The ski industry is pricing itself out of existence. They seem to fail to remember that employees are attracted by skiing. If they can't afford to learn, they won't end up working lifts 15 years later.
Maybe the answer for non-Epic/Ikon resorts is keep it real with simple resorts: no fancy extras, slow lifts, uphill skinning encouraged, safe sidecountry access, fun vibes, warm lodge, hot coco, ski beaches/tailgating, buddy passes that actually make it cheap for friends/newbies to get hooked, heavily discounted happy hour tickets, maybe even a a co-op corporate structure...a year-around business model also seems necessary - there's got to be economical ways to use their frastructure all year (mountain biking, hiking, event hosting, or even building lifts in ways so that it can serve the surrounding community with another form of public transportation)
Ticket to pats peak NH this weekend was 95 dollars for the day…. It’s a family owned hill. 700 foot vert…. 5-8 minute lifts, spend 10x the amount of time on the lift compared to actually skiing…. Brightons price? 95 dollars, it’s not just big companies they’re all fuckin greedy
I live in China, with a rapidly increasing skiing/snowboarding industry. I went snowboarding last week in Shenyang at a really great brand new resort. Cost per day including lifts and, equipment and hire clothing is about $40. This one had no accommodation on the mountain (yet), so stayed in a good downtown Airb&b for about $30, and taxi was about $10 each way. All up it cost about $300 for 4 days in Shenyang - with 3 full days snowboarding (not including food or flights, which are both also pretty cheap). Can't wait to go back!
@@markmd9 not many.... I think only a few km of black, maybe 5km of blue, and about a km of green. It's a new small place very close to the city. But there are lots here like this now. Google or youtube changbaishan for a much bigger one nearby to this.
I i’ve been snowboarding since I was 14 and now I am 55. Moved to Colorado in 1995 after I got out of the military. You used to be able to buy a season pass in Colorado for $190 and it would cover three mountains. A basin and Keystone and Breckenridge. there was not a lot of traffic and you can go about 30 times a season. Now I buy 24 packs to Loveland and 24 packs of Keystone for me and my son we go eight times and we’re done. It’s a shame that the good old days are gone.
I used to live in colorado and then moved. I would go back every year, but the last few years after covid just hasnt made sense. Im going by myself, looked up copper, and with rentals, flight, car, hotel, im looking at 3K. That isnt including food and gas. Its wild.
I think it's all about the push toward buying a season pass and the advent of the mega-passes. By getting skiers to pay $500-$2,000 early on resorts lower their risk when conditions suck. Then, by increasing the day price to $125-$250 they market the season pass by saying "pays for itself in just 6 days!" I moved to be close to Mt Bohemia simply because they sell a season pass for $145 and have lots of reciprocity deals.
This is the correct answer. High window prices are really being used to force people into buying passes/tickets before the season starts. Investors want predictability.
@@rkoskier1919 it's worth it but then when you show up and the season pass holder parking is at capacity and the non pass parking is barely full that's when it sucks
It's driven by the market. The top shelf homes in Aspen are $100,000,000! Ditto Vail, Tahoe. They were begging people to buy lots in Whistler Cay for $5000 in the 80's; don't look at prices now. Mountain real estate is now more expensive per square foot than urban areas. It began in the 80's as small rustic cabins gave way to McMansions.
I've been on the snow for 40 years. I've lived in ID, CO, NM, WA, and OR and I've watched day passes go through the roof over the last 10 or so years. However, the irony is that season passes are a better value than they've ever been. As much as I hate the mountain corporates, passes like IKON, and Epic give people more access to more mountains for not that much money. Local networks such as the Powder Alliance also help bring value to us crusty old locals who don't want the corporate experience---or the day pass toting tourists. The fact is that snow sports have always been expensive. It costs a lot to run a resort. If you don't want to pay the ticket prices, get your AIARE certs and go hiking.
Snow sports expensive? Kids plastic saucers are $20 and they can wear the over priced brand name winter clothes their mommies bought. Extrapolate that forward, using historical data, and youll see that . . . We're getting screwed for tye time being. come next recession, the megacorps will learn that roofs, food, clothing, etc. have inelastic pricing while skiing is very very elastic and nany slopes will erode. The peaks and declines of tennis and golfing come to mind. Oh oh, the greedy sons of 🐩🐕 will monopolize pickle ball next. Not if I get it first.
In the "good old day" (70's and 80's), it was pretty common for season passes to be in the $1000 range, and daily tickets $15-$25, even at large resorts. 50 days just to break even!
