Ski Bums and tour
operators alike can both snap up early bargains on
season passes in some of America's best resorts.
With a month or
more left of the 1999-2000 season, ski areas are offering
next winter's season passes from as little as $350.
First
out of the blocks are Eldora
Mountain Resort ($475 adult season pass, $149 mid-week
pass), Berthoud Pass ($395) and Loveland ($350 adults,
$225 young adults).
Smaller
resorts have increased their prices as they have found
it impossible to compete with the mega-resorts.
Most of these are still waiting to decide how to adjust
their prices as the discounted pass battles rage on
for the third year in a row.
Copper
Mountain have announced that there will be "a
great season pass again at a really cool rate",
while Vail are holding focus groups this week to gauge
public opinion on this year's $599 merchant pass program
at Vail and Beaver Creek.
Last
season, Winter Park Resort kicked off Colorado's price
war with a $795 Buddy Pass for four people.
Copper Mountain, Keystone, Breckenridge and Arapahoe
Basin then followed with their own versions of multi-person
passes as low as $199 per skier, and other Colorado
ski areas chimed in rather than be undercut by the
competition.
Smaller
resorts have struggled against these prices.
Eldora have claimed the Buddy Passes are "artificially
low pricing" that make it tough to compete.
However, it looks
like us - the great ticket buying public - will get
the reap the benefits.
