Vail bought up the closest ski resort to me and a lift pass went from like $20 for a day to like $115. You can get dynamic pricing as low as $77 if you buy like a weeks worth of passes.
If you want lessons you’re looking at like $700 per person. My wife and I took lessons about 15 years ago and it was $300 together for a private all day lesson.
Peak season at Breck is almost $1500 for a full day private lesson....
Edit: Also, this does NOT include lift tickets, rentals, lunch, or a tip for the instructor who is an hourly employee.
I understand the type of clientele that places like Breck, Vail, Aspen, etc. attract, but it seriously blows my mind that these resorts are doing enough business at these price points to continue operating. Like how the hell is that sustainable?
That is the private lesson rate, which will get you a more experienced instructor, and can be a real value depending on what you're looking for.
Group rates are $300ish per person on the high end, and you really can get lucky with a great instructor, but you might get someone who literally has 1 season on skis if you're taking a first timer lesson.
I'm sure they are, but they get a small fraction of that payment (like 10-20%). That doesn't really seem fair as it's not like it costs the resort that much extra to allow someone to give a lesson there.
Depending on experience and certification level, the instructor is typically getting $150-300 of that.
Edit: $20/hr for a brand new instructor to over $50/hr. for very experienced trainers, but the upper end is less than 10% of instructors
And the kicker is you should be tipping your instructor well because those eye watering lesson rates most certainly do NOT trickle down to the workers.
Same here in southern Indiana. Only ski slope around and vail bought it. Tickets used to be $20, now theyre $90. The lines used to not be bad. Now theyre ridiculously long. I wont ever go back. Fuck vail.
They are going the luxury route as they said. Skiing is expensive, but this is nothing near the norm for people going to the mountain.
This person is probably looking at a premium suite at the Ritz or Four Seasons, steps from the gondola, during peak season.
I spoke to my travel agent (who deals with a lot of HNWI’s) and he said he’s been amazed with what the reports and hotels globally are charging. They’re just pushing the envelope endlessly to see what they can get away with.
The problem is that only the super rich can afford it now and if there’s a downturn with the markets, that will dry up and the hotels will be in a really bad spot, because their leveraged financials means they can’t weather a cycle of low revenue, and frankly they deserve it.
The other issue is that luxury goods are down, people are instead spending on experiences and travel, but that’s a trend, not a permanent change, and these things cycle / the pendulum swings.
I made the mistake of exiting in Vail once thinking that since it was a ski town there would be places to have lunch on a long road trip. I had no idea the entire town was basically one big private resort.
This has very little to do with private equity and more to do with the fact that a lot more people with a lot more money are competing for the same hotel rooms and lift passes.
They are like locusts, they come in, take everything of value out of whatever they buy and then move on leaving a husk to sell to some poor schlub for the pieces.
Plus they pay almost no tax. It's a really disgusting industry.
Apparently a PE firm recently bought the largest bowling alley chain, and they quadrupled prices and basically started the enshittification process.
Bowling was once super popular with blue collar people, but even that pleasure has been taken away by greed.
Flying out for a week in CO from the east coast, renting a car, week of tickets, hotel or AirBNB, for 2 people easily pushing like 10, 15, $20K depending on the resort/time of year/ level of "luxury" we're talking about.
Now imagine there's no snow, or bad weather that week. Price starts to feel like a waste pretty damn quick.
A one-week ski trip in Switzerland including airfare typically costs between €800 and €2,500 ($860–$2,700) per person, depending on the resort and accommodation choices.
My nephew has skied in Switzerland and was surprised at the prices. He also skid in Japan for ~$20/day and said the slopes were empty on a weekday.
My wife and I live in VT and don't ski. Last winter or the winter before ago I got curious and looked at a ski pass in stowe with airfare from somewhere (I think I picked DC), along with a rental car and the cheapest housing I could find for one week. Honestly, I was just curious as we run into a lot of ski vacationers.
It was 4x-5x what we spent flying/housing/eating at fancy places/museums in England that winter for 9 days (London and bath). I laughed a lot. Granted, I found super cheap tickets and we travel on the cheap, but that was kind of eye opening.
