VAIL SUCKS

[BenedictGomez]

I guess that's good that you don't have to deal with the same traffic for PC areas as the horror stories you hear about the Cottonwoods on the weekends.

Yeah, I'm sure it sucks ass most places (I hear Stowe's been crushed), but here, you're basically living on top of the mountain. Either you live in Park City itself & can obviously be to Deer Valley or PCMR lickety-split, or you live someplace real close like Heber or Midway, right on top of a highway you do 80mph on & are there in 15 to 30 minutes depending where you live. It's easy. Ten years from now I'm not so sure though; I think the traffic in Heber, for instance, will become s****y.

 

[PAabe]

Out of curiosity I did some research -The same package (lesson+rental+ticket) is
$75 at Spring Mt
$135 at Mad River, Belleayre, or Shawnee
$180 at Loveland, Whiteface, or Sunlight

$486 for a first time try their hand at skiing... turned off to the sport to before they even get on the snow. And first timers may not know where to shop around for deals or may be dragged along in a group just to face that sticker shock.

Though Vail employees have perks here, take for example their $14/hr salary, factoring in median take home, it would take over an entire week of work, with overtime, to pay for this. A disgusting Gilded Age of skiing for newcomers

 

[BenedictGomez]

$486 for a first time try their hand at skiing... turned off to the sport to before they even get on the snow.

This has always been my primary concern regarding this business model. I think they're killing the future of the sport.

But when you're in the C-suite at Vail or Alterra, that's not your concern. All you care about is maximizing revenue & minimizing costs today. By the time the industry suffers, you'll be retired (with a sick package).

 

[PAabe]

The budget friendly areas, like Spring Mt, are becoming few and far between - We have expensive lifts, which have zero benefit for beginners (Seems like an old lift falling apart is a death sentence with the additional duopoly of Doppelmayer/Poma). Todays liability and insurance costs are absurd for any small time operation. And our ski equipment has gotten so advanced that small areas are outright boring to the typical above average skier on modern equipment.

Interestingly enough, the only reason Spring Mt is still operating is because the major ski shop in the area bought it when it went under - because THEY for one recognize that if novices do not have an affordable and welcoming place to ski, their entire business will soon enough disappear...