Come to europe, my american and canadian firends. Don't let the greedy corporations milk you. Instead, make them pay for their greed. Ski where there are no long lines, lifts dot the mountainside, there are many ski in/out options and all of that for less money than what you would spend in the rockies (including the plane tickets). There is enough powder here, worry not. Plus, the cheese in the alps is sublime. Note: rollbars go down as soon as the chair picks you up, so watch your head
I thought the 65$ (+9$ for parking the car) at Hemsedal (Norway) this season was to expensive. Especially it is always overcrowded... I can pay quite a lot for one day of skiing. But not for spending 5 minutes in line waiting for the lift between each run. So, I will do something else. Go on XC skis in the mountains or go on top tour on rando-skis. High price is OK if high level of service is provided. But $499 is just silly. Edit: Hemsedal is of course a much smaller ski area than Vail or other big resorts in the US. But compairing with resorts in the Alps, US seems extremely expensive. There places in europe that is much cheaper than Zermatt.
I’ve been snowboarding since I was about 14 years old and I am now 55. I moved to Colorado and you used to be able to buy a season pass for around $250 and that covered three mountains. Keystone and a basin and Breckenridge but Vail resorts decided to get greedy and they separated all these mountains and now they are charging about $900-$1200 for a season pass. It’s all about greed. It is now unaffordable for the middle-class to basically buy a season pass and go skiing or snowboarding.
I respectfully disagree. 41 years ago $250 was still a huge amount of money to do anything. 41 years later you can ski the best resorts all over the world for $900. This sport has never been cheap, its never been middle class. Vail and Alterra have made it more reasonable The $900 base Ikon Pass is cheaper than any single season pass at a quality mountain.
@@greglee1465 keep smoking the weed buddy I’ve been snowboarding a long time since I was 14 years old and I am 56 now and yes it’s on unaffordable for most people
@@MisterTMH I learned how to snowboard in the late 70s early 80s back Hill at Mount Baldy California. They wouldn’t allow people on the ski lift with a snowboard so we did a lot of backcountry snowboarding
There are a few things going on here yes building, maintaining and operating a large number of lifts is expensive yes the ski resorts liability insurance has gone up but mostly its ski resort greed and not building enough new ski resorts to keep up with population growth. The ski resorts are too stupid to realize it but they are killing themselves for a short term profit because at these prices most families won't be able to afford to teach their kids to ski and what happens when you're customers get to old to ski and you don't have very many new customers?. We need the government to step in and punish resorts for raising their prices more than they need to and also punish the ski insurance industry but at least in the US the government is too corrupt to help the average person. This out of control price growth is affecting alot of things and the average US worker can do alot less than they used to be able to do. What really boggles my mind is expecting people to pay parking after they already spend alot on a lift ticket, gas, lodging and food until a few years ago you did not have to pay to park at the ski resort. It also boggles my mind that with so much population growth we are not building new ski resorts the existing ski resorts are quickly becomming so overcrowded that even if you are rich enough to pay these prices you still spend a good portion of you're day waiting in line.
It is "damn expensive" in the US - much less so in Europe (peak prices at the most expensive resorts in Switzerland such as Zermatt are a third(!) of those in the US, and average resorts charge only a quarter to a fifth of US prices!). With such price differences for lift tickets alone, US skiers often are better off flying to the European Alps.
Day passes are cheaper in Europe but let’s not get carried away. Factor in lodging/food/transportation at some of these bigger resorts and I think you’ll find it’s still pretty expensive for someone who is not a local to go skiing Europe. This isn’t even factoring in the plane ticket to get out there.
@@xTheWhyzeOne I went to one of the most expensive resorts in Austria (St. Anton) for a week (6 days skiing) last year with 4 friends. We travelled by car (2 cars) from The Netherlands (1000km). In total we spent €6300. About €2000 of that was spent on alcohol though (lunch/dinner and groceries not included). We rented an apartment in the middle of the city center. We made breakfast ourselves and ate out every night. We do all have our own ski gear, so that was free. Which comes to under €1300 per person for a week of skiing including lodging/food/transportation. How much would that be in the US?
I also went for a week with family (4 people instead of 5) where the amount of alcohol was maybe 1/10th. The apartment was cheaper because we didn't stay in the city center. It was across the street from a gondola though. This trip had less restaurants too. Everything else was similar. I don't have the exact numbers, but it was around €1000 per person.
