The skiing stereotype of being well off

[Nick]

TBH the most I ever skied was when I wa sin college and a season pass was $300 or something like that.

There was a few years after college where it was really, really hard to afford to go skiing, once my wife and I got an apartment and had a wedding to pay for and other things. It got really tricky.

Just when things became stable we had one kid and now another on the way though so it's probably going to get tougher again before it gets easier lol

 

[Abubob]

Season pass & other discounts are usually paid in advance so I'm not including it in the cost. Yeah I'll have to cough up a few extra sheckles to ski Stowe during SCA days. Otherwise skiing is paid for. To spend 4-5 days skiing northern central VT. with $300 in my pocket & still have change coming home after food, beer, lodging & gas is paid for is not a rich mans sport.

Really? You don't consider yourself well off with paid for pass and cash leftover at the end of 5 days of "food, beer, lodging & gas"?

 

[steamboat1]

I'm not getting your logic about not including the season pass costs. Mine are coming to around $850 this season.

If you want to include skiing costs I guess mine come out to about $750. If I ski 40 days (which I often do) that's less than $20 a day for skiing. Still a inexpensive vacation in my book.

How much does it cost to go to a baseball game these days?

 

[dlague]

You guys are all talking as insiders who know how to hunt deals on tickets and equipment.

Step out of that for a minute and think about what it takes for say a family of 4 who have never skied before to head to the slopes. They tend to pay the walk-up ticket price, rentals, and lessons and they're walking away with sticker shock even at some of the smaller areas.

Good point - never thought about it that way!

 

[Edd]

If you want to include skiing costs I guess mine come out to about $750. If I ski 40 days (which I often do) that's less than $20 a day for skiing. Still a inexpensive vacation in my book.

How much does it cost to go to a baseball game these days?

I'm actually the wrong guy to ask (I never go) but when I remember getting sticker shock when Red Sox prices are mentioned.

 

[Hawkshot99]

I ski 80-100 days a year and have a entire new setup, clothes to gear every year. Makes me look like a very well off person. The only way that is even remotly possible is that I work in the industry as a shop manager. Tickets are comped, and around 1/2 my gear is given to me by various companies. The rest of the stuff I get a serious discount on.
I want to move on to a "real" job with better pay and benifits other than skiing, but it is hard to step away from the lifestyle.

 

[WakeboardMom]

Everything is relative. When my kids were little we would pay for set-ups for one, two, three and then four kids; plus lift tickets; plus lessons; plus there was always one in daycare. Yes, we always took our lunch, and yes we always looked for deals on lift tickets, but that only mitigated how expensive each day was. I am very sure that the people who worked for us then and work for us now would be shocked at what a day of skiing would cost us as a family and would characterize us as "well-off."

 

[jack97]

Been using lift tickets as the reference for monetary value lately.... going to a play or a show in downtown boston is about the same more or less. Going to a major league game (NFL, MLB, NBA or NHL) well then it's more lift tickets. IMO, in this country where we have a significant higher quality of life than other countries, skiing is a lifestyle choice.

 

[skiNEwhere]

What's the first thing people think of when "Aspen" or to a lesser degree "Yellowstone Club" is mentioned? I'm sure this is where some of the stereotypes emanate from.

 

[swampwiz]

For the typical flatlander, yes, skiing is an expensive sport - there's travel (typically via airline), accommodations (that most folks get on the slopes), ridiculous *American* lift ticket prices, and either buying the equipment, or renting, where even the "Rental Edge" skis are obscenely priced.

OTOH, for folks who live near a resort - or a flatlander like me nowadays that rents a place by the month (OK, I stayed in the Denver basin and did the I-70 trip) - that simply picks out a resort and gets a season pass (like the $229 one I used to get at Copper, or even the 499 EUR one I'll getting for Ski Amade in Austria this season), and rents a place by the month (OK, I stayed in the Denver basin and did the I-70 trip), and of course, buys his own equipment such that the daily cost of skiing is only a few $'s - skiing is not all that expensive. Aside from travel (since I teach English in Russia now, even Austria is a not so expensive train & bus combo away, and of course now there is Sochi, which is even cheaper to get to), a 2 month, 30 skier day trip only costs me only about $2K. I remember a decade or so ago talking to some guy that (with his family) rented a condo on the slope at Snomass during Christmas spending about half that much PER DAY :-o - and probably these days actually costing that much per day.

 

[swampwiz]

Theres seems to always be a way to find a cheap ticket...
You just gotta work at it..

Lot's of my friends are on Ski Patrol or Teach..
I used to park busses for a ticket in the 80's...

One of the more interesting free-lift-pass-for-work deals I've heard is the anti-avalanche crew at Crested Butte, where the workers follow a patroller doing a slow slide down tree areas in between the trails. Evidently, the work shift is until the early afternoon, and the workers get to ski the rest of the day for free, and once enough shifts have been worked, they get a free pass.

 

[tnt]

TBH the most I ever skied was when I wa sin college and a season pass was $300 or something like that.

There was a few years after college where it was really, really hard to afford to go skiing, once my wife and I got an apartment and had a wedding to pay for and other things. It got really tricky.

Just when things became stable we had one kid and now another on the way though so it's probably going to get tougher again before it gets easier lol

Yeah, but you are right around the corner from having the kids on the slopes with you....

 

[dlague]

Been using lift tickets as the reference for monetary value lately....

I drive my family crazy doing just that. When we get ready to do something or buy something - I often equate it to the number of lift tickets we could have bought. Now they are on the band wagon! Lift Ticket Currency!

 

[jack97]

What's the first thing people think of when "Aspen" or to a lesser degree "Yellowstone Club" is mentioned? I'm sure this is where some of the stereotypes emanate from.

I would agree with this but there something else that is more fundamental. IMO, new technology in grooming, boards and skis have grown the sport but it has contributed to an activity where it becomes more about image and perception. To para-phrase from Fistful of Moguls, Plake said if you want to ski grooms go buy a carving ski, if you want to ski powder , go buy some fat skis.....

My point is that tech has allowed the rich to lay money down and get the most exp skis and go the resort where they have the best conditions. IMO, $900 to $1k for a mogul ski is ludicrous, but someone who can afford that and thinks it will make them ski better will pay that in a heartbeat. I generally don't have any problems with this but ski vendors will use this to increase hard and soft goods. Or other ski areas may use this to justify an increase in ticket price.

 

[wa-loaf]

What's the first thing people think of when "Aspen" or to a lesser degree "Yellowstone Club" is mentioned? I'm sure this is where some of the stereotypes emanate from.

Everyone knows Aspen, but I think only avid skiers and billionaire's know about the Yellowstone Club.

 

[steamboat1]

I've heard of the Yellowstone Club. They own the place behind Big Sky. I've even heard they own part of Big Sky now & the other area attached to it. Wasn't it just a couple of years ago they were bankrupt? I'll never understand high finance.

 

[tnt]

I had never heard of yellowstone. Just looked it up. Now I want to join!

Wow. Pretty crazy.

 

[Bostonian]

I'm broke with a 2 year old, but I still ski... and drive my audi and have my season pass to gunstock... damn maybe I am that stereotype.

 

[Smellytele]

I'm broke with a 2 year old, but I still ski... and drive my audi and have my season pass to gunstock... damn maybe I am that stereotype.

The kid will just be more and more expensive the older they get.

 

[Harvey]

Sorry if this has been posted already - I didn't read all 8 pages. Median Household in the US is about $52,000 / year. Household = 2.2 people. Half of the US households are living on less than $52,000. That's the richest country in the world.

My guess is most people on ski forums are "rich." Riding lifts and skiing on snowmaking is expensive.