Is skiing elitist?

[Anonymous]

Depends. I grew up in Colorado and most of the people who skied were not rich and they weren’t elitist about it. They liked skiing/snowboarding and prioritized it. They saved up for season passes or volunteered as ski instructors or for ski patrol to get free passes. They had used or hand-me-down gear and only bought new if/when they found they liked it and could justify it. I don’t find skiing in and of itself elitist, even with the cost of equipment and access.

But the way most people In DC ski is elitist, no question. People who fly to skiing destinations 2-3 times a year, have brand new gear they replace every few years despite their light use, and who talk about ski resorts the same way they talk about Michelin starred restaurants or luxury beach vacations are, of course, elitist. Most of them are also not particularly good at skiing and have poor mountain etiquette, I’ve found.

But skiing itself is fun. I look forward to taking our DD back home when she’s a bit older and can enjoy it. DH and I will have to take beginner lessons to remember how! We’ll borrow gear, give it a couple days, and if she loves it we might do it when we visit family each year.

[Anonymous]

Something that is expensive doesn’t make it elitist. It’s elitist if people are excluded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i paid a $140 for a pass to 7 PA resorts. I can visit each on 3 times during this season. I rented skis at Sun and Ski for $150 I believe. Umm $300 for the season is not elitist, imo

This boggles my mind. $300 for 1 person per season is so much money for a lot of people.

Growing up, my parents went from lower middle class to middle class. It took 2-3 years of holidays to gather up the gear to ski (not the skis themselves, that was for rich people).

+1. People do not get that skiing is only for people with disposable income.

[Anonymous]

I think that there is an implied elitism or classism with skiing or golf or any number of outdoor activities that embrace a separatism through unfair exclusive use of mother nature and the immoral hoarding of her resources. Better would be to set these areas aside and allow the earth to heal from the scaring and trauma endured through man’s maltreatment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please, please stop. "Elitist" is not the right word. You mean UMC and UMC is not elitist.

What DCUM considers to be “UMC” is, in fact, elite. This thread is exhibit A.

NP. Elite is not the same as elitist.

DCUM is addicted to using “ist” words and most people don’t seem to know what they mean. It’s not racist to notice that someone is a different race or to make factual statements about differences. It’s not elitist to do an elite activity, no matter how expensive it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My brother lives in Maine. Skiing is the after school activity. The mountain is one of the school bus stops. At the mountain, the kids receive a snack and homework help. And then they go skiing with their friends for the afternoon. It costs $80 per child for Jan-March. Their local mountain is not Sugarbush. They laugh at me when I talk about skiing there. It’s expensive and crowded. They like their local mountain more.

Skiing can be expensive but it doesn’t have to be.

This is how I grew up in upstate New York! Every Wednesday we were skiing at night. Bus would bring us, parents gave us $20 and we skied from 4-8pm or something like that. We did this from 4th grade through high school. Now that I am a parent I cannot imagine letting my 4th grader do this but man it was fun!

Me too - Western NY - Bristol Mountain. We used to ski in Jeans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in a town with a ski area and is was definitely an activity only the rich kids could do. For most of us, the ski area was a good place to work — in the kitchen or rental area— not a place to actually ski. The vast majority of skiers were not locals. So for me, skiing was an activity for the rich.

Thank you. Good to know that there is one person on this board with perspective.

I grew up middle class (real middle class, not DCUM middle class) within driving distance of the Rockies, and I couldn’t afford to go on the “cheap” ski trips for the high school kids.

+1 I grew up within a 2.5 hour drive of skiing and snowboarding and the only people I knew who ever did it had more money than we did.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My brother lives in Maine. Skiing is the after school activity. The mountain is one of the school bus stops. At the mountain, the kids receive a snack and homework help. And then they go skiing with their friends for the afternoon. It costs $80 per child for Jan-March. Their local mountain is not Sugarbush. They laugh at me when I talk about skiing there. It’s expensive and crowded. They like their local mountain more.

Skiing can be expensive but it doesn’t have to be.