@@youriwijnands6 peak-season days at window prices at somewhere like Steamboat or Vail would be anywhere from about $1200 -1800, or roughly 1100-1600 €, depending on holidays and how far in advance, it changes day to day depending on demand. Really late spring it goes down as low as about $800 (725€) for 6. That's the daily lift tickets, however, about $1200 (1100€) gets you an unlimited multi-mountain season pass with like 40 resorts. More limited but still very adequate options start at about $700 (630€) but they must be bought pre-season. Preferably at the end of the previous season (May) for maximum savings. Because they are mostly unlimited passes it gets cheaper per day the more days you ski, 2 weeks could be not much more than 1 with the right lodging setup. Lodging is highly variable, if completely set on staying within walking distance of somewhere like the Vail lifts, it would/could be many hundreds per person per night. Rarely is food and drink included, that can easily reach a hundred plus a day on and near the mountain if not conservative. Compared to much of Europe, I think the store bought booze here is quite cheap, but drinking out gets as expensive as the venues you choose, the sky's the limit. On the other end, if willing to commute to the ski area each morning and evening prices become much more reasonable, the longer the drive or bus ride, the cheaper the hotel rates. Some buses are very cheap or free as well. US ski towns don't have centers quite the same, our valleys tend to be wider and flatter with the towns nestled at the mountain base and sprawling outwards into the flat valley floor. Everything gets more expensive the closer you get to the resort. However, some resorts are close enough to actual decent sized non-ski resort cities such that you can stay in some cheap trashy hotels, or reasonably priced airbnb apartments. Also eat out at regular non-tourist restaurants. Or just go to the market and have a normal everyday food cost. I've done that for as little as maybe 400$ a week for everything, or roughly 350€. Multiple top tier resorts could be done for less than 1300€ (1435$) per person per week, not including flights and ground transportation, but it would take some real planning and compromises. Again a longer trip would actually get significantly cheaper per day.
Buy full season or don’t come is the message. I missed the epic pass sale this year and will just cut back my days. And the smaller mountains don’t even seem to be an option, they pick up the overflow and are increasing prices as well. And that’s not to mention the increase in cost of equipment, food, and lodging (if your an out of towner).
I grew up in Colorado. My parents would take me to small ski areas like Loveland, which is still relatively affordable. I still prefer Loveland to the bigger resorts, Loveland is fine. But also, ski traffic seems worse now than I was a kid. Therefore the backcountry calls and I avoid the interstate. There has been an uptick in backcountry gear sales. I wonder why?
When I was a kid, a night skiing pass a Snoqualmie Summit cost $1.50. That is a dollar and fifty cents. Adjusted for inflation, that is about $15 in today's money.
The answer is simple: the want everyone to buy a season pass. They get most of their money before the first snowfall, and they don't have to hire as many ticket sellers. They also get to open late, shut down early, run fewer lifts, groom fewer runs and reduce services later in the season, or really any time they want. What's the pass holder going to do? Go somewhere else? THEY DON'T CARE. They already have your money, and in fact, probably prefer that you go elsewhere. I have no doubt they view the pass holder as a liability after mid-season. The only upside for the customer is the "break even" point is often only 4-6 days. I'm retired, and get to ski at least 30 days/season on a $450 senior pass. That works out to $15/day. Even if you're working full time, and you're semi-serious about skiing, it's not that difficult to rack up 10-15 days. A $500, $600, or $800 pass is still WAY cheaper than than the $279 for a single day ticket that my "home" resort was charging last year.
I'm 62 and have been skiing since I was 14. I'm not hardcore but am a pretty good skier and I enjoy a day on the slopes; however, I have been skiing less and less over the last decade. I didn't teach my kids to ski because of the cost and they almost certainly won't take their families skiing. I now have bad knees and probably wouldn't be skiing much even if it was more reasonably priced. There are a lot of things to do in the winter that weren't available when I was young with health clubs with sports courts now in almost every town and even more available in cities. I'm upper middle class and don't want to pay the money, imagine what average or low-income folks think when they consider taking up the sport...
Ski areas will suffer in the future when they start losing skiers because they made it too expensive for them to start learning how to ski. It’ll bite them in the ass someday. Sad situation 😢
simple there is no more middle class. Its rich or poor and since there is a limit to the amount of people that can ski they can charge what ever they want. Back then most people were middle class
I'm so glad I get a free season pass from my work and when I go ski with my friends without season passes we just go to Loveland Valley. $50 day pass is hard to beat and it's a perfect place for them to learn.
One thing I'm not clear on...would it be beneficial (for ALL involved...skiers and corporations alike) if there were more resorts? I know some have shut down, but maybe they could be rescued? Are there still spots out there in mountain areas that are suitable for new ski resorts? Forestry Service permitting, of course.
The thing is when people say there are more ski resorts in Europe we're not talking a few dozen more. There are around 3,000 ski resorts in Europe and around 300 in the US. You're not going to create similar competitiveness by reopening a few resorts. End of the day that's not really the biggest issue driving prices, it's a business model decision. The full season multi-resort pass concept is what we've gone to. It was really just this year that even the top tier passes hit the $1000 mark. Go 10 days during a season and the lift tickets were $100 a day, less that what you were paying in the late 90's.
