It's in this atmosphere of mistrust that conspiracy theories flourish. The popular one with regard to the passes is that the resorts offer them because they're tipped off ahead of time that the upcoming season is going to be low on snow. The passes are a gimmick to keep the resorts' skier numbers up, the theory goes. You know you're dealing with some serious paranoia when a conspiracy theory involves a higher power, like the one in control of the weather. I may not know much about business, but this is an easy call to make.
Resorts offer the passes because the other guys are doing it.
Those who ski and board in Colorado can thank competition, not conspiracy, for this deal. Vail and Associates followed suit in early fall with an identical offer for Breck, A-Basin and Keystone. Winter Park, being the politically correct sort of place it is, decided that people wouldn't have to be related to buy its four-pack deal. Unfortunately other states haven't felt the need to join in the competition. Other states that offer pass deals usually do so in the form of sampler passes that give exposure to smaller, lesser-known resorts.