snowphoenix;d-4099 wroteLooking at the websites and social media pages of Vail-owned mountains in the Northeast, it seems that Vail is trying hard to promote sales of the Epic Day Pass, a ticket for 1 to 7 days at any of their mountains. There are different tiers of the pass, with the more expensive tiers allowing access to their larger/more expensive resorts. At $88 for a 1-day pass to any Vail-owned Northeast mountain (tier 2, not valid on peak dates), the savings are significant compared to buying a normal day ticket, especially for a weekend.

However, I feel that Vail is marketing these passes so aggressively in order to secure more revenue before the season begins in earnest in order to please shareholders, in a similar manner as their main product, the Epic Pass. To me this reflects the industry-wide shift towards reserving or purchasing days/ski vacations ahead of time, rather than buying tickets on the day-of. I feel like the latter method makes for a better experience (at least for skiers like me who primarily ski via day trips) as one has more flexibility in terms of where to ski on a given day.

Curious to hear others' thoughts on the Epic Day Pass, its marketing and whether or not it's a better alternative to buying standard lift tickets. FWIW I have not purchased this pass but am considering it for this season as there are some Epic mountains that I skied before Vail acquired them and that I would like to revisit.

My 2-cents: If cost is really an issue and you plan to ski more than 10-days buy one season pass this year and the other next year.

If you're going to just ski a few days and cost is an issue, there are some excellent smaller mountains that will give great deals for single days or packages for the larger areas like you noted.

If cost is not an issue, the entire question is moot.