The Mount Buller facebook page has been inundated with negative comments over the last 36 hours after releasing their 2012 pricing. There’s a lot to this so stick with me here…

Buller were the only mountain this year to not offer a good deal on their early bird season passes. An early bird pass for Mount Buller will cost you $1,200. As you know, Hero season passes at Falls and Hotham combined are $699 and the same at Thredbo.

So, why have they done this? A message (posted here) from Laurie Blampied the General Manager for Buller Ski Lifts says, “We did our research, looked at how Mt Buller is different to other mountains and kept the goal of a delivering a quality experience for all guests at the core of our planning.” The thinking being that if they keep the barrier for entry high, the experience for the privileged few that can afford it will be better. Is it fair? No. But is it true? Well, how often have you complained about the lift lines at Buller? Not that they can guarantee that you wont get stuck in a line but you can bet that the new price isn’t going to exacerbate the problem. And the resort is also investing in an RFID gate system and a new lift for next year – all of this takes money to create and is an improvement for the experience on the mountain.

Having said that, it doesn’t mean that the anger isn’t justified. Buller is a second home to a lot of friends and for them to see the other mountains offering such great deals only to have their own management hit them with this is a bit of a kick in the teeth. The hundreds (possibly thousands?) of angry comments on their facebook page is a demonstration of just how much this has angered their community. No one is going to pass this off as a vocal minority – it was definitely a large percentage that were unhappy.

So, what’s the options? Obviously you can go for the Hero pass at Falls/Hotham – sure, it’s a bit further away but there’s more terrain and always shorter lift lines. You can take the $1,200 you would have spent on the pass and put it towards an epic week in NZ. Or you can suck it up and pay the money to Buller and hope that the lift lines and the features meet your expectations… The pressure will definitely be on Mt Buller to deliver over and above their promise when the price gap is so large.

What do you guys think? What do you want to see for the extra money? Would you rather deal with longer lift lines in return for cheaper passes?