I grew up skiing (a lot) and assumed that my kids and grandkids would also ski, but just too expensive now. You would think that not a lot of people would go skiing with prices so high, but every couple of years I’ll hit the slopes and it’s more crowded than I’ve ever seen? So it doesn’t look like the ski industry is hurting at all. I’m lucky I grew up when skiing was affordable. So my family and myself tend to do things that are free (with the exception of the equipment) like mountain bike, skateboard, hiking, windsurf/kite board, SUP, hit the pump tracks and jump tracks, and plan on trying some touring snowboarding (walk up the hill lol) this winter, if we get some snow! I do miss snow skiing but there are other options. Maybe someday the state and national parks will add some towropes and chairlifts so snow-skiing and snowboarding are no longer a elitist sport
No one is addressing the elephant... Getting the forestry service to approve land for this just isn't possible anymore. There's major consumer demand with no where else to go 🤷🏻♂️
Appalachian skiing isn't anywhere near what the western ski areas are. They're smaller, simpler, but they still cost a lot less, and so far as I know, they're still independently owned. Some in the northeast are comparable to western skiing, but the Southeast has good resorts too.
People with money don’t want to have fun with underclass. If fun wasn’t expensive everyone could have it and massive overcrowding would gridlock the slopes. Think about how big a stadium would have to be if tickets were affordable to all. You would need a telescope to see the players.
Interesting video. My context is Keystone near Denver (a Vail resort). There are enough season pass holders that the mountain is BUSY on the weekends, sometimes to the point of feeling unsafe. I think part of the reason for expensive tickets purchased on the day of skiing is to discourage extra people that will further clutter the mountain. Buying tickets 2-4wks in advance is much cheaper and obviously the season pass is the best deal.
Fooey on Vail resorts. They are felching you ! You can ski for under AUD$50 a day on lifts in independent resorts in Japan and Kazakhstan.The four figure price for a season EPIC pass can be spent on flying somewhere that Vail have not taken over.
Supply and demand, they are not in business for us, but to make money. They are not a charity, they will charge as much as makes sense for them, as long as people can keep paying, they will charge more and more. Also they do have a lot more lifts and terrain than they used to have, they are offering 2 or 3 times the product in my opinion. If you know what you are doing, you can make it work. Season passes can make it reasonably affordable. God bless and ski safely!
I think their really issue is paying their front line workers like Instructors and patrollers who are truly the face and first contact for people new to the sport. I feel if they invested more in that they would retain so many more people new to the sport.
Would you consider your Instructors better at and more engaged in their profession, considering Europe actually pays them a living wage? Would really appreciate your input. Thanks.
A Whistler (Epic) seasons pass is 40% cheaper than 10 years ago, if you take inflation into account. And that pass now includes 50+ other ski hills. If you ski 30 times a year it’s only like $30/day. Y’all are insane if you think that’s expensive. The season at Whistler is >180 days long too 😂
The ski industry is pricing itself out of existence. They seem to fail to remember that employees are attracted by skiing. If they can't afford to learn, they won't end up working lifts 15 years later.
Maybe the answer for non-Epic/Ikon resorts is keep it real with simple resorts: no fancy extras, slow lifts, uphill skinning encouraged, safe sidecountry access, fun vibes, warm lodge, hot coco, ski beaches/tailgating, buddy passes that actually make it cheap for friends/newbies to get hooked, heavily discounted happy hour tickets, maybe even a a co-op corporate structure...a year-around business model also seems necessary - there's got to be economical ways to use their frastructure all year (mountain biking, hiking, event hosting, or even building lifts in ways so that it can serve the surrounding community with another form of public transportation)
Only ski at independent ski area's, give the finger to the ski corps, their greed is destroying the sport. Vote with your wallet.
Well said!
Why does this sound like the South Park Walmart episode
Ticket to pats peak NH this weekend was 95 dollars for the day…. It’s a family owned hill. 700 foot vert…. 5-8 minute lifts, spend 10x the amount of time on the lift compared to actually skiing…. Brightons price? 95 dollars, it’s not just big companies they’re all fuckin greedy
The regional resort near me is $67 on weekends and peak days.
Can't compare Pats Peak to Brighton. PP was still cheaper then other NH/VT ski area's owned by the corporations.@@SuperZbros
I live in China, with a rapidly increasing skiing/snowboarding industry. I went snowboarding last week in Shenyang at a really great brand new resort. Cost per day including lifts and, equipment and hire clothing is about $40. This one had no accommodation on the mountain (yet), so stayed in a good downtown Airb&b for about $30, and taxi was about $10 each way.