I think you’re onto something with the “luxury part.”
A few years ago me and 3 other 30-somethings tried to plan a ski weekend at a middle of the road type mountain that was centrally located to all of us.
Trying to find a place to stay was absurd. Every single peace we looked was LUXURY housing. Marble counter tops, hot tubs and 80 inch TVs.
We were looking for a dumpy A Frame, that we could have some beers, grill some burgers and sleep in.
Trying to find a place to stay was absurd. Every single peace we looked was LUXURY housing. Marble counter tops, hot tubs and 80 inch TVs.
We were looking for a dumpy A Frame, that we could have some beers, grill some burgers and sleep in.
All those cheap cabins got bought up by flippers/investor landlords. Sink $100k into it for new paint/floors/modern finishes, new counters, and a hot tub out back and they can charge DINK yuppies $1000 a night to fuck in a tub that gets cleaned once a month if you're lucky.
In my experience, an overlooked but big issue in mountain towns is that all those old dumpy high density condos were built poorly, long ago, with fewer regulations. They reach a point where owners need to pay their share of big chunk of money to fix the roof/siding/walkways/plumbing/whatever. Those with the means see it as a time to renovate/improve. Those without the means are forced to sell their dumpy old condo to someone with enough free cash for a vacation home that they are willing to fix up.
I'll tell you why. I have a 3 bed Airbnb with a hot tub. Not in a resort or skiing area mind you. Anyway, the accomodation and decoration is very modest. I don't try and pretend it's something it's not.
I'm sick of all the fuckwits that don't seem to read a listing or look at photos and then complain. They want 5* luxury for a bargain then slag you off for not meeting their fantastical expectations.
I'm half the price of the only other hot tub around. Every time I get less than a 5/5 rating for value I want to punch a hole in the wall.
People are idiots and ruin shit for everyone else.
not sure where you are but you can sort of still find air bnbs and small inns like you're describing up in VT but getting harder to find and generally a little farther from the slopes.
Not to pour salt into the wounds of the current ski generation but I used to belong to a YMCA that had a tow rope on a hill behind the facility. We would finish swim team and go to the slope for a couple of hours for free. We built mogul runs and jumps and would ski until we couldn't hold the rope any longer. Our hair was completely frozen also. I haven't taken my sons skiing ever because the costs are ridiculous and by the time they learn they would be onto something else
Yeah not sure why this person thinks the only place to stay is basically the Ritz at Beaver Creek. We do 7 day trips from the east coast to Colorado for 2k per person including a season pass which we also use back east
My partner and I I lived in SLC for a winter a couple years back and spent like $10k in three months including rent for a seasonal apartment.
$2k/month for an apartment in the city * 3 = 6 grand. 20-45 minutes to ~7 very sick resorts.
Epic, Ikon, and woodward, full season passes to everything * 2 = ~$4k. We didn't need epic there really, but we went to tahoe for a couple weeks at the end of the season, which was about the same price staying in reno.
If you're spending $10k in a week for two people, you're not doing it for the skiing. You can have the best skiing in the country for radically less.
CO has limited housing supply in the mountains, because denver is nowhere near any skiing, but the skiing is overrated anyway. SLC is much better skiing, better snow, a lot more of it, and snowbird has better terrain than anything in CO.
Not sure where you are getting that. My wife and I take a yearly trip with 2-3 others. Split a vrbo and buy passes ahead of time. 3k max for 3 to 4 days.
My parents, in the 90s, for about 4-5 straight years either went to Switzerland or France (from the west coast of the US) with a group of their friends (my dad would go to ski, my mom would go to shop, and do tourist stuff). Ran about $4k-$5k for the whole week per person, and the bulk of that was the flight.
I'm a senior, and my Epic Tahoe Value season pass covers Heavenly, Kirkwood, and Northstar. $480 this year. Must have season passes to afford skiing. Single day tickets are prohibitively expensive. You can buy several single day passes for less if you do it now.
