I hear ya, but i'm going to ski over 10 days this year(hopefully, that's what's planned, haven't been out yet!) and my lift tickets will be $75-$80/day with epic local pass. it could have been $65/ a day for 10 days if I could have committed earlier. Lift tickets out at the big name mountains we all know have been over $100 on a weekend for a long time and the food has always been ridiculous. I tend to ski mid-week/non-holiday, and have been doing that for 25 years because of the weekend lift lines. I had the epic going back to 2006 and then did the ikon for a bunch of years.I feel like the Epic/Ikon model has turned these mtns into Disney Land. Long lines, tracked trails (including the woods), expensive food and parking and just an overall amusement park level of entertainment. Which is probably fine for most people but not the magic it once was.
You're absolutely right, there are definitely more people out there, maybe skiing is just easier than it used to be? The skis make everything so much better, and the fat skis make everybody decent on 3-5" of new snow. That amount used to crush people into quitting earlier. I was thinking of going to powder mountain for a day when i go to park city for a week in Feb. I looked at the tickets, $229! I won't be going. They can't be getting any day people over there, place must be empty. I haven't been to stowe since 2018, but I will definitely head up there in late march early April, if they have coverage.
If it stays snow up there, i think Tuesday will great at stowe. Let us know about the lift lines, i'm guessing not much on a tuesday after MLK weekend.