Is skiing as expensive as we think?

[RachelV]

Stuart, who writes the excellent Storm Skiing Journal, can be a little abrasive in tone, imho. However, I do think this article is a nice counter-argument to the idea that skiing is no longer within financial reach of a lot of people:

Is Skiing Too Expensive, Or Are You Just Bad at Shopping?

Breckenridge isn’t, like, the only place to go snowskiing.

www.stormskiing.com

This article uses Colorado and Tahoe as examples - does this ring true for where you ski?

 

[Lmk92]

The thing that bothers me about this is the idea that it's okay for skiing to be two-tiered. Only the rich can enjoy what they like, the rest of us should be happy with the crumbs we get. And it's not only with skiing. Education, healthcare, child care, etc.

Capitalism, baby.

 

[MaineSkiLady]

The proliferation (fairly recent, in terms of my total skiing years) of multi-resort passes has thrown a wrench into the plans of "maybe's." Okay, there are packages and multi-day tickets available. But even those require a level of commitment that some may not be willing to indulge.

And now we have the parking fees/permits, etc etc etc.

It's all rather discouraging, if not downright intimidating, for those who aren't 100% on board.

I paid an exorbitant $14 for a window one-day pass first time at Vail. (Only resort-specific season passes available then. Don't ask what year - many decades ago.) Okay - tell me the cost of living has gone up proportionally to what a one-day window ticket is at Vail now. Um....no - just no.

It takes some finessed hoop-jumping - and copious investigation - to find deals out there. For those who aren't totally committed, is this for them?

 

[Christy]

Wow, abrasive is the kindest thing you can say. This could have been an article that says hey, here are ways to ski less expensively in a couple areas with a lot of ski resorts. Instead he takes the "everyone who disagrees with me is a stupid a**hole" approach.

There's also a heavy focus on kids and beginners and weekdays.

And no, this doesn't hold true for the Seattle area. The three areas within a 2 hour drive are Epic/Ikon/Boyne and are quite expensive (and require advance purchase which sells out; there are some parking costs sometimes ie Crystal requires a reservation on weekends and its $22). There are 2 additional areas that are 3 hours each way from Seattle, and closer to Bellingham and Olympia (White Pass and Baker), and they are about $100 for an adult lift ticket and also sell out (White Pass is sold out for this weekend I notice). Moving a little further than 3 hours we have Mission Ridge near Wenatchee that is $139/$119+tax advance...and that's it for day trips for the millions of us in the Puget Sound area.

 

[Christy]

Yes, you have to plan ahead. But those Epic Passes (including the ultra-bargain Epic Day Passes), along with equally inexpensive passes for hundreds of independent ski areas, will be on sale within a couple of weeks. Why not, you know, buy one?

I looked into getting one of these in January but they weren't selling them anymore. So there's that.

He says they go on sale soon. Do you have to choose a specific date with these? Or is the day pass good for any day?

 

[RachelV]

Wow, abrasive is the kindest thing you can say. This could have been an article that says hey, here are ways to ski less expensively in a couple areas with a lot of ski resorts. Instead he takes the "everyone who disagrees with me is a stupid a**hole" approach. ....

Ugh, I know. He posts an insane amount of good information. I really wish he'd tone down the bro factor.

 

[Lmk92]

I looked into getting one of these in January but they weren't selling them anymore. So there's that.

He says they go on sale soon. Do you have to choose a specific date with these? Or is the day pass good for any day?

It's specific. You choose the resort and choose the day(s)

ETA: at least right now, while other passes are off sale.

 

[Christy]

It's specific. You choose the resort and choose the day(s)

ETA: at least right now, while other passes are off sale.

This is not a great option then IMO. If I'd bought Epic day passes for Stevens while they were still on sale, and had to choose specific days before the season even started, I would have likely ended up on a terrible day. Our season has been very poor until literally this week.

 

[elemmac]

Wow, abrasive is the kindest thing you can say.

