Vail Throws Down the Gauntlet
“Our pass is more hardcore than you are” -Andy Katz @Vail (Basically)
On Tuesday morning I was thinking about trying to connect all the resorts on the Mountain Collective Pass. I had mapped it out, I was going to hit each of the western states to ski at Jackson Hole, Alta/Snowbird, Aspen, Snowmass, Squaw/Alpine, Whistler/Blackcomb and Mammoth in a big loop. I had even started thinking about vehicles through RelayRides, Getaround and AirBnB scenarios that would work. That will need to wait.
Later that day Vail dropped this press release and challenged me to think bigger. Vail has linked 26 different resorts in 6 states and 4 countries on a single pass. If you are one of the first 10 to ski all three, you will win a Vail Resorts Pass for life. I’d like to take them up on the challenge.
I don’t think this race will dawdle on slowly. Starting in late November I think a group of people will be circling the Sierra, the Rockies, the Wasatch, the Alps and even the midwest waiting for one of the first areas to open. From there they will log somewhere between 6 and 16 hours driving to start claiming the next range. In early December a small group of haggard, smelly travelers dragging a roller bag of skis, boards and boots will fly from SFO, DIA, SLC, MSP and DTW to Zurich or Geneva. Some will take the Eurail hoping to avoid snowy road closures. Others will take rental cars hoping to have more flexibility than the train allows. Some will be right, some wrong in their choice. They will then start trying to bag two peaks a day in the Alps finishing the week before Christmas. They will take no breaks, they might even only ski a few runs at a particular resort. They will probably be skiing manmade to start the season and it won’t be as EPIC as it might have been in February or March. But, that’s OK because by winning this competition they will have the rest of their life to ski on any schedule they want.
The Planning: So Much Depends on the Weather
Planning for this race is impossible here in October. You can identify the resorts like Canyons or Beaver Creek that have later opening days but you can’t pick who will open first and if their geographical companions will open at the same time. As a result, booking flights and time off is a fools errand at this point.
I’m not even sure I can get the time free from work to make this happen. But, half the fun is in the game planning. And as Warren Miller says,
