Vail tickets top $80!

Deep powder, pillow drops, cliff hucks, ice falls, old growth woods - that's the norm for us there. It is achingly beautiful and my very favorite place to ski in the deep winter months. And I still feel like I've just barely scratched the surface.

Ha Ha Ha. deep powder that is gone with the first sign of wind or sun exposed so its sun crust a day after the snow falls. You are right though 15 feet is fine, especially if there is a long landing that lets somebody hit it for 15 and somebody hit it for 50. I'll give you credt it is beautiful to see especially in the summer. But with 340 inches of snow falling, "deep" powder days are few and far between, not only that but the snow is too light to stick to any of the good lines. I think twice during my one and only stay there, I'd drop something small 15-20 and see rocks in the landing. So maybe there is great terrain in the BC but hey if I'm hiking for the goods, there are a lot better goods than Vail.

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Originally Posted by whatcomridaz

Deep powder, pillow drops, cliff hucks, ice falls, old growth woods - that's the norm for us there. It is achingly beautiful and my very favorite place to ski in the deep winter months. And I still feel like I've just barely scratched the surface.

Ha Ha Ha. deep powder that is gone with the first sign of wind or sun exposed so its sun crust a day after the snow falls. You are right though 15 feet is fine, especially if there is a long landing that lets somebody hit it for 15 and somebody hit it for 50. I'll give you credt it is beautiful to see especially in the summer. But with 340 inches of snow falling, "deep" powder days are few and far between, not only that but the snow is too light to stick to any of the good lines. I think twice during my one and only stay there, I'd drop something small 15-20 and see rocks in the landing. So maybe there is great terrain in the BC but hey if I'm hiking for the goods, there are a lot better goods than Vail.

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So you've only been to Vail once, but yet you own a condo there?

Shut the fuck up CRACKHEAD.

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Originally Posted by whatcomridaz

So maybe there is great terrain in the BC but hey if I'm hiking for the goods, there are a lot better goods than Vail.

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How would you know if you've never been in the Vail BC?
You've skied Vail once? You can't even ski the entire mountain if you were out for a week.

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Originally Posted by BlurredElevens

How would you know if you've never been in the Vail BC?
You've skied Vail once? You can't even ski the entire mountain if you were out for a week.

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Bullshit, i skied it switch before lunch.

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Originally Posted by Crinkle

Bullshit, i skied it switch before lunch.

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Ok. I bet you didn't have lunch at every on mountain restaurant during your vacation there. :the_finge

The Blue Moon at the top of the Eagle Bahn is the best restaurant in the world. The food is great, and it's not overpriced.:eek:

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Originally Posted by Core Shot

Yep. You win.
All the gnarly ski movies are shot at Vail. :rolleyes:

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Yep, all the gnarly movies are shot at lift served resorts.:rolleyes:

Arguing about ski resort terrain is like arguing about super model hotness. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder so it's kind of pointless.

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Originally Posted by BlurredElevens

Ok. I bet you didn't have lunch at every on mountain restaurant during your vacation there. :the_finge

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i don't vacation there fool, i just rip there upon occaision.

This thread makes me laugh, people trying to convince people that Vail sucks. It has its ups and downs like everyplace. Not every mtn can be in Utah or the Sierras. But it does get the most snow for lift accessed terrain close to the Front Range, it does bring in massive tax dollars for CO, so please if you don't like it, don't ski there. Recently its been snowing there a lot, so let us be happy for what we got.

This is a really funny thread.

Consider this. I recall skiing in Vail in the mid to late sixties and early seventies on a somewhat regualr basis. Even then people bashed it because it was strip mall with chairlifts. The lift ticket price was somewhere around $15, which was higher than most other places by a buck or two, but considering how much more terrain you got, seemed like an acceptable price to pay. This was in the pre-lawsuit days too. Pretty much everything (except TVs) is 10X more expensive today than it was then. My first house in 1970 was $35,000. Today it would be at least $350,00, probably more in some markets. A BMW 2002 was about $4,000. Today a similar BMW would be around $40,000, maybe more. By this logic, a $15 lift ticket should cost you $150. Probably oversimplified but it makes the $80+ lift ticket a bit more understandable. Also, its a much better product than we had in 1970. I recall spending most of the day standing in monster lift lines at mid-vail and in the back bowls to ride on deathly slow double chairs. Also, you don't have to ski powder and bumps on 210 GS skis anymore. Upside was that the place didn't get tracked out in an hour.
I'm not a fan of high lift ticket prices, but I don't think that $80 is as out of whack as some here do. As has been noted repeatedly, there are plenty of places to ski for a whole lot less money. You can have just as much fun at a not so famous place as you can at Vail.

ABasin was $6 a day with student ID in 1979.

Act now & you can still get 2 days for $150 at Vail's Heavenly at Tahoe resort this winter break. That's just $75/day for you non-math-types. Don't know what crazy deals they're offering on Vail Co's other fine holdings.

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Originally Posted by Cornholio

Holy hell.

I don't get the long-term business model-- aren't they pricing out future customers?