My thoughts exactly. I generally like reading Storm Skiing's articles, but this one rubs me the wrong way. He comes off as a condescending a-hole. I do agree with him that the article that he quotes and calls a "poorly reasoned and hyperbolic shitpile of an article", is dramatic in many ways. But he has matched it on the opposite side of the spectrum .

 

[Sheena]

Sure, skiing doesn't have to be expensive. if you are lucky to live close to those lower cost ski areas. There is Nordic Valley, Beaver Mountain or Cherry Peak here in Utah. Though I guess this article is geared towards people who live in Colorado/Denver area.

But depending on where in the state you live may make for a long day for a day trip In addition in some of the other examples, he doesn't include lunch on the hill, lessons or après he does for Breck). Oh, and how condescending, if your kid gets hungry stop at Taco Bell?.

Anyway, I think it can be helpful to point out that there are ways to make a day of skiing less expensive. But it is still expensive. $200-$300 is still a lot for some. Plus there are base layers, snow pants, jackets, gloves,. etc. It will be more so if you have more than one kid? Though I guess this guy could reason, just have less kids, then problem solved, life is less expensive.

The whole tone of this article is just so condescening, its hard to find the good bits? It just reads, well you just need to deal with slow ancient lifts with subpar facilities, so just suck it up, I found ways to make skiing less expensive.

 

[elemmac]

The whole tone of this article is just so condescening, it’s hard to find the good bits? It just reads, well you just need to deal with slow ancient lifts with subpar facilities, so just suck it up, I found ways to make skiing less expensive.

I do think there’s a lot of good advice that he could have given…for instance…
- If you live in certain areas, there are options for low cost day trips.
- Maybe if he gave some tips on how to find these mountains instead of making fun of people for not knowing about them.
- Seasonal equipment rental programs (I know a local shop where a kid’s seasonal lease for skis/boots/poles is $199, and includes a bunch of free tickets to local mountains).
- Tell people that pass sales are coming up this month…(which he does..but adds “sign up for my news article”).
- Maybe give some advice on “two-for-one” weekly deals at these smaller resorts
- Even mention for people looking to travel to big resorts…look at Europe…lift tix are cheap compared to the US, and flights are often the same cost for those of us on the east coast (compared to flying west).

Skiing doesn’t have to be expensive, I agree with him there…but he executed his point poorly, IMO.

And I don’t mind slow lifts, it keeps the crowds down on the slopes! Haha

 

[Karenfrances]

He's not wrong ... Before the advent of the Tahoe Local pass (which I bought the first season or two it was available, and continued buying until my dad died and we no longer went to the Sierra foothills on a regular basis), I took my daughter to Tahoe Donner multiple times when she was a beginner. Their private lessons for kids were a steal, too. I also did season-long leases on ski gear for her, until she finished growing and then bought her new boots and handed down my skis. (And while the season lease savings were great, not having to pick up rental gear each time we skied was priceless.)

But where we live, skiing is rarely a day-trip. Realistically, it's a six-hour round-trip to West Virginia, or McHenry, MD and not quite as far to Wintergreen. (Whitetail is a feasible day-trip but it's not a favorite.) So that means covering lodging plus food if not staying in a cabin/AirBnB with a kitchen. The lift tickets are cheaper, but the ski experience is not Tahoe or Colorado/Utah, either.

And passes require you to front a lot of money to the resort industry. I will do it, but I don't expect a casual, maybe once-in-a-while skier to make that kind of season investment. And not everybody can pay that much up front anyway. Back in the dark ages, when I was a teenager, you could get discount tickets at ski shops and grocery stores. That feels far more accessible to someone just trying it out.

And can I just say, telling people to pack a lunch just rubs me wrong ... sure, you can do absolutely do that. But it often was a win to have breakfast and get me, the kid, the ski clothes, and the ski gear up to the mountain in time for ski school. I would have felt like mother-of-the-year to manage to pack a lunch too.

