Loup Loup Throws Down The Gauntlet With A Lifetime Pass
A ground-breaking innovation in ticketing has appeared at Loup Loup Ski Bowl, which is offering a lifetime pass for skiers and riders at one of Washington's stalwart day mountains.
The eastern Cascades resort is believed to be only one of two in the U.S. where you can buy a ticket that will last as long as you can make it to the hill -- and Loup Loup is open. Mount Bohemia in Michigan is the other, according to Storm Skiing Journal. As of now, the Loup Loup ticket does not include any partner or reciprocal resorts.
A lifetime Loup Loup pass costs $6,000. With a top-end day pass at $70, a skier or rider would have to go 86 times -- in a lifetime -- to make their ticket. With a top-end season pass at $569, the same visitor would have to buy 11 season passes get the equivalent amount of skiing and 'boarding.
Open Wednesdays, Fridays through Sundays, Loup Loup is a non-profit owned and operated by the Loup Loup Ski Education Foundation. One of the reasons to buy a lifetime pass is to support one of the foundation's missions, which is to teach youngsters to ski and ride which are, naturally, lifetime activities.
Another benefit touted by ownership is by locking in a price for future skiing and riding, pass-holders avoid an inflationary resort economy in which ticket prices continue to rise.
In the 1950s and '60s, lifetime passes were a fundraising tool at for-profit resorts. One such venture was give a lifetime pass to large investors who helped pay for developing Wildcat Mountain in New Hampshire in the mid-1950s. In the early 1960s to help pay for Vail Mountain that opened in 1962, founders offered a $1,000 pass for life for the same purpose. Killington did likewise for a while.
Located about four hours' drive from Seattle metro, Loup Loup covers 300 acres, with 1,240 vertical feet served by one main fixed-grip quad to the summit, and a platter at the base.
Base sits 4,020 -- fairly high for the Cascades -- with Little Buck Mountain (5,260 ft.) providing the pitch for 11 runs on the main hill and five for beginners down below. The main mountain has two green runs down either side, and just one blue run down below. Seven black runs course down the front of the mountain.