All up it cost about $300 for 4 days in Shenyang - with 3 full days snowboarding (not including food or flights, which are both also pretty cheap).
Can't wait to go back!
How many lifts and kilometers of slopes that resort has?
@@markmd9 not many.... I think only a few km of black, maybe 5km of blue, and about a km of green. It's a new small place very close to the city. But there are lots here like this now. Google or youtube changbaishan for a much bigger one nearby to this.
A lot of my friends that tried skiing/snowboarding loved it, but the cost of lift tickets put them off of it permanently. Only a few remain riding
I i’ve been snowboarding since I was 14 and now I am 55. Moved to Colorado in 1995 after I got out of the military. You used to be able to buy a season pass in Colorado for $190 and it would cover three mountains. A basin and Keystone and Breckenridge. there was not a lot of traffic and you can go about 30 times a season. Now I buy 24 packs to Loveland and 24 packs of Keystone for me and my son we go eight times and we’re done. It’s a shame that the good old days are gone.
Come to Germany!… Paying 40$ a day for my lifts in a 10+ lift resort with 6k feet descends for pretty much each of them
I used to live in colorado and then moved. I would go back every year, but the last few years after covid just hasnt made sense. Im going by myself, looked up copper, and with rentals, flight, car, hotel, im looking at 3K. That isnt including food and gas. Its wild.
I think it's all about the push toward buying a season pass and the advent of the mega-passes. By getting skiers to pay $500-$2,000 early on resorts lower their risk when conditions suck. Then, by increasing the day price to $125-$250 they market the season pass by saying "pays for itself in just 6 days!" I moved to be close to Mt Bohemia simply because they sell a season pass for $145 and have lots of reciprocity deals.
This is the correct answer. High window prices are really being used to force people into buying passes/tickets before the season starts. Investors want predictability.
@@rkoskier1919 it's worth it but then when you show up and the season pass holder parking is at capacity and the non pass parking is barely full that's when it sucks
It's driven by the market. The top shelf homes in Aspen are $100,000,000! Ditto Vail, Tahoe. They were begging people to buy lots in Whistler Cay for $5000 in the 80's; don't look at prices now. Mountain real estate is now more expensive per square foot than urban areas. It began in the 80's as small rustic cabins gave way to McMansions.
It went from the ski industry to the real estate market.
I've been on the snow for 40 years. I've lived in ID, CO, NM, WA, and OR and I've watched day passes go through the roof over the last 10 or so years. However, the irony is that season passes are a better value than they've ever been. As much as I hate the mountain corporates, passes like IKON, and Epic give people more access to more mountains for not that much money. Local networks such as the Powder Alliance also help bring value to us crusty old locals who don't want the corporate experience---or the day pass toting tourists. The fact is that snow sports have always been expensive. It costs a lot to run a resort. If you don't want to pay the ticket prices, get your AIARE certs and go hiking.
Snow sports expensive? Kids plastic saucers are $20 and they can wear the over priced brand name winter clothes their mommies bought. Extrapolate that forward, using historical data, and youll see that . . . We're getting screwed for tye time being. come next recession, the megacorps will learn that roofs, food, clothing, etc. have inelastic pricing while skiing is very very elastic and nany slopes will erode. The peaks and declines of tennis and golfing come to mind. Oh oh, the greedy sons of 🐩🐕 will monopolize pickle ball next. Not if I get it first.
In the "good old day" (70's and 80's), it was pretty common for season passes to be in the $1000 range, and daily tickets $15-$25, even at large resorts.
50 days just to break even!
Come to europe, my american and canadian firends. Don't let the greedy corporations milk you. Instead, make them pay for their greed. Ski where there are no long lines, lifts dot the mountainside, there are many ski in/out options and all of that for less money than what you would spend in the rockies (including the plane tickets). There is enough powder here, worry not.
Plus, the cheese in the alps is sublime.
Note: rollbars go down as soon as the chair picks you up, so watch your head
I thought the 65$ (+9$ for parking the car) at Hemsedal (Norway) this season was to expensive. Especially it is always overcrowded... I can pay quite a lot for one day of skiing. But not for spending 5 minutes in line waiting for the lift between each run.
So, I will do something else. Go on XC skis in the mountains or go on top tour on rando-skis. High price is OK if high level of service is provided. But $499 is just silly.
Edit: Hemsedal is of course a much smaller ski area than Vail or other big resorts in the US. But compairing with resorts in the Alps, US seems extremely expensive. There places in europe that is much cheaper than Zermatt.