 

[Christy]

Wouldn't "value days" and a "value menu" be nice? Like MLB ballparks have, as a response to criticism that baseball games have gotten too expensive for families. So in Seattle anyway there are 30 games where a wide assortment of tickets are $10 or $20 (even on the 100 level) and there's a permanent value menu for every game with 12 menu items that are $2-$4. You can get your kids (or yourself) a hot dog/popcorn/nachos/ice cream/etc without going broke.

It seems like VR/Alterra at least could afford to do this. Stuart's article is the equivalent of telling families to shut up about MLB games being too expensive because maybe, depending on where you live, you could go see a single A ballgame in Everett instead.

 

[Karenfrances]

Love the Everett Giants! It has been decades since I went to a game (are they still part of the Giants?)

 

[altagirl]

Sure, skiing doesn't have to be expensive. if you are lucky to live close to those lower cost ski areas. There is Nordic Valley, Beaver Mountain or Cherry Peak here in Utah. Though I guess this article is geared towards people who live in Colorado/Denver area.

But depending on where in the state you live may make for a long day for a day trip In addition in some of the other examples, he doesn't include lunch on the hill, lessons or après he does for Breck). Oh, and how condescending, if your kid gets hungry stop at Taco Bell?.

Anyway, I think it can be helpful to point out that there are ways to make a day of skiing less expensive. But it is still expensive. $200-$300 is still a lot for some. Plus there are base layers, snow pants, jackets, gloves,. etc. It will be more so if you have more than one kid? Though I guess this guy could reason, just have less kids, then problem solved, life is less expensive.

The whole tone of this article is just so condescening, its hard to find the good bits? It just reads, well you just need to deal with slow ancient lifts with subpar facilities, so just suck it up, I found ways to make skiing less expensive.

Yeah, we do NOT have that density of tiny ski areas here in Utah. And before the mega-passes a lot of the now expensive resorts here were considered inexpensive and uncrowded. Not anymore - things change fast. I do understand that if you're driving by a bunch of tiny and less expensive places to ski, those are probably perfect for teaching kids to ski on, and it looks like some good ideas (condescendingly presented...) if you live in Denver. It's not really the same situation for most here in Utah.

 

[Christy]

Love the Everett Giants! It has been decades since I went to a game (are they still part of the Giants?)

It's the Aquasox! A Mariners affiliate.

 

[Sheena]

It seems like VR/Alterra at least could afford to do this. Stuart's article is the equivalent of telling families to shut up about MLB games being too expensive because maybe, depending on where you live, you could go see a single A ballgame in Everett instead.

This is a funny comparison. I do love going to our local AAA team. But even that is not the same. And if we went to see the Ogden Raptors, A I think?? Anyway sure it's baseball and sure it's still a fun day. But definitely not the same.

 

[TheGreenOne]

The loss of small mountains and feeder hills HAS made it more expensive. Never tried? Well now ya gotta fork up big resort cost just to try and see if you like it.

All we have left are mountains that were historically higher priced now operating with dynamic pricing and multi passes.

I'm very thankful I got in and tasted the tail end of good day-ticket prices, night tickets, more discounts offered because it was xyz day. At the current rates, I probably won't get into it now if I were starting fresh.

 

[TiffAlt]

How many of these smaller and somewhat "cheaper" mountains are even operating this season here in Washington? I also find "cheaper" to be relative - yes skiing is still expensive IMO even there!

I'd also like to point out that you don't know what you don't know. Many of those "deals" he mentions, especially season passes, about are time sensitive and are offered for a limited time. If you miss out, you either have to buy more expensive day tickets, or wait until next season. And weekday skiing, while a bargain, is not an option for many of families with 9-5 jobs. Skiing is a luxury - and an expensive one in terms of not only money, but also time. It takes commitment.

 

[TheGreenOne]

Yeah, cheaper is relative. If you live in an area without a local resort, it already increases cosr vs someome 30 mins away from a hill. Just unfortunate the small number of feeder hills that exist are continuously dying out