Let me give you my perspective on the 20s and early 30s pass. I was never a pass-holder at any mountain prior to the For 20s pass being announced 5 years ago. I would do mostly day trips up to the Catskills and then a few weekend trips a year (one to Sugarbush, and another one or two to Killington and Gore).
When the For 20s pass was announced I was turning 30 that December (so I just barely made the cutoff to qualify for it). I figured for $300 it would pay for itself if I made 2 trips up to SB. Then I thought about it a bit more and said "maybe I should think about looking at buying a condo in the area" as that had always been a dream of mine. I came up late that September to look at condos, ended up making an offer and by November owned a condo at Sugarbush. So thanks to that For 20s pass, I then became a long term passholder (which is exactly what the goal was...keep people skiing in their 20s and hook them for when they get older and will/can pay the full adult price). Ever since that first year I was paying the full adult rate (well at least until this year when the early 30s pass was announced and I qualified). People in their early 20s are not likely to pay the full adult price when they have college debt and are just getting started in the work force. The For 20s was designed to address that issue since the younger people are the future of skiing. You don't want those people to stop skiing because they can't afford it as then they may not come back even when they can afford it.
I am in a sense a perfect example of a success story. Without that pass being offered, who knows if I would have ever ended up buying a condo up here and becoming a long term committed pass holder?
The early 30s pass I don't particularly think is necessary (even though I benefited from it this year). I think the primary reason SB offered it was due to Stowe offering their new young adult pass that covered people up to the age of 34.
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