Northstar 2011/2012 Season Passes and May 30th deadline

I don't have a season pass related photo!

Skiing Friends and Parents,

Your kids don't care about this stuff, but Northstar has come out with pricing for the 2011/2012 season's passes.

As a service to those of you who like to save money, I'm going to pass on some links which you may find helpful.

With the acquisition by Vail, some prices have gone up, others down, and many passes have increased benefits like access to Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Heavenly and Arapahoe Basin. 

The changes have generated some positive and negative reactions from customers. If you follow Northstar on Facebook, you'll see what I'm talking about.

Here are the links:

2011/2012 Passes

Price Comparison Chart

Facebook Letter from Bill Rock (Northstar's GM, who responds to some customer concerns)

The current pricing is guaranteed only until May 30th of this year.  But it looks like you only need to put $49 dollars down to hold your pass.  And if I'm reading it right, if you buy now, you get two free tickets to Heavenly or Northstar good in April of this year.

As a reminder, when I'm blogging, I'm not a representative of Northstar or its parent company,Vail Resorts. Vail has a very clear policy that employees need to make this disclaimer when we're sharing thoughts on our blogs.

Happy St. Paddy's Day,

Jay

Teaching a powder clinic this Sunday!

A number of my friends keep saying "When's your day off? When can I get you to help me with a few tips to take me to the next level? I don't need a whole day lesson, and mainly want to ski hard, get a few tips and have you show me the mountain."

The problem has been that my days off don't fall on the weekends, and I'm probably teaching their kids on the day they'd like to ski themselves. If you're one of these people, the time to come up and ski with me is this Sunday.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to meet me at 9:30 am at the Snowell Demo Shop next to the Northstar skating rink. [begin Mission Impossible theme music now....]

Why? Because I'm teaching Northstar's Skills Clinic. It's designed for the intermediate and upper level skier (levels 6 and above).

For $219, you get an all day lift ticket, all day lesson and a high performance demo package from Snowell. The Demo Center carries the newest skis from K2, Nordica, Volkl, Atomic, Dynastar, Blizzard and Rossi; ski boots from Technica, Nordica, Lange and Atomic. Demo snowboards from Burton, Forum, Rome, DC and K2.

Each time I've taught this before, I've had only one or two students. It's basically a private lesson with all the perks that go with it, plus an opportunity to try the latest and greatest equipment. We could switch skis multiple times during the day at the mid mountain demo shop, but I think we'll be on the fattest powder boards they have, and we'll stick with them!

This message will not self destruct in 5 seconds... so feel free to "like it!"

Video and Hitting the Sports Basement Thursday (1/20/11) to talk about skiing with kids

For folks whose kids have recently taken private lessons, here's a video montage made by my friend, Nat Fay.  Nat's not only a great kids' instructor at Northstar, he's also a video whiz and is trying to teach me the ins and outs of editing software.  This montage has clips from 4 or 5 December and January lessons, and showcases some of the things I've discussed in earlier posts.

Now today, while my friends and fellow instructors are enjoying a hopefully brief period of spring conditions, I'm heading down to San Francisco to meet a bunch of moms from the Golden Gate Mother's Group. I've been invited to offer advice and suggestions on a couple of topics at the Sports Basement at 6:00pm on Thursday evening.  Friends are welcome to stop in, and moms can also check out the mothers' group at the link above.

The first area we'll be talking about is tactical; how best to dress your child for the winter sports environment.  We'll take a hands-on look at helmets, gloves, boots and the rest of the gear with an eye to function over style and a focus on what will keep Jill and Johnny the happiest and safest on the hill.

The second topic is all strategy... how can a parent make exposing a child to skiing or snowboarding as fun and as stress free as possible?  We'll discuss our goals and theirs, safety on crowded bunny hills, group vs private lessons as well as approaches and things to avoid when teaching your child yourself.

As interesting as I find the actual teaching, I think the most valuable discussion will be about ways to maximize the odds of getting from your ski cabin to the slopes with all your kids, all of their gear and the majority of your sanity intact.  Believe it or not, those parents who breeze through the process and aren't fazed by snowy roads, big parking lots, crowded shuttle buses, rental shops, and ticket windows may not really be zen masters.   We'll talk about the things these parents do to arrive nonplussed and leave smiling.

Cheers.