Is skiing elitist?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:My dad grew up dirt poor and managed to ski, but he wasn't doing it in Aspen.

Skiing at the closest place (Liberty) is minimum $$125-150 PER PERSON PER DAY just for lift ticket and rentals. To say nothing of food or lodging if you wanted to stay over, or lessons. When we go to Disney and I see those dads wearing the t-shirt that says “Most Expensive Day Ever” I always think “ha! That family clearly hasn’t been skiing.”

I am European and we ski in Austria and Italy for much less.

Ok and? This board is for people who live in the DC area. It’s pretty expensive to fly to Austria or Italy from here, genius.

NP here:
The point is that skiing in the US was accessible to the middle class only 20 years ago. Now? The barrier to entry is way too high. Prices in Switzerland are cheap compared to going to the nice resorts in CO, UT, or Tahoe.

It's honestly cheaper for me to go to Geneva and ski in the French Alps for 4-5 days than it is for me to go Jackson Hole, Aspen, Vail, Telluride, etc.

Here's an example - I'm actually going to the French Alps in a couple weeks and staying 7 days:
Lift ticket: 51 euros per day
Airline ticket (roundtrip): $500 USD
Lodging: 215 euros/night and includes breakfast and dinner
Ski rental: 160 euros for 6 days (and that's the upgraded gear package)
I can take a train to the resort from the Geneva airport, so no need for a car.

For 20 euros, I can get a delicious lunch on the slopes that includes a hot meal and a beer. The quality of food is 5x better than the garbage they serve at US ski resorts.

Doing this trip at Vail, JH, or any other famous US resort would easily cost me 2-3x more. It's dumb. American skiing is for suckers.

I'm also from Europe and while I totally agree with the above (can't believe how expensive it is not only to ski at good American resorts, but also at terrible ones like Liberty etc), all of the above is still not accessible to most people. Yes if you live right near the mountains. But if not, it's not.

+1

The terrible ski areas in the US are astronomically priced, and people that don't know any better pay it.

Yes, Liberty, Whitetail...etc, prices are through the roof. I'm not justifying their prices, but must keep in mind they have really short ski seasons. Some years, they barely have a season. Gotta make hay when the sun shines....err, when the snow falls, temps drop??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My dad grew up dirt poor and managed to ski, but he wasn't doing it in Aspen.

Skiing at the closest place (Liberty) is minimum $$125-150 PER PERSON PER DAY just for lift ticket and rentals. To say nothing of food or lodging if you wanted to stay over, or lessons. When we go to Disney and I see those dads wearing the t-shirt that says “Most Expensive Day Ever” I always think “ha! That family clearly hasn’t been skiing.”

I am European and we ski in Austria and Italy for much less.

Ok and? This board is for people who live in the DC area. It’s pretty expensive to fly to Austria or Italy from here, genius.

NP here:
The point is that skiing in the US was accessible to the middle class only 20 years ago. Now? The barrier to entry is way too high. Prices in Switzerland are cheap compared to going to the nice resorts in CO, UT, or Tahoe.

It's honestly cheaper for me to go to Geneva and ski in the French Alps for 4-5 days than it is for me to go Jackson Hole, Aspen, Vail, Telluride, etc.

Here's an example - I'm actually going to the French Alps in a couple weeks and staying 7 days:
Lift ticket: 51 euros per day
Airline ticket (roundtrip): $500 USD
Lodging: 215 euros/night and includes breakfast and dinner
Ski rental: 160 euros for 6 days (and that's the upgraded gear package)
I can take a train to the resort from the Geneva airport, so no need for a car.

For 20 euros, I can get a delicious lunch on the slopes that includes a hot meal and a beer. The quality of food is 5x better than the garbage they serve at US ski resorts.

Doing this trip at Vail, JH, or any other famous US resort would easily cost me 2-3x more. It's dumb. American skiing is for suckers.

I'm also from Europe and while I totally agree with the above (can't believe how expensive it is not only to ski at good American resorts, but also at terrible ones like Liberty etc), all of the above is still not accessible to most people. Yes if you live right near the mountains. But if not, it's not.

+1

The terrible ski areas in the US are astronomically priced, and people that don't know any better pay it.

Yes, Liberty, Whitetail...etc, prices are through the roof. I'm not justifying their prices, but must keep in mind they have really short ski seasons. Some years, they barely have a season. Gotta make hay when the sun shines....err, when the snow falls, temps drop??

I agree. But if you see people renting skis in DCUMland, they tend to think/act they are in some sort of exclusive club, and they are just not. It's laughable.

[Anonymous]

Anything activity can be expensive. I see people here spend a ton of money on basketball, soccer and lacrosse around here. If you play competitively, the travel and AAU, costs are high- registration 3/4x year, uniform, travel expenses every weekend in the spring. The shoes cost 1/3 of a used snowboard. It costs $10 to get in to each tournament to watch. An Epic pass is cheaper.

I grew up in PA and we still visit on weekends. We get passes through cousins’ school or use Epic pass. Easy to find reasonable equipment. Cheaper than many other activities kids are doing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anything activity can be expensive. I see people here spend a ton of money on basketball, soccer and lacrosse around here. If you play competitively, the travel and AAU, costs are high- registration 3/4x year, uniform, travel expenses every weekend in the spring. The shoes cost 1/3 of a used snowboard. It costs $10 to get in to each tournament to watch. An Epic pass is cheaper.

I grew up in PA and we still visit on weekends. We get passes through cousins’ school or use Epic pass. Easy to find reasonable equipment. Cheaper than many other activities kids are doing.

+1

You can tell the "skiiers" who go to sit around and dress what they think is the part. Hilarious.

[Anonymous]

Another western NYer that grew up skiing at Holiday Valley and Kissing Bridge. I really miss it. I wish I could just hop in the car mid week and go skiing with my son.. you can’t here- too much traffic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another western NYer that grew up skiing at Holiday Valley and Kissing Bridge. I really miss it. I wish I could just hop in the car mid week and go skiing with my son.. you can’t here- too much traffic.

But the museums and the monuments (for the thousandth time.....)!