Ikon Resort Ticket Policies for 2020-21

Tony Crocker

Administrator
Staff member
Between us, Liz and I received this info in at least 4 e-mails from Alterra last week:
We are prioritizing access for season pass holders and will tightly regulate the number of daily lift tickets that will be available by advance purchase only. To this end, walk-up window sales will be eliminated, and the sale of most undated lift ticket products will be discontinued until further notice.
Left unsaid was whether reservations would be required of Ikon passholders. So I sent an e-mail to Mammoth and was pleased to get this response:
At Mammoth Mountain and June Mountain, we will not be limiting Ikon Passholders. We will manage mountain occupancy by limiting the amount of daily lift tickets sold, which reservations are strongly recommended. We do not have an estimated date for when these reservations will become available.
Given Alterra's less centralized style vs. Vail, I believe each Alterra resort will be allowed to set its own reservation policy. Do I expect Mammoth's policy of not requiring reservations of Ikon passholders to stick? I'm cautiously optimistic. For years Mammoth has been monitoring hotel reservations to predict attendance, particularly on weekends. They also have data since 2012 on RFID and probably back to the late 1990's of the daily split between season passholders and day tickets. So presumably they believe that Ikon passholders alone cannot breach whatever COVID limit they have set for daily capacity. They will use hotel reservation trends to ration the number of available day tickets.

Meanwhile on Sept. 10 Al's blog said this about A-Basin:
-Reservations will not be required for Arapahoe Basin Season Pass and Any Day Pass holders. The number of passes sold will be limited.
-Ikon and Mountain Collective Pass holders are welcome and are encouraged to ski and ride A-Basin. Access details are still to be determined.
-Lift tickets will be available every day. Arapahoe Basin will require all lift tickets to be purchased in advance, online through our website. The number of tickets sold each day will be variable to reduce peak visitation periods.
A-Basin found out when they reopened May 27 that they need a 3-tiered system:
1) Their own passholders
2) Ikon and MCP
3) Day tickets

Jackson Hole has a detailed webpage about its advance reservation system for day tickets which is also silent about season passholders, Ikon and Mountain Collective. But I sent an e-mail this morning and got a prompt response:
This upcoming ski season, anyone who has purchased any season pass from JHMR will have full mountain access without limitation this winter per the terms under which their pass was purchased. However to allow for physical distancing, we are limiting the number of daily lift tickets that are available for purchase to manage our daily capacity limits.

For any Ikon pass holders intending to visit JHMR this winter, advanced reservations will be required. Ikon pass holders can make reservations right off of Ikon's website or app beginning on November 9th.

As for any Mountain Collective pass holders who are visiting with us this upcoming winter, reservations are not required for the 2-or3-days included in the Mountain Collective pass. However any additional 50% off days Mountain Collective pass holders would like to ski are subject to availability.

Finally, Ski Area Management Magazine has an anonymous polling feature which they recently used to inquire of selected areas whether lodging packages for 2020-21 would include lift tickets. They did not get confirmed answers from all the places they called, but the trend seems to be in that direction. This will be a key point for Iron Blosam Week in 2021. There is currently nothing on Snowbird's website about advance reservation policy.
 
what a mess, even though it's probably the responsible thing to do. All I gotta say is the IKON, MC people buying passes better read the fine print very carefully (which you are obviously doing, Tony). Personally, I would not even consider buying one of those passes right now if you had intentions of traveling to other resorts.
 
Hopefully people will add to this thread over the next few months. Here's Steamboat:
Reservations for Ikon Pass, Ikon Base Pass, and Steamboat pass holders are not required at Steamboat, at this time.

Guests who pre-book packages through Steamboat Central Reservations, or approved travel partners, prior to November 2 will have access for the dates of their pre-booked package. Our Worry-Free vacation policy provides flexibility when booking your winter vacation.

To limit on-mountain capacity, especially during holiday and peak periods, we currently are not offering, and will be tightly regulating, stand-alone lift tickets and other products. Advanced purchase packages and season pass products are the only way to access the mountain at this time.
The italics are mine, but I think Alterra-owned resorts will try their best not to limit Ikon passholders. Steamboat is one of the cases that might prove challenging. Conversely I suspect many Ikon 5-7 day partner resorts will likely require reservations like Jackson.

Personally, as long as Mammoth is wide open, I know our Ikons will be worthwhile, even if our destination skiing ends up mostly at Powder Alliance/Indy/Loveland partner resorts. For 2020-21 I have a Baldy pass from last spring (an option that is most likely worth little but you never know) plus I got a free Indy Pass from NASJA. If most Ikon destination resorts are restricted, Liz will probably get a Loveland Pass. The deadline for that is Dec. 1, so we should know the policies for the Ikon resorts by then.
 
Question to Aspen: I’m an Ikon/Mountain Collective Passholder, what does this mean for me?
Answer: We will institute a reservation system for Ikon Passholders accessed through ikonpass.com or the Ikon Pass app. We are doing this so we have a better idea about when passholders might visit so we are better able to manage capacity on the mountain and in our facilities. Ikon Passholders can ski when their passes permit access and must use the Ikon Pass reservation system to let us know when they plan to visit. We will begin the season with no daily cap on the number of Ikon Pass reservations available. However, if we need to address volume on any given day throughout the season, there may be a limit on how many Ikon Passholders can access the mountain when necessary. Ikon Passholders can start making reservations on 11/9/2020.

