Ikon Passes Wilmington Ski Club, April 2019 What Are Epic & Ikon Passes?

Epic & Ikon Passes Wilmington Ski Club, April 2019 What Are Epic & Ikon Passes?

• Season passes on steroids

• Instead of buying a pass for one resort, these passes work at dozens of mountains Why Do These Exist? (a short history of ski resort consolidation)

• First there were Vail & Beaver Creek

• 1996 Vail went public and started buying other resorts:

• Breckenridge & Keystone Heavenly Northstar Kirkwood, Afton Alps, Mount Brighton Canyons, Park City, Perisher, Wilmot, Whistler Blackcomb, Stowe And just 9 months ago: Mount Sunapee, Okemo, Crested Butte, Stevens Pass

• Vail wanted to keep customers going to their resorts

• In 2009 they created the Epic Pass; one pass for all Vail properties Enough About Vail... What About Ikon?

• IntraWest, Aspen, and Mammoth saw what Vail was doing

• Merged to form Alterra

• Alterra launched Ikon Pass in January 2018 to rival Epic Pass

• Replaces Rocky Mountain SuperPass What Resorts Honor The Ikon Pass? • Unlimited Days at: • Squaw Valley Alpine • Winter Park Resort, CO Meadows, CA

• Big Bear Mountain Resort, • Tremblant, QC CA • Mammoth Mountain Resort, • Copper Mountain Resort, CO CA

• Snowshoe, WV • Blue Mountain, ON

• Eldora Mountain Resort, CO • June Mountain, CA

• Crystal Mountain, WA • Solitude Mountain Resort, UT What Resorts Honor The Ikon Pass?

• Limited Days at:

• Sugarbush Resort, VT • Aspen Snowmass, CO

• Brighton, UT • Cypress, BC

• • Steamboat, CO Boyne Highlands, MI

• • Sunday River, ME Alta/Snowbird, UT

• • Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, WY Boyne Mountain, MI

• Sugarloaf, ME • Thredbo, Australia

• Big Sky Resort, MT • The Summit at Snoqualmie, WA

• Loon Mountain, NH • Coronet Peak, The Remarkables, Mt Hutt, NZ

• Stratton, VT • SkiBig3, AB

• Taos, NM • Niseko United, Japan

• Killington-Pico, VT • Revelstoke Mountain Resort, BC

• Deer Valley Resort, UT • Valle Nevado, Chile What Do They Cost?

• Depends on what level you buy

• At this time last year there were 14 different Epic Passes �

• We let them know that was confusing

• Ikon was sure not to make that mistake… “Local/Base” vs. “Full” Passes • Epic Pass: $939

• Ikon Pass: $949

• Epic Local: $699

• Ikon Base : $649 ☜ WSC recommends for 2020

• Both have discounted passes for service personnel and students

• Epic Day Passes (good for 1-7 days) are something WSC will consider for next season’s trips WSC Is Trying To Help

• 2020 is an all Ikon Pass year for WSC:

• Mammoth (6 ski days)

• Steamboat (6 ski days)

• Winter Park (4 ski days)

• You could ski 16 days on one pass (more if you go out West on your own) Are They Worth It?

• Ikon Base Pass ($649) is best for most people

• Compared to walking up to a ticket window, absolutely worth it; would pay for itself in a week

• WSC doesn’t pay ticket window prices, so...

• Are you going on one WSC trip? Nope, not worth it.

• Are you going on two WSC trips? Maybe.

• Are you going on three WSC trips? Yep! What Are The Cons?

• No refunds (But you can buy insurance which gets you a credit)

• Non-transferable

• Can’t sell to anyone else

• Can’t lend your pass to another WSC member to use if you take a day off

• Trip insurance will not cover them if you ﬁle a claim for dropping off a trip How Do I Get One?

• ikonpass.com

• Prices will probably go up after April 24. Nothing deﬁnite, but they did go up $50 last year.

• If you are 100% sure you want one, buy soon

• If not 100% sure, wait

• Sales end when season starts (Thanksgiving-ish)

• If you buy, make sure to tell your trip leaders The Future

• Pushback is occurring against Epic & Ikon

• Some resorts are saying they’re not making as much $ as they had been promised

• Arapahoe Basin (“A-Basin”) will drop out of Epic this coming season, citing “too many skiers”

• Savings aren’t as great as clubs had been promised; WSC likely won’t do a dedicated season in 2021