No one ever said that skiing is cheap. When you figure in the cost of equipment, clothing, day passes, food, and transportation, it’s amazing that anyone other than Bill Gates is able to afford it. (Does Bill Gates ski?)
Now I see that Aspen is raising its day pass to $87. for the ’07-’08 season. Granted, Aspen is not my local hill. And granted that I am not paying anywhere near that to go skiing. And granted, also, that Aspen seems to thrive, no matter how much they seem to charge. (You know how it goes — for some people, the more you pay, the more it’s worth.)
Still, last season Vail charged $85. for a day pass. And many ski areas have no problem cranking their prices up and up every year.
I know costs are going up. Improvements made by a ski area can cost millions of dollars. And this is a business, not a charity. All the same, in an industry that’s been lamenting a downward trend in the number of skiers, this doesn’t seem the way to correct the trend.
At least that’s how it seems to me.