Mountain Collective passholders will be encouraged to use the online pre-arrival fulfillment functionality, or redeem their vouchers by phone to eliminate the need to visit a ticket office. If we need to implement a reservation system at any time during the season, Mountain Collective passes will be included. If you wish to purchase additional days, we recommend you do so in advance as they may not be available once in resort.
Aspen and Deer Valley are of course the exception to "Alterra owned," with very expensive season passes and 5-7 days allowed on Ikon. So no surprise reservations will be required for Ikon. Aspen is taking a "wait-and-see" attitude about whether reservations will be required of passholders.
 
The Ikon website now has a page listing reservation policy for each resort.
It's worth rechecking this before you plan a visit as "Not Required at This Time" means just that. As of now, only Aspen/Snowmass among Alterra owned areas requires reservations. I'm very surprised Deer Valley is not shown as requiring reservations for Ikon, because it did require reservations when I skied there in 2019.

Note that some areas not requiring ticket reservations may require parking reservations. Currently that includes Mt. Bachelor, Copper, Eldora, KIllington and Snowbird. Alta has not yet decided about either tickets or parking.
 
Tony Crocker":1h9bmnvr said:
A-Basin found out when they reopened May 27 that they need a 3-tiered system:
1) Their own passholders
2) Ikon and MCP
3) Day tickets
From Gary Stolt's post on skitalk.com, it sounds like they've changed the priority order to:
1) Their own passholders and MCP (Reservations are not required at any time.)
2) Day tickets (Must be pre-purchased online. Tickets are only good for the specific date.)
3) Ikon (Reservations required and limited.)
Gary was unable to make Ikon reservation for 1/9, but they would sell him a buddy ticket from his pass for $79. A-Basin also gave him the following option: "Come and ski without a reservation and you will get "strike 1". If you get 3 strikes, you will not be able to come back to Abasin this year but 1 strike won't hurt you. She then says just come without a reservation, just don't do it 3 times."

A friend who lives in San Jose and is a first-time Ikon passholder planned to ski Bachelor this week, but was unable to get parking reservations. Instead he is planning to ski Alpine the next two days, flying to and staying in Reno.
 
tseeb":2v321gpj said:
lives in San Jose
...
tseeb":2v321gpj said:
flying to and staying in Reno.

:-k :-k

It'd take less time to drive, not to mention cost a bunch less. So call me confused on the thinking process for that.
 
The friend is presumably staying in Reno because lodging in California is banned for non-owners. But I still agree with EMSC about driving. I have never flown to ski Tahoe (in 23 seasons) myself from SoCal.
 
EMSC":3ppj1xlz said:
It'd take less time to drive, not to mention cost a bunch less. So call me confused on the thinking process for that.
Not always less time as it does not take much to close I-80 for hours, but you are correct that to get a full day of skiing on arrival or departure day requires driving (or a stop on way home). The only 3 daily non-stops to RNO from the Bay Area are from SFO on United (I think his son lives in SF) and the earliest arrives at 10:10 AM which means you'd be doing well to be on slopes by noon. They are flying on miles and probably flying the afternoon before. Returns flights either don't allow a full day as latest non-stop leaves at 4:18 PM or require a stop in Las Vegas or LA.

@Sierra_cement was flying from SJC to RNO for skiing last year, but that was because he does not have a 4WD. At least he was skiing at closer Mt Rose. The only time I flew from RNO to SJC was my first commercial flight when I had to left a family Lake Topaz vacation to go home for a summer job. My wife flew into RNO on Saturday of Memorial Day weekend when I was coming from Mammoth after my first time skiing with Tony Crocker, but that was when Southwest still had non-stops in 2011.

No comments on how A-Basin is treating Ikon passholders? Also heard that Crystal is doing something similar; selling tickets while limiting Ikon reservations, which seems unfair to passholders and will lead to lawsuits.
 
tseeb":1wgmaz2f said:
No comments on how A-Basin is treating Ikon passholders? Also heard that Crystal is doing something similar; selling tickets while limiting Ikon reservations, which seems unfair to passholders and will lead to lawsuits.
I didn't think A-Basin's policy was newsworthy because it sounded exactly the same as they implemented last June:
1) First priority own passholders
2) Second priority Ikon
3) A small number of day tickets, 5% of total last spring

If 3) becomes a big number relative to 2), yes that's a problem.

Partner resorts like AltaBird, Jackson, and Mt. Bachelor, are like A-Basin and one might expect them to prioritize their own passholders over Ikon if they run into capacity problems. I'd also expect that at Aspen and Deer Valley, which are Alterra but have their own very expensive season passes.

Snowbird and Mt. Bachelor are regulating capacity by requiring reservations for parking. AFAIK there's no pecking order for those reservations based upon pass or day ticket status.

Crystal is like Squaw and Mammoth, where the Ikon IS the local season pass. However, Crystal ran into capacity problems last season and started requiring weekend reservation even before COVID-19. Much as I like the ski areas there, I plan to avoid the Seattle region in 2020-21. I'm reading that crowd/reservation issues are severe:
1) It's the only US region with a decent snowpack and average season-to-date snowfall so far.
2) Lots of Seattle skiers patronize Whistler and the Okanagan resorts in normal years and they can't this season.
 
Tony Crocker":2e4f2f6n said:
Snowbird and Mt. Bachelor are regulating capacity by requiring reservations for parking.

The common thread is that Powd'r Corp went the Parking Pass route (I think for all of their resorts) while others like Vail Inc resorts, Alterra, etc.. mostly, but not always (winter park didn't but now does for example), require you to reserve you/families passes to a reservation.
 
June Mountain opens Friday, 1/1/21 under similar CV19 restrictions as Mammoth. Honoring pass holders first (Ikon and JM passes) with NO walk-up ticket sales, but online sales/reservations only. I anticipate a much longer wait at J1 to get up to the rest of the hill due to current ridership circumstances and it being a double chair.
https://www.junemountain.com/covid" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
 
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