5min wait it's actually pretty fast.
I’ve been snowboarding since I was about 14 years old and I am now 55. I moved to Colorado and you used to be able to buy a season pass for around $250 and that covered three mountains. Keystone and a basin and Breckenridge but Vail resorts decided to get greedy and they separated all these mountains and now they are charging about $900-$1200 for a season pass. It’s all about greed. It is now unaffordable for the middle-class to basically buy a season pass and go skiing or snowboarding.
Go back Country. Earn your turns!
I respectfully disagree. 41 years ago $250 was still a huge amount of money to do anything. 41 years later you can ski the best resorts all over the world for $900. This sport has never been cheap, its never been middle class. Vail and Alterra have made it more reasonable The $900 base Ikon Pass is cheaper than any single season pass at a quality mountain.
@@greglee1465 keep smoking the weed buddy I’ve been snowboarding a long time since I was 14 years old and I am 56 now and yes it’s on unaffordable for most people
@@MisterTMH I learned how to snowboard in the late 70s early 80s back Hill at Mount Baldy California. They wouldn’t allow people on the ski lift with a snowboard so we did a lot of backcountry snowboarding
Well, touring is free, buy a splitboard set up and you're good to go, also having 2 skidoos and a buddy helps too
The days of going on a road trip and randomly stopping at resorts with no fixed plans are gone.
There are a few things going on here yes building, maintaining and operating a large number of lifts is expensive yes the ski resorts liability insurance has gone up but mostly its ski resort greed and not building enough new ski resorts to keep up with population growth. The ski resorts are too stupid to realize it but they are killing themselves for a short term profit because at these prices most families won't be able to afford to teach their kids to ski and what happens when you're customers get to old to ski and you don't have very many new customers?. We need the government to step in and punish resorts for raising their prices more than they need to and also punish the ski insurance industry but at least in the US the government is too corrupt to help the average person. This out of control price growth is affecting alot of things and the average US worker can do alot less than they used to be able to do. What really boggles my mind is expecting people to pay parking after they already spend alot on a lift ticket, gas, lodging and food until a few years ago you did not have to pay to park at the ski resort. It also boggles my mind that with so much population growth we are not building new ski resorts the existing ski resorts are quickly becomming so overcrowded that even if you are rich enough to pay these prices you still spend a good portion of you're day waiting in line.
It is "damn expensive" in the US - much less so in Europe (peak prices at the most expensive resorts in Switzerland such as Zermatt are a third(!) of those in the US, and average resorts charge only a quarter to a fifth of US prices!). With such price differences for lift tickets alone, US skiers often are better off flying to the European Alps.
Day passes are cheaper in Europe but let’s not get carried away. Factor in lodging/food/transportation at some of these bigger resorts and I think you’ll find it’s still pretty expensive for someone who is not a local to go skiing Europe. This isn’t even factoring in the plane ticket to get out there.
@@xTheWhyzeOne I went to one of the most expensive resorts in Austria (St. Anton) for a week (6 days skiing) last year with 4 friends. We travelled by car (2 cars) from The Netherlands (1000km). In total we spent €6300. About €2000 of that was spent on alcohol though (lunch/dinner and groceries not included). We rented an apartment in the middle of the city center. We made breakfast ourselves and ate out every night. We do all have our own ski gear, so that was free. Which comes to under €1300 per person for a week of skiing including lodging/food/transportation. How much would that be in the US?
I also went for a week with family (4 people instead of 5) where the amount of alcohol was maybe 1/10th. The apartment was cheaper because we didn't stay in the city center. It was across the street from a gondola though. This trip had less restaurants too. Everything else was similar. I don't have the exact numbers, but it was around €1000 per person.
@@youriwijnands6 peak-season days at window prices at somewhere like Steamboat or Vail would be anywhere from about $1200 -1800, or roughly 1100-1600 €, depending on holidays and how far in advance, it changes day to day depending on demand. Really late spring it goes down as low as about $800 (725€) for 6. That's the daily lift tickets, however, about $1200 (1100€) gets you an unlimited multi-mountain season pass with like 40 resorts. More limited but still very adequate options start at about $700 (630€) but they must be bought pre-season. Preferably at the end of the previous season (May) for maximum savings. Because they are mostly unlimited passes it gets cheaper per day the more days you ski, 2 weeks could be not much more than 1 with the right lodging setup.
Lodging is highly variable, if completely set on staying within walking distance of somewhere like the Vail lifts, it would/could be many hundreds per person per night. Rarely is food and drink included, that can easily reach a hundred plus a day on and near the mountain if not conservative. Compared to much of Europe, I think the store bought booze here is quite cheap, but drinking out gets as expensive as the venues you choose, the sky's the limit.
On the other end, if willing to commute to the ski area each morning and evening prices become much more reasonable, the longer the drive or bus ride, the cheaper the hotel rates. Some buses are very cheap or free as well. US ski towns don't have centers quite the same, our valleys tend to be wider and flatter with the towns nestled at the mountain base and sprawling outwards into the flat valley floor. Everything gets more expensive the closer you get to the resort. However, some resorts are close enough to actual decent sized non-ski resort cities such that you can stay in some cheap trashy hotels, or reasonably priced airbnb apartments. Also eat out at regular non-tourist restaurants. Or just go to the market and have a normal everyday food cost. I've done that for as little as maybe 400$ a week for everything, or roughly 350€. Multiple top tier resorts could be done for less than 1300€ (1435$) per person per week, not including flights and ground transportation, but it would take some real planning and compromises. Again a longer trip would actually get significantly cheaper per day.
@@youriwijnands about the same price
I used to be able to ski Donner Ski Ranch for only $10 on Wednesdays.
I used to ski at Squaw Valley ( now Palisades) all day lift for $30. Yes, I'm that old.
Buy full season or don’t come is the message. I missed the epic pass sale this year and will just cut back my days. And the smaller mountains don’t even seem to be an option, they pick up the overflow and are increasing prices as well. And that’s not to mention the increase in cost of equipment, food, and lodging (if your an out of towner).
I grew up in Colorado. My parents would take me to small ski areas like Loveland, which is still relatively affordable. I still prefer Loveland to the bigger resorts, Loveland is fine. But also, ski traffic seems worse now than I was a kid. Therefore the backcountry calls and I avoid the interstate. There has been an uptick in backcountry gear sales. I wonder why?
Yep the traffic sucks. We will go up on a Friday and we will get a hotel and we will leave on Monday
When I was a kid, a night skiing pass a Snoqualmie Summit cost $1.50. That is a dollar and fifty cents. Adjusted for inflation, that is about $15 in today's money.
Lawyers suing. Insurance went through the roof.
The answer is simple: the want everyone to buy a season pass. They get most of their money before the first snowfall, and they don't have to hire as many ticket sellers. They also get to open late, shut down early, run fewer lifts, groom fewer runs and reduce services later in the season, or really any time they want. What's the pass holder going to do? Go somewhere else? THEY DON'T CARE. They already have your money, and in fact, probably prefer that you go elsewhere. I have no doubt they view the pass holder as a liability after mid-season.
The only upside for the customer is the "break even" point is often only 4-6 days.
I'm retired, and get to ski at least 30 days/season on a $450 senior pass. That works out to $15/day. Even if you're working full time, and you're semi-serious about skiing, it's not that difficult to rack up 10-15 days. A $500, $600, or $800 pass is still WAY cheaper than than the $279 for a single day ticket that my "home" resort was charging last year.
Sounds like DOJ Anti-Trust needs to investigate
I'm 62 and have been skiing since I was 14. I'm not hardcore but am a pretty good skier and I enjoy a day on the slopes; however, I have been skiing less and less over the last decade. I didn't teach my kids to ski because of the cost and they almost certainly won't take their families skiing. I now have bad knees and probably wouldn't be skiing much even if it was more reasonably priced. There are a lot of things to do in the winter that weren't available when I was young with health clubs with sports courts now in almost every town and even more available in cities. I'm upper middle class and don't want to pay the money, imagine what average or low-income folks think when they consider taking up the sport...
You can sleep in your car, but you can’t take your house snowboarding
Bingo.
Ski areas will suffer in the future when they start losing skiers because they made it too expensive for them to start learning how to ski. It’ll bite them in the ass someday. Sad situation 😢
simple there is no more middle class. Its rich or poor and since there is a limit to the amount of people that can ski they can charge what ever they want. Back then most people were middle class
Wrong, I am middle-class 😂
I love how when you said ikon and epic pass you showed pictures of Europe but outher than that amazing vidio
I'm so glad I get a free season pass from my work and when I go ski with my friends without season passes we just go to Loveland Valley. $50 day pass is hard to beat and it's a perfect place for them to learn.
One thing I'm not clear on...would it be beneficial (for ALL involved...skiers and corporations alike) if there were more resorts? I know some have shut down, but maybe they could be rescued? Are there still spots out there in mountain areas that are suitable for new ski resorts? Forestry Service permitting, of course.
