I’m reading on a smartphone and I often don’t see the part at the top. I wasn’t responding to educate you per se, I was shooting the shit.
Sorry.
My bad 
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I’ve resisted buying the Epic pass and the Ikon pass because to me, it’s like a Costco membership.
Perceived deals mean the pass holder is loyal to the brand, and sees visiting other resorts that are not on the pass as losing money.
I gave up my Costco membership about 6 years ago because I didn’t like paying them to belong.
I’d buy things I didn’t need, sometimes in sizes or flavours I didn’t like, because it felt like a deal. I had a lot more food waste when I shopped at Costco because I didn’t like a lot of what I bought or it was too much. Or it went stale before I could use it. I would buy t shirts or pants that were a quarter of the price of what I’d pay elsewhere, but the fit or cut was always a little weird, so the Costco clothes usually became gardening clothes. I appreciate Costco being great for families with teenage boys who eat a lot, for people who do batch cooking, for people with specific shopping lists. I realized it wasn’t for me.
Once some people buy an Epic or Ikon pass, they only want to visit resorts that are on that particular pass, then pass holders start pushing others to buy the pass, then members of my ski club start trying to push our charters committee into choosing specific resorts so pass holders get their way. This influences the resorts my club chooses to visit.
When I used to run the trip committee for my club, a lot of planning went into destinations. If we went to Aspen the previous year, we would choose Vail or elsewhere the following year. We would alternate destinations in Utah, California, NM, Washington and MT. We offered 2 weeklong trips to Europe, 2 weeklong trips to the States, 2 weeklong trips to the Canadian Rockies. We ran 6 weekend trips to Quebec, Vermont and occasionally Maine.
Once more than 10 percent of our club members had an Ikon pass for Blue Mountain, where our club members do day trips every weekend, they started putting pressure on our club to focus on Ikon Destinations.
Now the club goes to Tremblant every year, Banff every year. The destinations have changed.
The club also started going to Club Med resorts in the Alps about 10 years ago, which is another subset of members pushing for a brand for perceived value. The Club Med ski resorts include lunch on the hill and all you can drink at night, and this appeals to 90 percent of the members who travel to EU.
I like mom & pop hotels, trying out different small restaurants, buying snacks at grocery store, checking out every bakery in the European ski town. I also barely drink and hate cookie cutter hotels and resorts. Club Med is how I do not want to travel.
I ran a trip to Austria in 2019, where we skied at Icshgl, St Anton, Fiss and a couple other places, and a couple Ikon holders were trying to convince the rest of the group to ski more at St Anton which had some sort of arrangement with Ikon.
It’s a deal if you want to focus on one place to ski, but it locks people in, and makes some skiers a little overbearing.
It works fine for friends and families who are on the same page and want to focus on one resort, of course .
I won’t buy an Ikon or Epic pass out of principle, but I also don’t buy day passes for one day of skiing at $175 USD.
I tend to purchase a 5 day pass when I ski out west. In Europe, lift passes tend to be more affordable… 30 to 40 Euros for a 1 day pass when I was there in 2019. Better food on the hill, too.
I was just pointing out that buying an Epic Pass when you are in PC is very economical assuming you ski. I just renewed my pass for next year. All in about $700. I spend time in PC every year as we have the aforementioned shack there. Considering a day lift is now $240 (ouch!!), doesn’t take much to amortize the cost. It also covers Hunter, Snow, Okemo and Stowe which makes its pretty convenient for when I want to stay closer to home in NY. After 3 days on the mountain, everything else is basically free is how I think about it. Much cheaper than before Covid when it was over a grand. One of the few things that have come down in cost is the Epic Pass. Many ski areas belong to either Epic or Ikon now. If you are more than a casual skier/boarder, it really makes sense to have a pass.
I hear you about the difference with Europe though. Skiing costs a lot less there and the food is so much better.
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Absolutely makes sense financially, for repeat visits.
If I was travelling a lot, I’d buy both so I wouldn’t have to commit to Epic or Ikon only.
Yes, almost all the larger North American resorts are with one or the other.
Before March 2020, I was typically skiing 12 days a year in the Alps, Colorado/California or Rockies (2 weeklong trips), and 8 day trips in Ontario or Quebec.
I dislike the local Ontario hill (Blue Mountain) that is on the Ikon pass, so my day trips were mostly to a local hill which is not on a pass. Since the Ikon pass started including Blue Mountain and Tremblant, both Blue and Tremblant have become ridiculously busy on weekends, with people who are pass holders, as well as condo owners and weekend warriors. In a way this success of the Ikon pass has benefitted the smaller quieter resorts, because serious skiers might go to the quieter resorts in the Eastern Townships on weekends to escape the chaos and out-of-control skiers at Tremblant. I had already stopped skiing at Tremblant on Saturdays 7 or 8 years ago, because the runs were too crowded and the lift lines on Saturday were insane. I now ski on Thursdays and Fridays at Tremblant instead.
My last travel involving flights before March 2020 was a week in Hakuba and a week at Marmot Basin near Jasper, Alberta.
Unless someone loves Whistler, Ikon is typically more useful for skiing in Canada.
Marmot Basin isn’t connected to Ikon or Epic.
Epic
Ikon
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