Half Day, But Not Half Price

My brother and sister-in-law will be visiting shortly and plan to ski for three days. While I hope they are able to get in a full three days, typically either weather or exhaustion will cause a slight change in plans. This is where a half day ticket might come in handy, but unfortunately the Telluride Ski and Golf Company does not charge half price for a half day ticket.

As of today, the 2006/2007 price for a full day ticket is $79 while the price for a half-day ticket is $68 ... which is about 86% of the price of a full day ticket. A half day starts at noon. Given the lifts start at 9am and close at 4pm, the half day ticket allows for lift access approximately 57% of the day. So, there's approximately a 30% discrepancy of the half day ticket price and the amount of time available to access the lifts in relation to the full day ticket price.

I called the Telluride Ski and Golf Company's ticket office today to ask why the half day ticket is not half price. The answer I received was essentially that it's a common/standard practice in the industry to not charge half price for a half day ticket.

Aside from an inflated regular lift ticke price, I don't believe the pricing of a half day ticket (at 86% of the full day ticket) is a fair practice.