Unless they count on the cheap passes to young front-rangers to get people hooked, then rely on them ditching passes as they age (and gain income) and paying the single-day prices for a weekend with the family. They have to stay in a VRI condo, so the net from one family weekend is more than the cost of a season pass.

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this is a problem for the sport of skiing in general. it's expensive as shit to learn, so most people either learn as children (when their parents foot the bill) or after they have a career and can fund it themselves. right now, all these resorts can afford to charge $75+ for a single day since the baby-boomers are loaded and will pay for it.

edit: aw crap, thread necromancy.

this thread soooo ooooo ooooo gay i cannot even believe i even read it in my drunken, doggy fart smellin self state of mind!

LOVES ALL U Freaks


go see SWOLLEN MEMBERS in Vail!!!

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Originally Posted by SheRa

It's the only place I know to ski a technical line with deep snow. Well, we did start finding some stuff up north last year, but that's so much further from home...

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Hehe, I completely forgot about this thread. I was obsessed with the idea of billygoating powder lines. Then, last year, Brett went and skied that big pillow line at the rockpile. Very cool.

I still have so many places I want to ski over there.

Well, I had a great time skiing Vail back in 92. Guess I will relish those memories, as $81 would be a "big fat no way in hell am I skiing here" ticket.

That is too bad. It was good times.

I think there's still plenty of mountains with cheap prices, great snow, and good terrain that stay uncrowded because all the rich can go to places like Heavenly or Vail. Sure they might not have fancy lodges and huge condos lining the slopes, but who gives a shit about this anyway, it just attracts douchebags. As long as other places stick around and follow a different model by charging much less than big expensive resorts nearby, then places like Vail can do whatever they want and I'll ski somewhere else. Kirkwood, Alpine, Powder Mountain come to mind of places I've skied. I'm sure theres places like this in Colorado too. So screw Vail and ski somewhere better for cheaper.

this is my vail "TR" as it were from my one $80 day. I consider it a pretty epic or at least memorable day. we drove out from utah for a wedding (at the ritz, no less) with many people we hadn't seen in quite a while. friday rehearsal dinner followed by trays of tequila shots later until 2 or whenever (mistake no. 1), woke up to Ski Vail. still drunk. while waiting for the 10 wedding people we were skiing with (mistake no. 2) at the base to get their shit together, all of a sudden I notice my friend, nicest quietest girl in the world, and tiny, is involved in a shouting and nudging match with some guy on the lift line for some sort of minor bumping incident, I gather. very amusing.

after one run from the first lift, we got to the bottom of the next lift and all the lifts shut down because of an electrical outage for about 40 minutes (we were told). a first for me. they get up and running, we get up to the top and, still (increasingly? is that possible) drunk, skied in one of the "Legendary Back Bowls" twice (another first on a day of firsts). after that exhausting experience, the wedding group went in to lunch where I had to sit outside by myself because i was still drunk. after picking at my burger and downing a gatorade, I then spent 20 minutes puking in the bathroom. at first, I was trying to be really quiet, but then I realized the girl in the stall next to me was puking also. I couldn't tell if she was still drunk too, or if she was just puking up her lunchtime binge, but sadly I declined to find out. I felt marginally better after that.

the highlight of the day was the wedding-party-organized mandatory nastar racing. many six packs of beer were won when I beat my husband on the nastar course because he wiped out. five times. on the nastar course. all in all, really memorable day & I actually really felt I got my $80 worth. I think I might just have to go back some day, especially considering I remember nothing about the skiing itself.

I heart tequila.

thoroughly enjoyed my season working there. other than that, wouldn't want to spend over $80 to ride what i used to schralp for "free".

two points here.
1: I skied probably 25 days there for free by bro'in down with the lifties, and learning how to imitate the best fake 'bleep' noise ever.

2: I wanna party with Isis.

I was at Vail in 97/98 on my 5 mountain employee pass for a 27" dump, it did not suck. Vail has great terrain, I don't see why people harsh on the terrain, it is less exposed but that can be a good thing, there are tons of powder shots in the trees that are killer. I have very fond memories of ducking ropes and floating through Aspen groves in Sun UP/Down bowls, good phuckin times.

I just read this whole thread, every word, do I get a nug or something, at least send me sixer of PBR, someone, anyone, please.

PBR is shitty beer, but I guess that doesn't matter cause we've all been brainwashed to believe it makes you core.

pbr out of a can = garbage
pbr out of a bottle = $$$, cause you can play cards with the caps (assuming you drink enough of it)

This thread has gone full circle, from bashing the most expensive ski resort in the country to bashing one of the cheapest beers in the country.

Personally, I drink bud light, (ducking as feces flies by my head).

But I figured most of you dirtbags drink PBR.

As for PBR being core, I think it has to do with midwest rednecks who swill it while ice fishing and the fact that the Pabst heir was a pretty serious skier.

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Originally Posted by adam

I went there once last year and succesfully succeeded in getting on the lift with no pass. You gotta get somebody to distract the pass checker as you silently cruise by.

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Rode there and BC all season on my lifty roommate's pass. Even with scanning they never figured out that "he" was making alot of runs while "he" was working the lifts all day. ;)
Once you're up past the Gondi or the rastabahn you're rarely checked up top.
Now go get some young maggots !:fmicon: