Chalk is the best surface condition!? Everybody knows that peak snow conditions are mid-density wind buff, especially when the wind is up and there are endless refills. I've had so many religious experiences in those conditions. It's not always the safest thing to encounter in the backcountry though. Wrt uphill access and pirate instructors, I asked a ranger about that a while back, and it wouldn't allow you to evade the Forest Service's restrictions on commercial use without a permit. They don't care how you got there, just that you're engaging in commercial business on public lands.
@1:00:50 spoken like a true student of "Pinochet U" (referring to and trolling based on Jonathan's alma mater's Econ school). Seriously, I agree - we have to be realistic about the economic side of the business and what/who is financing our recreation. Like Cody I'm not a fan of monopolies or duopolies, but it's a difficult question how we can or should address that. IMO the real problem is inequality in the economy as a whole, which makes "high-end-oriented" business models like those of Vail Corp and Alterra possible. Skis areas had no choice but to aim at a broader cross-section of potential customers back in, say, the 1960s or 1970s when more wealth was held by and more recreational spending was made by people outside of the top decile or top 1%. To pick on an obvious example, Alex Cushing was not exactly a "kind and gentle" ski area owner (for a good time, research the history of the Silverado lift and his ensuing battle with the Forest Service). He cultivated the culture he did because that was what the market demanded at the time, not because he was some sort of "skiing altruist". There are still some independent mountains out here in the West. I have a Sugar Bowl pass and my kids are enrolled in a program and spend every weekend there. With that said I also have an Ikon pass (because my in-laws live in Mammoth and because I grew up skiing Palisades) and an Epic pass (because my colleagues have poor taste in Tahoe mountains, Kirkwood excepted), so I'm not a very representative sample.
Sorry for the 3rd comment, but... Cody doesn't like skiing... _moguls_? He came up at Palisades. Did he somehow never ski the West Face of KT, its slightly steeper sibling Chute 75, the East Bowl of Oly Lady, or any of the other gazillion runs that are absolutely filled with monster bumps there?
Ski Instruction economy in the US Instructors average just under $20/hr Mountains charge $1100/7hr or $157/hr Instructors get 13% of the money, mountain gets 87% This system doesn't serve the instructors, or the customers well. I feel like some independent mountains could really shake up the system by doing it their own way, providing a much better value to their customers and instructors (charging less, and paying instructors more).
Cody, 1:02 ......Season passes got cheaper,...where at? Not in the US or Canada, this past ten years is going up! Ask people of Powder Mountain, UT......
The ski instruction issue: too much for this post. "Concession Ski Schools" have a long history in the PNW and elsewhere. Vail -Stevens Pass recently removed all these schools from their area. Also in most Euro Counties Level 4 Istructors can teach at most areas and create their own schools. This is a live topic and perhaps changes in policies will come soon. The US Forest Service recieves a use fee from all approved schools. Mountain Guides are subjected to similar regulation in climbing locations on National Land.
Chalk is the best surface condition!?
Everybody knows that peak snow conditions are mid-density wind buff, especially when the wind is up and there are endless refills. I've had so many religious experiences in those conditions. It's not always the safest thing to encounter in the backcountry though.
Wrt uphill access and pirate instructors, I asked a ranger about that a while back, and it wouldn't allow you to evade the Forest Service's restrictions on commercial use without a permit. They don't care how you got there, just that you're engaging in commercial business on public lands.
@1:00:50 spoken like a true student of "Pinochet U" (referring to and trolling based on Jonathan's alma mater's Econ school).
Seriously, I agree - we have to be realistic about the economic side of the business and what/who is financing our recreation. Like Cody I'm not a fan of monopolies or duopolies, but it's a difficult question how we can or should address that. IMO the real problem is inequality in the economy as a whole, which makes "high-end-oriented" business models like those of Vail Corp and Alterra possible. Skis areas had no choice but to aim at a broader cross-section of potential customers back in, say, the 1960s or 1970s when more wealth was held by and more recreational spending was made by people outside of the top decile or top 1%. To pick on an obvious example, Alex Cushing was not exactly a "kind and gentle" ski area owner (for a good time, research the history of the Silverado lift and his ensuing battle with the Forest Service). He cultivated the culture he did because that was what the market demanded at the time, not because he was some sort of "skiing altruist".
There are still some independent mountains out here in the West. I have a Sugar Bowl pass and my kids are enrolled in a program and spend every weekend there. With that said I also have an Ikon pass (because my in-laws live in Mammoth and because I grew up skiing Palisades) and an Epic pass (because my colleagues have poor taste in Tahoe mountains, Kirkwood excepted), so I'm not a very representative sample.
Sorry for the 3rd comment, but... Cody doesn't like skiing... _moguls_?
He came up at Palisades. Did he somehow never ski the West Face of KT, its slightly steeper sibling Chute 75, the East Bowl of Oly Lady, or any of the other gazillion runs that are absolutely filled with monster bumps there?
Ski Instruction economy in the US
Instructors average just under $20/hr
Mountains charge $1100/7hr or $157/hr
Instructors get 13% of the money, mountain gets 87%
This system doesn't serve the instructors, or the customers well.
I feel like some independent mountains could really shake up the system by doing it their own way, providing a much better value to their customers and instructors (charging less, and paying instructors more).
All the hippies getting mad when Cody says “utard” lmao
Cody, 1:02 ......Season passes got cheaper,...where at? Not in the US or Canada, this past ten years is going up! Ask people of Powder Mountain, UT......
The ski instruction issue: too much for this post. "Concession Ski Schools" have a long history in the PNW and elsewhere. Vail -Stevens Pass recently removed all these schools from their area. Also in most Euro Counties Level 4 Istructors can teach at most areas and create their own schools. This is a live topic and perhaps changes in policies will come soon. The US Forest Service recieves a use fee from all approved schools. Mountain Guides are subjected to similar regulation in climbing locations on National Land.