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Debating on Season Passes

6K views 31 replies 21 participants last post by  Aflimacon 
#1 ·
Hey all! I live in the Northwestern part of Virginia, close to Charlottesville and really can't decide whether to buy season passes for one of the local resorts(Massanutten, Wintergreen), take just a couple trips to Snoeshoe or Timberline WV, or save up and take like a week and go to Utah.

I'll put it this way: I am an AVID snowboarder. I have been salivating over the fact that it's only like two months away from the start of the local season. It just kills me to have to fill up the gas tank every other day during snowboarding season :( Any advice or suggestions?
 
#6 ·
Thanks guys. I guess I was just looking at it like Utah, Colorado, and Oregon being like snowboarder Meccas- One of the things you just have to experience at one time or another. You're totally right though, every other day beats just a week. It just sucks that my "local" mountains are 1 hour+ away. Any other good resorts in the North-east to make a weekend trip out of?? You can tell I don't really travel too far from home!! :b
 
#7 ·
Wow - I think you are LUCKY to only be an hour away! We are 3 hours away from our local mountain in Big Bear and 6 hours to Mammoth. We can't make a day trip with that drive time so we rent a place for the winter in Big Bear and stay for the weekends and holidays with our seaon passes.

I agree with the others that we would rather ski every weekend rather than just take one long trip a season. Even if our snow is mostly man made also.
 
#8 ·
Yikes! What a drive! My work doesn't really allow me the luxury of taking off many days. Just whatever they have over- scheduled for unless you tell them months in advance. Its not even the drive that kills me really its gas prices. But hey, I guess a 80 mile trip its better than 120 mile trip. Anyone with any good referrals for mountains up North?
 
#9 ·
I just picked up the Advantage card for the local spots. Season pass wouldn't be worth it since I'm planning a lot of weekend trips and a few week long trips. I'll still get discounted lift tickets for the weekends I'm local so I can still hit up the mountains. I'd def do something if I were you so I could get out every weekend.
 
#10 ·
I agree. Riding every other day beats out one big trip out west. You're riding more, period - which is what we're all here to do right?

Do the mountains you mention offer 6-pack tickets or something similar? I know alotta mountains in the northeast offer something like this, buy 6 tickets for the price of 4 or 5. I used to go this route a few years ago when my schedule was more sporadic and wasn't sure I was able to get the most out of a season pass..just a thought.
 
#13 ·
I have boarded the following local locations:
Massanutten, Wintergreen, Snow Shoe, Timberline, Canaan, White Tail, Ski Liberty, 7 springs.

If you enjoy riding park predominantly, then a season pass to Wintergreen would be the way to go. They have pretty decent size hits if the weather holds out, but the landings are straight ice lol. Also, the 'double black' they have at Wintergreen is a pretty fun run, and it more or less has it's only lift.

I cannot recommend Massanutten unless you're a beginner and it's the closest thing to you.

Of the above mentioned resorts, Timberline is my favorite, though I haven't seen all of Canaan (family trip with wives = not enough time on the hill). Timberline has great snow, and if you rip down their runs they can present a challenge even for the most seasoned boarder. Timberline reminds me the most of Rockies, albeit the runs are about 1/10th the length. This place has very little in things to do other than ski/board. They used to have really good beer on tap, but they stopped carrying it last year. I hope they bring it back (can never remember the name)

Snowshoe is definitely worth a trip if you haven't been there. Lots of runs, difficulty is an intermediate. It will take you all day to see that place, your legs will be tired. Their park is also nice, their hits have smooth landings, and it's pretty empty on the weekdays. I would not go on a Saturday or Sunday though, because there's at least one green trail that leads to every lift, so there's 8 million people in line for the lift, and that gets old really quickly.

I thought 7 Springs was nice, but we went too early in the season, so there wasn't much snow. I wouldn't mind going again if they had the best snow.

Whitetail has a pipe, and a couple parks. The main park usually has two really nice and big hits that are shaped really well. Just don't board all the way down, and there's a 2-person chair that services the park and the park only. If you want to throw down some park laps, this is the place to do it. The runs here are also very nice, and the lifts serve only 1 level of difficulty each (for the most part) which means if you're riding black, you're making plenty of laps.

Liberty is nice, but I prefer Whitetail better. Very similar though.

A trip out west is definitely a lot of fun. I have boarded Park City, and about half the resorts in Montana. You simply cannot imagine the difference between western resorts and local ones. Simply not the same sport.

There is not a single run at the local resorts I've mentioned that I wouldn't go down, and I'm usually the fastest person on the hill. Out west I generally stick to blues and greens and I'm generally the slowest guy on the hill. So, my advice to you: unless you can absolutely rip down the local stuff, then you're not going to get the most out of a Western trip.

Final Verdict: If you have your own gear and have already ridden 15+ days and are comfortable on blues and blacks, take just a few trips to WV if you haven't been there. You will enjoy it thoroughly. Squeeze in a road trip to Vermont if you can.

Once you go out west and you get a taste, that's all you're going to want to do, lol.

Anyway, hope this helps.
 
