Snowboarding?

SouthernFalcon

Class of 2015
5-Year Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2010
Messages
56
I've just gotten my nomination, and I already had an LOA that was reliant only on that since I passed my DODMRB and such. For my Christmas/Birthday/Graduation/Future Appointment gift, I got a snowboard, boots, and bindings. I was wondering, is the ski club open to snowboarders, how often do they take trips, and what other things would be helpful to know about it? Thanks!
 
Yes, snowboarders are welcome to join the club. It's about $70 to join ski club. One nice benefit is that they provide transportation to and from the slopes so you don't have to worry about finding/borrowing/renting a car and filling it up. Most ski club trips are to keystone, since that's where the majority of cadets can ski with the liberty pass. Last year there was maybe 10-15 ski club sponsored trips.
 
I have a liberty pass and have been to keystone. The ski club hasn't planned any trips yet. For 4 degree's, the ski club is great because when they plan a trip we get a special status that allows us leave even when we are restricted.

Later,

Brian
 
I have a liberty pass and have been to keystone. The ski club hasn't planned any trips yet. For 4 degree's, the ski club is great because when they plan a trip we get a special status that allows us leave even when we are restricted.

Later,

Brian

Thanks for the info - my son hadn't heard anything about any ski trips yet (but did pay the $70 to join) and was wondering if he was missing the emails or something!
 
No, I have gotten a couple emails, but they were just asking what kind of pass everyone had so they could plan around everyone's pass. Haven't seen anything about an actual trip.

Later,

Brian
 
Ski Pass

Is the Liberty Pass the best pass for a 4DG to buy? Are they still available?
 
I don't know about the best, it depends on where you want to go the most. They are one of the best deals for A-basin and Keystone. I picked one up this year as a 4 deg because Snow fest will be at Keystone and I didn't want to pay too much.

Later,

Brian
 
A Liberty pass is all you will need to get in plenty of snowboarding. My cadet had a Liberty pass his 4 dig year and it was fine. All of the trips he went on were to Keystone and Arapahoe Basin. Once he was able to borrow/drive a car he got the more expensive pass that including Breckenridge. I heard from him that as a 4 dig you are limited to a certain number of trips per month.
 
skiclub will be making more trips to breck this year. I believe the plan is the bus will drop them at breck and then those with just a liberty pass will catch the shuttle to keystone. There was a big push by skiclub this year to get cadets to buy the Colorado pass and in their survey, they found that the majority had in fact purchased a colorado pass.

As for limiting 4 digs to a certain number of trips. I don't think that is the case. My son, who is now a firstie went on every single ski club trip his 4 dig year, the weekend trips and the extended trips.
 
One of the reasons they are trying to go somewhere other than Keystone, is my C3C tells me that Keystone is very crowded (hence spend time in line instead of skiing) and the only access to their bowl ski areas is to walk or pay a snowcat $5 every time you want to go up.

To give you an idea of prices (approximate), I think the Liberty Pass, which is unlimited skiing at Keystone and A. Basin, was about $189 last year through the Rec Dept at AFA. The Colorado Pass which is unlimited skiing at Keystone, A. Basin, and Breckenridge plus 10 days (some blackout days for those 10 days) at Vail, is $489 for 19+ years old. If you have a cadet that was still 18 years old it is $359. If you bought the Colorado Pass early (our cadet bought his over Parent's Weekend at REI) it was $450.
 
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Another benefit on the Colorado Pass is it gives you six buddy ticket discounts. The discount varies on the location and time of season, but it seems to be about $30 off the retail price. Makes it nice if you plan to do any skiing with your parents / friends.
 
Where the Colorado pass comes in handy, and will quickly pay for itself is if you go on the extended weekend ski trips. Those will be to Vail and tickets will be covered by the ski pass.

and yes to Aggie's point about how crowded Keystone is. That is why there was the big push to get members to buy colorado passes so that more trips could be to Breckenridge where there is much more skiing to be had and shorter lines.
 
My son is a 3 degree and I'm a ski instructor at Breckenridge.

Another option to consider, maybe in addition to buying the Liberty Pass or the Colorado Pass, is the Loveland ski pass. The military price is $119 for the season. Loveland stays open longer than the others, is closer, and is a great place to ski.
 
Just a note for Cadets with the Colorado pass - it also works now at Northstar at Tahoe and Heavenly Valley. This is perfect for our DS from No. California when he's home for the holidays. He went on Friday, and even though Northstar wasn't yet set up to accept the Colorado Pass (they've recently been purchased by Vail Resorts), they gave him a pass for the day and all was great. He plans to use it over Christmas break at Heavenly, and every possible trip with ski club. Well worth the price.
 
My Firstie son is a mountain climbing nut in the Summer, and a snowboarding nut in the Winter. He gets the Epic Pass, which is unlimited access at Beaver Creek, A-Basin, Keystone, Breckenridge, and Vail in Colorado, along with Heavenly, Northstar-at-Tahoe, and Sierra-at-Tahoe in California. It also includes 6 Ski-With-A-Friend passes and Summer lift access for climbers and mountain-bikers.
Last year he went with group of cadets who went to Heavenly for the last week of Holiday Break and celebrated the New Year there.

He is hoping to get casual duty at the Academy while waiting for UPT so that he can continue his mountain pursuits a little longer.

Stealth_81
 
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