For skiers, the [Epic and Ikon] passes are an irresistible deal. In the ’90s, a season pass to a single ski area could go for $2,000 (inflation-adjusted). Now, for half that price, you can ski several world-class mountains all over the world. Thanks to an inexcusably permissive class schedule my senior year of high school and the then-still-novel Colorado Pass, I logged 70-plus days for a grand sum of $349—an unbeatable five bucks an outing. This kind of value has led proponents to declare that Vail and Alterra have made skiing more accessible than ever.
But accessible for whom? For a recreational skier of means in Brooklyn who can front a thousand bucks well before the start of the season, a pass does indeed open up new possibilities. The story is different, though, for a working dad in Denver who wants to take his kid up to Breckenridge for a day in late December to try out skiing. He will find that everything that is not a season pass is criminally expensive. Parking is $20; his lift ticket $251 (online—at the window it’ll be $279); basic rental gear $78; burger, fries, and a Gatorade for lunch $35; end-of-day Coors Light $8; and $418 for the kid’s rental, ticket, and group lesson (at least the lesson includes lunch). All in, an $800-plus day.
As a parent with young skiers, this crap keeps resorts out of reach for my family. Support your local independent hill if you have one, lest they all get eaten up.
I’ll be so sad when this happens to western Montana.
If it wasn’t for Vail and Alterra, the majority of ski resorts wouldn’t exist at all anymore. Covid would have killed most of them off, just due to the closures alone. Being distributed across the planet allows them to distribute the losses as well. And they’re a huge proponent of fighting against global warming.
And no clue where you’re buying day passes, but it’s absolutely no where near $800, what a bunch of bs. I haven’t bought a season pass in years and I went up earlier this year and spent $150 total for four days. There’s no parking fee (where in the world are you skiing that requires paying a parking fee???), getting my board waxed was like $20 and an entire meal another $20.
Don’t fucking rent in the mountains, that’s not even a hard thing to understand, rent down at Christy’s and it’s also like $20-30. Here’s Park Meadows rates for this Saturday.
And for sources on the big massive companies actually saving resorts?
https://www.outsideonline.com/2367016/keep-skiing-weird
https://coloradosun.com/2020/12/11/vail-resorts-earnings-covid-ski-season/
What an absolute load of crock from the author.
Edit: might have been three days, not four. And also might have been 2022. Time makes no sense anymore.
I can’t vouch for the specific dollar amount in the article, but the general gist of it is very familiar to me.
I usually ski two locally-owned hills in the Pacific Northwest (both of which survived COVID on their own), and typically have 3 kids with me. Day passes and a tank of gas total at least $230. If we were to go to the resort where I learned to ski as a kid, and which is now owned by Alterra, it’s easily over $500 (and yes they charge for parking). It can be much more than that because they use demand pricing and charge more on busier days. All that is just lift tickets for one day, not including rentals, meals, or lessons.
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