I just spent this past weekend snowboarding in Vermont at the Pico Resort. It’s a quaint mountain, but nice for an intermediate or beginner rider. Certainly no match for the neighboring Killington Resort, but for what it lacks in size, it makes up for in lack of crowds. I don’t think I waited in line for more than 30 seconds at the busiest of times, and I never had to worry about crowds on the slopes getting in everyone’s way.

It was a fairly relaxing getaway despite the subzero temperatures (thank you layering) and a few roommates who were determined to destroy the place by body slamming the bunk bed (then consequently blaming the bed construction when it cracked), knocking the dustbuster from the wall, smoking cigars in the kitchen and wearing ski boots on the hardwood floors.  Luckily, the Pico Frathouse was more or less returned to it’s original condition upon departure.

I did have a few thoughts on our 3 hour drive back home:

1) Thank goodness for helmets, which almost certainly prevented my girlfriend from a concussion (a nasty fall at the end of our second day).

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2) Why don’t ski resorts offer a Sunday half day pass that begins in the morning? I think one of the reasons that Pico was so undercrowded is that it offers no comparative advantage to the Killington resort. Killington is larger, has better conditions, more interesting terrain, and an earlier half day (starts at 11:45am instead of 12:30pm at Pico). There are also many people who refuse to wait until 12:30 when they have to make a 3-5 hour trek back home, so choose to head home earlier. If a morning pass was offered, I think many people would ski from 10 to 12:30 instead of forgoing skiing on Sunday. It’s also not a question of gaming the system or cheating since the ski lift operators scan your pass every time you use the lift and would catch freeloaders easily.

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