#18 ·
Absolutely helps! Yeah, that's the only crappy part is that we had season passes to Wintergreen last year and they ended up not even having all of their slopes open all season because it kept raining instead of snowing. I've been to 7 springs and vaguely remember having fun, and was definitely wanting to take a trip out to timberline since I've never been before. One of my friends had gone and said for the variety you get, it's really the best option. I agree with what you said about Massanutten though, we usually do their Monday night madness and are nearly bored with it after about the first 30 runs unless you have races or are playing a slope game or something. I was pondering on a trip up north since I have relatives that live in Jersey so I could explore places like Camelback but I've heard to wait in their lift lines, you might want to bring a lawn chair for how long they are. It seems like with the way the weather is currently going, I need to hurry up and make up my mind!! Can't wait to see the white stuff falling!
 
#14 ·
If you had put all your eggs into the travel thing last year, come to summit county, you would be so fucking pissed. The only difference between most of the CO resorts last year and the midwest/ice coast is that our shitty runs were longer and more people died on them.
 
#20 ·
Since I work in the medical field and can pretty easily find a job I've been contemplating on moving to a more suitable snowboarding/outdoorsy kind of location. But unfortunately, I do not have the testosterone-laden mindset that comes with being a foolish man to do it with ;)
 
#22 ·
I have been having the same exact thoughts. Sleev-les and I were discussing it in the Local thread. I'm fairly new to snowboarding. Last year was my first season. I live in MD close to DC, so I'm about a 1.5 hr drive from Liberty and my folks also have a TimeShare at Massenutten. What I did was sign up at meetup.com and joined 3 snowboarding groups with people in the DMV area. So for this season that should allow for plenty of carpooling and bus trips to the local mountains as well as Vermont. So I did the math in how many trips it would take for the season pass to pay itself off, how many days I would be able to go throughout out the season (work and weather permitting) and how many of those days would I be going to other diffrent resorts. I just decided to get the Advantage Card it gives me about 40% off lift tickets at Liberty, Whitetail, and Roundtop and every 6th visit is free. All for $84.00 which will pay itself off easy.
 
#24 ·
I don't think I could see myself doing any bus trips. I'm too impatient to do the speed limit! I've carpooled trips to the slopes with friends before and it seems like there is always that one person who doesn't want to wake up before 9am or the person who gets their boots wet on the slopes and wants to leave early. Certainly not saying that is how everyone is, but you come across them from time to time :b
 
#25 ·
If you're going to ride a lot I'd get a pass at Showshoe, which is far and away the best resort in the area. We're not in VA right now, but when we get back that's what I plan on doing…and we're in Gloucester, 4 and a half hours away. The Snowshoe pass is unlimited too! Which the way I understand it, means it's good for ALL weekends and holidays as well as during the week. To my knowledge, Wintergreen doesn't do that. It comes with other discount bennies too. It's $429 if purchased before 31 Oct…$279.00 for college students. Pretty good deal if you ask me! :)
 
#26 ·
I know this is a bit old but, buy your season pass at most location when the season is OVER. You save big. I paid $429 for 7 springs and received a cash discount of 5%. They are like $750 now.

Snowshoe is by far the closest/best place for you to enjoy. Especially mid week. If you really like to ride, cupp runn and shays revenge are all you need. Speed lift up, speed down. Repeat 4 or 5 times, stop and have two beers, repeat. That's my story. :)

I drive there from Pittsburgh, and stay the night at silver creek or wherever I can find cheap on VRBO. Split with whomever wants to come with. Many of these places just have keys waiting for you at the hotel who manages the property for the owners. They have no idea you are putting 3 or 4 people into a 1 bedroom or studio. $99/nt - $120 is what you look for. Look for deals on the lift tickets too.

I also used to do alot of night riding to save money. I dont like the cold (or hot) but layer up and Im good. Less people, less mouth breathers usually at night especially mid week. Sure you are tired the next day but, usually thinking HEY I could do that again tomorrow!

Meet a new boyfriend , with an adventure mindset that also has a firm footing on his career and you should be set. :) Enjoy now because once you get older and life progresses, you might find you never return to it unless you take your kids. I know alot of gals that say they are going to go riding when we throw parties at my house that used to ride, but in their 30's now they have kids and just dont have the time or money anymore.

I personally picked riding up when I was 39. I'm 41 now and going into my 3rd solid year. 2nd year with a season pass and looking forward to the resort swap program they also have with our passes. 7spring, HV, Wisp , SnowShoe and a few more all have a swap program where oyu buy your pass and get a free any time pass for any other resort, then all passes therein at those resorts are 50% off! I went for the cheaper resort last year and hit many other resorts on road trips for the free tickets. All I paid for was the room.

IN short however, if I were you, I wouldnt bank on Utah or the west. You might have bad luck and find that there is nothing but old packed powder , rain, or worse, icey conditions like we see in the east. Best to not put all your eggs in one basket.

Ride at night on the weekends. Ride days during the weekdays if possible. Take a mini trip to snowshoe if possible, or find a ski club in your area for weekend trips.

Also, for trips out west, ski clubs are the way to go. For example we have a group going out to Park City in early march for a week. The lodging , tickets, and breakfasts, including airfare is like $1000. Yes that's alot but, when oyu consider airfare,hotel, and lodging, 7 days for 1k is CHEAP. Booking that on my own would easily cost double or triple!
 
#31 ·
My girl and I drive up to our local mountain every week on our off days. We budget our money accordingly. And a group of us take two 7-8 day trips to CO, one in January and the other in march. It's not cheap but it's worth every penny. I would definitely try to ride more days then just take one big trip!!!!
 
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