The thing is when people say there are more ski resorts in Europe we're not talking a few dozen more. There are around 3,000 ski resorts in Europe and around 300 in the US. You're not going to create similar competitiveness by reopening a few resorts. End of the day that's not really the biggest issue driving prices, it's a business model decision. The full season multi-resort pass concept is what we've gone to. It was really just this year that even the top tier passes hit the $1000 mark. Go 10 days during a season and the lift tickets were $100 a day, less that what you were paying in the late 90's.
I grew up skiing (a lot) and assumed that my kids and grandkids would also ski, but just too expensive now. You would think that not a lot of people would go skiing with prices so high, but every couple of years I’ll hit the slopes and it’s more crowded than I’ve ever seen? So it doesn’t look like the ski industry is hurting at all. I’m lucky I grew up when skiing was affordable. So my family and myself tend to do things that are free (with the exception of the equipment) like mountain bike, skateboard, hiking, windsurf/kite board, SUP, hit the pump tracks and jump tracks, and plan on trying some touring snowboarding (walk up the hill lol) this winter, if we get some snow! I do miss snow skiing but there are other options. Maybe someday the state and national parks will add some towropes and chairlifts so snow-skiing and snowboarding are no longer a elitist sport
No one is addressing the elephant... Getting the forestry service to approve land for this just isn't possible anymore. There's major consumer demand with no where else to go 🤷🏻♂️
Trump told them to knock it off and speed up the process.
I started skiing in Vail in 1973. Tickets were $21. did anyone catch the how big the lift lines were @1:11? That is insane.
Imagine how long that line is down the hill to go home
Appalachian skiing isn't anywhere near what the western ski areas are. They're smaller, simpler, but they still cost a lot less, and so far as I know, they're still independently owned. Some in the northeast are comparable to western skiing, but the Southeast has good resorts too.
You can Thank icon and epic, Vail for this!!
I used to go skiing in America. Quit many years ago. Not so fun that I want to pay crazy amounts just for a skipass
I just buy the season pass and I’ve gone up to 40 times per season in some cases.
People with money don’t want to have fun with underclass. If fun wasn’t expensive everyone could have it and massive overcrowding would gridlock the slopes. Think about how big a stadium would have to be if tickets were affordable to all. You would need a telescope to see the players.
Cause one big company. Owns them all. No competition
Interesting video. My context is Keystone near Denver (a Vail resort). There are enough season pass holders that the mountain is BUSY on the weekends, sometimes to the point of feeling unsafe. I think part of the reason for expensive tickets purchased on the day of skiing is to discourage extra people that will further clutter the mountain. Buying tickets 2-4wks in advance is much cheaper and obviously the season pass is the best deal.
Nope. The corporations couldn't care less about your safety or experience. It's a money grab.
Plus aren’t corp vaccines safe and effective too?
Great video. Skier visits are flat? Last two seasons saw the highest skier visits ever.
There must be millions skiers during the Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. There are no slowing down.
Fooey on Vail resorts. They are felching you ! You can ski for under AUD$50 a day on lifts in independent resorts in Japan and Kazakhstan.The four figure price for a season EPIC pass can be spent on flying somewhere that Vail have not taken over.
Felching is a very good way to put it!!!
@@MrIsomer🤢 I had to look that one up.
Buy tickets in advance. A lot cheaper that way.
120 a day is what I’m used too. Who tf would pay 500
Because season passes are cheap.
Supply and demand, they are not in business for us, but to make money. They are not a charity, they will charge as much as makes sense for them, as long as people can keep paying, they will charge more and more. Also they do have a lot more lifts and terrain than they used to have, they are offering 2 or 3 times the product in my opinion. If you know what you are doing, you can make it work. Season passes can make it reasonably affordable. God bless and ski safely!
imagine simping for a resort corp
I think their really issue is paying their front line workers like Instructors and patrollers who are truly the face and first contact for people new to the sport. I feel if they invested more in that they would retain so many more people new to the sport.
Corporate greed.
Come to Europe
Vail are buying up ski locations in the EU too.
Vail have not discovered Kazakhstan( central Asia ) or Georgia in the Causcasus. They have heaps of snow and ski lifts too.
Would you consider your Instructors better at and more engaged in their profession, considering Europe actually pays them a living wage? Would really appreciate your input. Thanks.
Opt out of lift-op : )
A Whistler (Epic) seasons pass is 40% cheaper than 10 years ago, if you take inflation into account. And that pass now includes 50+ other ski hills. If you ski 30 times a year it’s only like $30/day. Y’all are insane if you think that’s expensive. The season at Whistler is >180 days long too 😂
Biden
Bidenomics .
Which party is more likely to pass legislation that discourages corporate consolidation? It certainly isn’t republicans.
@@juan_salvador_gaviota
Take a look around. Like what you see? Bidenomics.
Lol there's always that one guy gotta make it about politics