I'm sure this has been covered on NYSB, but remind me what the break-even point is? Eight or nine days? That's a lot for a weekends-only joint unless they have a significant partner component.
I used to think that way when I wasn't paying for season passes or day tickets.
The new owners have been there 31 years!
So that pass doesn't make a lot of sense considering that surely Harvey spends more weekends at his place near Gore. I'm guessing Plattekill is for daytrips when Harvey can only ski one day of the weekend. I would think anyone would make a cost/benefit estimate before buying a season pass, even though we can't always get it right. I'm just fine with Baldy day tickets as a senior because they are usually in the $50 range.
Back in the 1970's one of the ski guidebooks I bought was by I. William Berry, who was based in NYC. He strongly preferred the Berkshires to the Catskills. He mentioned going there frequently during gas crisis seasons when Vermont was out of range for a round trip gas tank.
When I used to go there a lot up through 2013, upstate NYers would always complain about how Belle was a perennial money loser and that it should be cut loose from state ownership. I always said that it just needed some investments. That's exactly what happened after ORDA took it over and as Harv mentioned, Belle now has serious snowmaking power for these climate-challenged times.
Back in the early/mid 00s when I used to drive up I-91 to Vermont and Quebec, I tried several times to stop at Berkshire East (considered the best hill in the region) along the way but it never happened.
That was my thinking back then when the destination was northern VT or the Eastern Townships except instead of Mt Snow, I stopped along the way at Magic and Ascutney -- two fun ski areas that were (one of them still is) threatening to transition into the land of NELSAP.
simple...
Do you have any idea just how much ORDA loses each year? It's a massive number of tax $$ that are blown through by them each and every year. If I still lived in NY I would much rather stop that tax $$ flow and lower the tax bills. Then everyone else complains about how the private ski areas aren't keeping up with that kind of ridiculous spend on new lifts and snowmaking. It's nuts.
This has been debated dozens of times on Harv's forum. Similar to trying to change the Supreme Court format -- a good idea but it'll never happen -- so you'll need to come to terms with NYS operating ski areas.