This is how I grew up in upstate New York! Every Wednesday we were skiing at night. Bus would bring us, parents gave us $20 and we skied from 4-8pm or something like that. We did this from 4th grade through high school. Now that I am a parent I cannot imagine letting my 4th grader do this but man it was fun!

Me too - Western NY - Bristol Mountain. We used to ski in Jeans.

My dad put me on skis when I was 6 in Anchorage, Alaska at Arctic Valley. It was just a few miles from our house. It is a non-profit ski area right outside of Anchorage. That was definitely NOT elitist.

When I was in middle school, we moved to upstate NY and my school had a ski club. We skiied at Greek Peak in Cortland, NY (near Ithaca.) The club had multiple days/times when you could ski - I used to go on Friday nights. The really good kids went on Saturdays. We, too, skiied in jeans. The town I lived in was very working class and that skiing was not elitist.

My dad moved to Colorado after I graduated from college and I would spend a week skiing with him every winter skiing at many different "resorts" in Colorado. The big name places, like Vail, Purgatory, Steamboat and Breckenridge are elitist. Lots of foreigners. People on vacations from all over the country. Apres ski just as big a deal as the skiing. But the smaller places like Winter Park, Monarch, and Eldora are not elitist. People don't think of Monarch as a ski vacation.

[Anonymous]

My friend was a ski bum in Telluride for a few years during his youth. He now has a regular job and can’t afford to go there anymore.

[Anonymous]

You can drive an hour and a half and go skiing for the day with rented gear for under $100, including gas.

That’s not elitist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please, please stop. "Elitist" is not the right word. You mean UMC and UMC is not elitist.

What DCUM considers to be “UMC” is, in fact, elite. This thread is exhibit A.

NP. Elite is not the same as elitist.

DCUM is addicted to using “ist” words and most people don’t seem to know what they mean. It’s not racist to notice that someone is a different race or to make factual statements about differences. It’s not elitist to do an elite activity, no matter how expensive it is.

But it is elitist to not understand that the majority of Americans don’t have a spare $300, plus money to buy gear, to spare on a weekend activity. And that seems to describe the majority of people on this thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Please, please stop. "Elitist" is not the right word. You mean UMC and UMC is not elitist.

What DCUM considers to be “UMC” is, in fact, elite. This thread is exhibit A.

NP. Elite is not the same as elitist.

DCUM is addicted to using “ist” words and most people don’t seem to know what they mean. It’s not racist to notice that someone is a different race or to make factual statements about differences. It’s not elitist to do an elite activity, no matter how expensive it is.

WELL SAID.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can drive an hour and a half and go skiing for the day with rented gear for under $100, including gas.

That’s not elitist.

MAYBE — although adding in round trip for gas, is pushing it — IF you can get a package for a non-weekend day. So, for someone who has $100 to spare for a one-day activity who happens to not have something like a job that requires their presence on a weekday, AND who happened to grow up skiing, so they don’t need expensive lessons, it’s great. Who also don’t have any other kids or family members they need to pay for.

That’s still a small minority of people who are — you got it — elite.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah it costs at least $60 bucks per person for a lift ticket. Only the ultra rich can go.

Ok Busch Gardens is expensive too but plenty of non wealthy people go there. I grew up around a lot of lower middle class people and a lot of them went skiing, and no I did not live near the mountains. I did grow up in a beach culture though, and generally beach people tend to like skiiing as well.

Busch Gardens is used by struggling families as daycare for tweens and younger teens. Parents would buy the kids seasons passes. Their folks would drop them off and go to work. Kid couldn’t get into too much trouble.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can drive an hour and a half and go skiing for the day with rented gear for under $100, including gas.

That’s not elitist.

MAYBE — although adding in round trip for gas, is pushing it — IF you can get a package for a non-weekend day. So, for someone who has $100 to spare for a one-day activity who happens to not have something like a job that requires their presence on a weekday, AND who happened to grow up skiing, so they don’t need expensive lessons, it’s great. Who also don’t have any other kids or family members they need to pay for.

That’s still a small minority of people who are — you got it — elite.

Lots of people have weekly bar tabs that are more than that. Or spend that much on lottery tickets. Or new shoes every week.

Are they elite too?