A-Basin Adapts New Season Pass, Lift Ticket Model To Cut-Down Crowds

^Courtesy: Arapahoe Basin/Ian Zinner

Arapahoe Basin hears you loud and clear.

The ski area is decreasing season pass sales by 10%, and will limit day pass sales to preserve the Legendary skiing experience that skiers and riders love.

^Courtesy: Arapahoe Basin/Ian Zinner

Katherine Fuller, Communications Manager at A-Basin, had this to say about their decision to limit pass sales:

“A-Basin is bucking the traditional ski resort sales model of “sell as much access product as possible” and is reducing the number of unrestricted A-Basin passes by 10 percent. When they are sold out, they are sold out. Lift tickets will also continue to be limited and will only be sold online and in advance.

For us, it’s not complicated. We believe great skiing and riding should be about great skiing and riding. It should not be about standing in long lift lines all the time or struggling to find parking. It should not be about new snow getting completely skied off by noon. We are doing what we feel we need to do to protect the A-Basin experience.

Simply put, we recognize that keeping crowd sizes down and spreading people out will make the experience on our 1,428 acres better for everyone. Limiting pass and ticket sales this season for COVID-19 health and safety reasons showed us that we can be successful and have happier guests when we do that.”

^Courtesy: Arapahoe Basin/Ian Zinner

It’s very unusual to see a modern ski area/resort willingly accept a decrease in revenue to preserve the skiing experience.

Most of today’s resorts are driven by corporate interests to maximize revenue, but that doesn’t appear to be the case at Arapahoe Basin.

I’m sure some pass holders at A-Basin’s neighboring resorts wish that their home mountain limited lift tickets, because nobody likes waiting in lift lines, no matter how ‘Epic’ the resort might be.