I should be less dismissive of these Baldy deals. Assume the promotional price is ~double, for when the tickets won't get used due to bad snow years (that's about 1/3) or schedule conflicts in the years when there are like 5 good days the whole season. So yes $38 (2x19) is worth considering.
socal":3lp5tcn2 said:
buy a ticket at the window on a powder day, you won't mind spending the $50 for a powder day.
This is the key to me. If the Baldy promotion requires some kind of advance registration before the day you will use it, I'd resist the temptation. With weather, staffing, snow clearance etc., good Baldy powder calls are made as last minute as possible. If you can take your promotional ticket and show up at the window the day you want to use it, then it's worth considering.
SoCal Rider":3lp5tcn2 said:
a $99 renewal for 2012-13, but that's still a questionable expenditure.
Everyone's circumstances are different, but these were mine during my last 23 years of employment:
1) I would be inclined to ski Baldy on a weekend any time I was home and the whole mountain (that means chair 1) was skiable.
2) Midweek to use a vacation day it had to be 1+ foot of new snow in addition to nearly all terrain open.
3) I could still miss some of the above for family obligations, schedule conflicts.
4) I skied 49 days at Baldy during those years, that's 2.1 days average per season.
5) There were only 2 seasons with more than 4 days, 5 in 1991-92 and 7 in El Nino 1998.
All of this shows why I never looked at promotions much. It's not only the low average but the limited upside if I'm only getting 5 days or so in the good years. MVP at Mammoth is different. I didn't mind missing breakeven a couple of seasons when I was getting 15+ days in the better years.
Now that I'm retired the midweek criteria is not so stringent so the potential is for more days in future good years. But I'm also traveling more, not in SoCal for nearly half of prime ski season.
