riverc0il
New member
But buying power is less because wages have not kept up with inflation. Problem is the high end of the spectrum is growing very fast. There are respectable places to ski for half as much as Stowe (literally, half!) with decent vertical and modern lifts. The upper price range is pushing the better mountains beyond the means of many families. Skiing has always been a more "well to do" activity for the majority of those participating (and those are the one's paying the bills for the rest of us trying to ski on the cheap. Thing is, season pass prices for most places are very well priced adjusted for inflation and buying compare compared to old days. Stowe's season pass tops out New England just like it's day ticket... but a lot of quality ski areas are charging $70+ per day but then having season passes $500 and under making the season pass a steal while many $50+ day ticket players have season prices in the $600+ range. Weird market as the "skier" mountains charge less for day tickets but more for season passes and vice versa for many popular resorts. The Stowe factor (and I would argue Sugarbush as well) is that a more expensive lift ticket is a sign of exclusiveness. Wealthy people tend to look for more expensive price tags because they believe that higher prices equal quality (which is actually often the case). So Stowe can charge what ever the hell it wants to and it will still get the well to do dollars. Just means not many days for your average joe schome at Stowe. But there are always cheaper options. But has there ever been such a huge disparity between the really affordable and really expensive options? Used to be I measured big differences in ticket prices at $5-10 or maybe even $15. Never a $20-25 difference between two resorts of equal caliber.
