Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We get the epic local pass for four days. $550 for two adults and two kids to go four times. We own the equipment. Four days trips per season to whitetail or liberty is every other weekend due to short seasons. If we want to go more, we would add a multi day trip to Snowshoe.

If you buy skis/boots for family if 4 you are looking at easily almost 2k. Rent them for season, it’s at least another $500. Also kids grow fast and you are lucky if you don’t need longer skis and larger boots in 2 years.

Multi day trip to snowshoe which by the way isn’t covered under epic and it’s going to easily cost you 1k or more with lifts, lodging, food, etc.

I just looked up lift tickets to Snowshoe and it’s about $160 for adult on weekend, not much less for child. For family of 4 that’s $600 a day just for lift tickets. No way is it 1k for weekend. It’s going to be at least $2500 all in

Anonymous wrote:Cheapest way to ski out west is to stay in Ogden and ski at Powder or stay outside SLC and drive to Park City if you have an Epic Pass.

We always buy epic pass early when it’s cheapest and for 2 adults and a child (10) to ski out west, I think it was $1500 or $1600 just for the pass for this winter. So add that onto whatever cost for lodging, car, skis, food, etc…

The epic pass is not cheap unless you are military.

Cheapest way to ski out west is to stay in Ogden and ski at Powder or stay outside SLC and drive to Park City if you have an Epic Pass.

Anonymous wrote:We get the epic local pass for four days. $550 for two adults and two kids to go four times. We own the equipment. Four days trips per season to whitetail or liberty is every other weekend due to short seasons. If we want to go more, we would add a multi day trip to Snowshoe.

If you buy skis/boots for family if 4 you are looking at easily almost 2k. Rent them for season, it’s at least another $500. Also kids grow fast and you are lucky if you don’t need longer skis and larger boots in 2 years.

Multi day trip to snowshoe which by the way isn’t covered under epic and it’s going to easily cost you 1k or more with lifts, lodging, food, etc.

We get the epic local pass for four days. $550 for two adults and two kids to go four times. We own the equipment. Four days trips per season to whitetail or liberty is every other weekend due to short seasons. If we want to go more, we would add a multi day trip to Snowshoe.

New poster here. I looked up the costs for local skiing a couple of years ago while my kids were 5-7 age range. Our typical vacation is 500-1000 total out of pocket. Not paying $300-800 total cost DAILY for a local resort. We not rich!

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t get into skiing unless you are going to do it as a family and it’s a priority. It is insanely expensive. I can give you all sorts of tips but at the end of the day unless you have disposable income to throw at it, I’d pick another activity. And the mid Atlantic is going to continue to be really tough to ski in given the lake of snow and cold. Timberline is great… our home mountain. But even that has become very $$$. I think the food is twice the price of what it was in 2020. I can’t blame the mgmt just a lot for families.

+1. conditions are just getting worst and worst in this area. The window for good conditions continues to narrow. You really need to go out west for good conditions with skiing and that’s big bucks.

DH just doesn’t even go local anymore. I take DS locally to get warmed up for the season and he does lessons to improve and work on things before we go out west every winter. We are lucky we can afford it. But if your income is limited and you are already worried about local costs, I agree to find another sport. it’s one of the most expensive hobby to have as a family.

I wouldn’t get into skiing unless you are going to do it as a family and it’s a priority. It is insanely expensive. I can give you all sorts of tips but at the end of the day unless you have disposable income to throw at it, I’d pick another activity. And the mid Atlantic is going to continue to be really tough to ski in given the lake of snow and cold. Timberline is great… our home mountain. But even that has become very $$$. I think the food is twice the price of what it was in 2020. I can’t blame the mgmt just a lot for families.

We both ski so saved money by teaching DS to ski with the basics and greens. Once he reached blues and intermediates and skiing them at Whitetail, then we put him in the developmental ski program. They work on technique, pole planting, moguls, etc…

No way you slice it, skiing is expensive. If you want your kid to be good and advance, IMO you need lessons and to have them skiing a lot. Going once or twice a year isn’t going to cut it.

If you don’t care about your kid advancing and being able to handle the mountains out west and just doing greens and some blues here, that’s fine and different goal.

Wisp has a free learn to ski program this year…

https://www.wispresort.com/aces-free-learn-to-ski/

There is nothing affordable when it comes to skiing. It’s a rich person sport.

You are easily spending at least $125-150 a day per person with lift tickets and lodging. This is based on getting a season pass and skiing a lot (local plus week out west) so your daily lift cost ranges between $40-60.

No pass and you are looking at $80 local just for lift tickets a person and $150-200 out west. Then add food, transportation, equipment, etc…

If you have flexibility in your schedule, midweek skiing and lodging is much cheaper.

You could get a season pass and go to Timberline or Snowshoe and leave early in the am, ski all day, stay the night and ski the next day and drive home.

Lodging at Snowshoe mid-week (non-holiday) can be as cheap as $150/night. Good luck - its a great sport and great way to spend a lot of quality family time!

Anonymous wrote:I am all for cold sandwiches while skiing but if you need something hot, you can bring those dry ramen cups and add hot water at the coffee station in the ski lodge (same with bringing your own powdered hot chocolate).

Buy a thermos flask and make up your ramen before you head to the ski field.

The guys we rode up with on the lift at Timberline last weekend were talking about how they camp in the parking lot. Bivy sack, zero degree sleeping bag, heat reflective pad. They even bring a French press for morning coffee.

Nevermind it was 14 degrees during the day and expected to drop to single digits that night.

It's cheaper...

Anonymous wrote:Once you can get rid of lessons it’s cheaper

Not much