Whistler Blackcomb new pricing model irks casual skiers, boarders

Vail Resorts Inc. will implement a new pricing policy for Whistler Blackcomb next season that, according to critics, financially punishes skiers and boarders who frequent the destination on a casual basis.

The Colorado-based company that acquired Whistler Blackcomb last year in a $1.4-billion cash-and-stocks deal said the new policy is designed to reward frequent users of the ski resort.

Gone are the one-day and three-day Edge Cards that provided less-frequent resort visitors with discounts over regular walk-up ticket prices. The Edge Card offerings are now five and 10 days, said resort spokeswoman Lauren Everest said. “Going forward, the best discounts are being reserved for Whistler Blackcomb’s most frequent guests.”

Also gone immediately is the free spring add-on, which had been available to anyone who purchased five- and 10-day Edge Cards. Instead, guests have the option to purchase a Spring Pass for $159, which gives them unlimited skiing from April 24 to May 22.

On the flip side, unlimited Whistler Blackcomb adult season passes are “$210 cheaper,” she said, and guests now also have the option to purchase an Epic Pass for $1,117, which gives them unlimited access to other Vail Resorts properties.

Included in that offer are resorts such as Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Park City, Heavenly, Northstar, Kirkwood, Wilmot, Afton Alps, Mount Brighton, Perisher and Arapahoe Basin, with limited discounts at 30 European resorts.

Everest said “everyone will have a better understanding” after lift-ticket discount options for guests interested in skiing or boarding for shorter periods are revealed in August. “I don’t know what the discount will be,” she said.

Peter Louwe, a longtime skier at Whistler Blackcomb, feels let down by the new policy, saying the shorter-term Edge Cards kept thousands of Vancouverites connected to Whistler. “We may think of it as a local hill, but it’s now a U.S. resort that’s turned its back on the customers that kept it in the black for decades.”

Among those benefiting from the new policy are tourists who stay for several days, he said. “It might work now, with huge snowfalls and the strong U.S. dollar, but things change and they’ll have lost a lot of customers,” Louwe said.