandemic, and more importantly, would people buy passes for the 20/21 season. As it turns out, people did buy passes and they did go skiing. Some ski areas set records for attendance as people figured out that skiing and riding was one of the few options out there for safe winter fun.

Nobody really knew what was going to happen one year ago, and this is where we may have led you astray. Nearly every pundit forecast that somewhere, at some time during the season, some ski areas would be forced to pause or cease operations due to COVID. Pretty much everyone was surprised to find out that did not happen. The resort formerly known as SVAM went through the entire season without a shutdown. Sure there were cases of COVID here and there but we did make it through, thanks to some great strategic planning and the availability of vaccines as winter turned into spring.

Last year we recommended that most of our readers would most likely benefit from selecting the “one eligible destination” option for Adventure Assurance rather than the “all destinations” option. In short, since most of our readers are dedicated Alpine Meadows enthusiasts, with some that also enjoy Olympic Valley, you might have been better off if we saw a local closure due to COVID. Our best guess was that fewer of you are world travelers that wish to travel to every Ikon destination before you give up skiing and riding. It turns out that advice was not correct.

I don’t have exact numbers, so maybe some of you can add your numbers in the comments. Doing a quick Google search on Ikon Pass Adventure Assurance, it looks like the credits amounted to about $8 or $11 for those people that chose the “all destinations” option. Without doing too much math in my head, that represents that about 1% of all Ikon pass resort days were subject to closure due to COVID last season. That credit is just about enough to buy some french fries at the lodge…if you could use your credit for that. That credit can only be applied this this year’s pass purchase. Fortunately, I know I got my money’s worth out my pass last season, so I am not too bent out of shape by missing the credit.

Here’s two dates to keep in mind: October 14th and December 9th. You must log in to your Ikon Pass account by October 14th to change your Adventure Assurance selection for this year’s pass. By default, you are set to “all destinations” so you only need to so this if you want to select “one eligible destination”. That will be my choice again this season, as I can’t see myself traveling too far if Alpine Meadows and Olympic Valley are forced to pause operations this year due to COVID. You have until December 9th to defer your unused 21/22 to next season.

On a closing note, pass sales for the Epic Pass skyrocketed by 42%, after Vail Resorts reduced prices by 20% for their passes for the upcoming season. The good thing is, you can avoid riding the shuttle bus this year, as the line for the Comstock lift will extend all of the way to the remote parking lots…