Lift Blog

Snow Partners has revealed details of its upcoming frequency card, tailored toward casual and traveling skiers in the Northeast. The Snow Triple Play will offer three total days across Snow Partners’ two mountains in New Jersey, ORDA’s three mountains in New York, Les Sommets’ four mountains in Southern Quebec plus others in New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maine and Nova Scotia. The first thousand cards will sell for $169.99 plus a 5 percent processing fee, working out to just $59.50 per day. The list price will be $199.99 plus 5 percent or exactly $70 per day of skiing. Either way, that’s a huge discount for resorts like Whiteface, Mountain Creek and Pleasant Mountain. In order to use all three days, card holders must visit at least two mountains; they cannot use all three days at one mountain. Details on potential blackout dates are still forthcoming. The pass will go on sale on Labor Day and sell through Christmas Eve.

“We recognized that there’s a significant portion of the skiing and snowboarding population that loves the sport but doesn’t ski frequently enough to justify a full Season Pass,” said Dave Belin, CFO of Snow Partners and COO of the Snow Triple Play. “The Snow Triple Play bridges that gap, offering substantial savings while giving skiers the flexibility to explore different mountains throughout the region.” He noted 73 percent of the 11+ million skiers and snowboarders in the US ski five days or less each season while most existing season pass products require skiing five days or more to pencil out.

The pass will particularly appeal to Tri-State area skiers, with options for redemptions across New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts. Popular ski states Vermont and New Hampshire are noticeably absent from the initial partner list, making the product less appealing to Boston residents. Interestingly, Snow Triple Play includes Boyne-owned Pleasant Mountain in Maine but not Boyne’s other New England resorts in Maine or New Hampshire. Similarly, the pass includes the four Les Sommets near Montreal but not Sommet Edelweiss near Ottawa. Snow Partners also signed Ski Martock in Nova Scotia but not sister mountain Cape Smokey. Independent mountains on the pass are Oak Mountain, New York; Plattekill, New York; Mount Southington, Connecticut and Ski Butternut, Massachusetts.

Another interesting aspect of this product is the lack of overlap with other passes. Not one of the 15 mountains on Snow Triple Play participates in Epic, Ikon or Indy. At such a low price point, serious skiers could easily snag a Snow Triple Play card on top of their usual mega pass and check out three new mountains.