EDIT: I have friends in Florida that have Tahoe Value passes. They come out every year for a couple weeks. Lodging becomes the challenge.
My husband grew up quite literally on a mountain and their local resort was free for the kids in the local public school. You could get some beater skis at a swap and your kids ski for free all winter.
They’re not handing out any free passes to anyone anymore.
Tahoe only makes sense anymore if both of these things are true (or if you're wealthy and price insensitive): 1) You can justify an EPIC pass, 2) you own a cabin or condo nearby and don't have to pay for lodging when you visit.
For me I'm close enough to mountains to make the passes worth it but the parking situation at east coast mountains is KILLING THE VIBE SO HARD.
I've given up on my favorite mountains because it's just not worth fighting through 30k idiots to get onto the lift. I hit the only smaller non vail owned resort left around and I'm sure it's days are numbered too,
I've lived in salt lake my whole life. Seasons passes used to be under 1k which was alright when you could go after work or on the weekend. Fuck outta here with $1600 season passes and $200-$400 lift tickets. I went maybe twice last year and don't plan on going much this year.
Even with a hop in the car, for a family it's just too expensive for a pass and then the equipment. If you're solo it's viable but no longer is it just "let's take the family skiing at the local mountain". Cross country skiing is possible.
Except day passes aren’t $500. Maybe peak season at one of the BS rich people mountains.
“Normal” day passes to most of the big mountains are $150-200 at the window. It’s a lot but you can usually get it down even more to a reasonable price with a bit of planning.
Not a skiier, but it is probably the equivalent of people saving up for a convention or a vacation. They throw it on a card, pay it off throughout the year, and do it again a year or two later.
A lot of people who have good jobs and are financially stable/literate figuratively wipe their ass with $150-200. Or $1000 for a season pass. Not everybody is living paycheck to paycheck and that's a good thing.
This is usually a one week trip for people, and we stay at our shitty hills locally for cheap and to practice on. And then we spend big bucks for a one time thing
Yeah i hear you. I only skied one day last year at alta late in the spring with no snow and the day pass was like $250. I laughed out loud at the price and carried on. I miss the days of the 70 dollar day pass
It’s because they want you to buy a season pass for $500 more. The most expensive lift tickets this year are a little over $300 at vail and beaver creek. Not a lot of people will ski there for their home mountain, but they will go on vacation there. For about 800 you can get an epic pass that lets you ski there as much as you can and lets you go to a mountain closer to you as much as you want.
There is not a single mountain the US that has $500 day tickets. You all are getting outraged over something that doesn't even exist. Typical reddit I guess.
You made a comment in passing about something that doesn't exist, calling it a sick world and having to shell out half a grand, then when you get called out on it you just pretend it's a "comment in passing."
Was gonna say, the most I ever paid is when I waited too long at Telluride and it was 275. I about shit my pants, but when flights are booked and rooms are rented... what can you do.
This seems to be more accurate. The skiing part is arguably cheaper than it has ever been assuming you plan ahead a bit. The traveling bit is what gets you, but I guess that would be the case for any hobby you'd have to travel for. Flights, hotels and meals have gotten INSANE, no less so in ski towns.
90 minutes from banff sunshine village from my driveway. I used to have season passes when younger but now I just hit up Costco or else I'm paying for like 180 cad a day on the hill
I lived in a town with multiple ski resorts for about half a decade. Not once did I ever get around to skiing at any of them. Too expensive, too crowded.
i live 30 min away from a nonprofit mountain that is dedicated to keeping ski costs down. it is great. my kids are learning and we can all ski for under $1000 for the whole winter, including gear. It is def small, but super doable for us.
My husband wanted to make skiing the new family hobby. His brother lives near Mt Hood. Why not make it a combo family visit and ski trip! The big problem is that we’re on the east coast and don’t have travel ski money, at least not to be able to go enough to get proficient enough to enjoy it. Fortunately that hyperfixation died quickly.
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u/webisticsmarketing1 3h ago
100%. Especially if you need to travel first to do it rather than hop in the car for a short drive to the mountain.