Inflation rate in skiing

[François Pugh]

Yeah, nah.

Rich has a point. When necessity demands we will get by without a favorite hobby, regardless of our tendency to be excessive-compulsive.

Happened a few times personally. Was a time when it was impossible to image life without a motorcycle and a windy road or race track. Another time when it was hang gliding on cloud street days. Giving up those things is hard 'cause our identity changes. We are no longer a rider or a flyer. But we survive and take to something new.

Last two years due to covid and an injury had two thirds of three fifths of f.. all skiing. Still surviving. Scratching out an existence on memories and the promise of days to be. Not done with skiing yet. But at some point it will happen. When skiing we are only a fraction of a second away from a season or career ending injury. And no-one escapes time.

It is a hierarchy of needs, and priorities that you were raised with. When I went back to school, and was feeding a family of 5 and paying rent on a research grant of about 15,000 CAD per year, I even sold my bike (but not my skis ). There were no ski trips.

Clearly ski inflation is going to cut the less well off a lot deeper.

 

[geepers]

Ignore that voice at your own peril!

Yeah - it's an unreliable voice. Mostly when it speaks only fun things happen. Then it's silent and things take a turn for the worse.

 

[François Pugh]

Yeah - it's an unreliable voice. Mostly when it speaks only fun things happen. Then it's silent and things take a turn for the worse.

PSA. The trick is recognizing that voice. I'm getting better at it with experience. The trick is when it's telling you something's off and you shouldn't be risking your life, but you can see nothing wrong, and can't perceive anything wrong. Conditions are fine, equipment perfectly adequate, you feel fine, but still the voice is saying don't do it. That's when you need to listen up.

 

[geepers]

PSA. The trick is recognizing that voice. I'm getting better at it with experience. The trick is when it's telling you something's off and you shouldn't be risking your life, but you can see nothing wrong, and can't perceive anything wrong. Conditions are fine, equipment perfectly adequate, you feel fine, but still the voice is saying don't do it. That's when you need to listen up.

 

[Prosper]

It's not just the PRICE that is inflating in skiing:

1. Skier Responsibility Code inflated from 7 items to 10 items this season.
2. Average chair capacity inflating (used to be double chairs, now quads, six, eight per chair).
3. Average ski waist width is inflating. I'm guessing the average ski width is now over 80mm wide.
4. Anything else?

Is this the Matrix or a Pfizer product we’re talking about?

If it is a Pfizer product there will be something else "inflating."

 

[Prosper]

That said, are people who live near the mountains (no expensive lodging bill, no rental car, no lesson, cheap mega passes) happy?

I live in the SW Denver Metro area. I previously lived in the Chicago area. From a skiing standpoint I'm very happy. A banner ski year when I was living in IL was 10 days. Now I typically get 10 days before mid-January and close to 30 days a year. I tend to ski on weekdays when by myself and one weekends with my school-aged kids. We have a place to stay in Silverthorne (lockout unit in the basement of our STR house). I spend much less overall on skiing every year now than I did when living in IL. I was driving a F-150 5.0L V8 up to the mountains 1-2 times a week so that got a bit spendy. This year I'll mostly be driving an AWD 4dr sedan w/ new 3PMS tires that should help w/ gas expenditure. During spring break for the past 2 seasons, my and 3 of my kids went to Crested Butte for 5 days to ski. Cost for housing was pretty reasonable. For the 1st time in 10 years I'll be traveling out of the state to ski. I'm doing the JH Steep and Deep Camp in Feb. However, the buddy that's doing the camp with me has a deep pocketed sister who is letting us stay at their house in Teton Village. Looking forward to another great ski season. Happy semi-local skier here.

 

[Sibhusky]

Happy? Content to keep living here maybe. I think the question is too far reaching.

If I get 50 days in it's about $120 for gas, $154 for the season pass, and a ridiculous $550 for my locker. $0 for food, I bring snacks to eat on the chair. I suppose there's the cost of tuning supplies, but I bought wax in bulk a couple years back, so it was a sunk cost back then. Don't need any equipment, I use it into the ground. So, total expected outlay for the season is the $824.

 

[Ogg]

Happy? Content to keep living here maybe. I think the question is too far reaching.

If I get 50 days in it's about $120 for gas, $154 for the season pass, and a ridiculous $550 for my locker. $0 for food, I bring snacks to eat on the chair. I suppose there's the cost of tuning supplies, but I bought wax in bulk a couple years back, so it was a sunk cost back then. Don't need any equipment, I use it into the ground. So, total expected outlay for the season is the $824.

So we can roll our eyes and ignore any complaining about crowds since you paid less for your season than many will spend on a long weekend.

 

[mister moose]

If you look at skier visits for the last 60 years or so, they've been fairly steady in the last 35 years. You can see dips after the oil crisis of '73 and '78, and see a dip in the northeast's all time horrible no snow year of 15-16. Other than that, no real dip in big inflation years, no big dip in the crash of 2006, the S&L crash, the DotCom crash, or 9-11. Granted this is just Vermont, that's the longest graph I had easy access to. But at least here in the land of steady habits, it appears inflation is not going to cast a large shadow over the ski hill.

Here's a shorter time frame on national skier visits. Pretty steady here too:

 

[fatbob]

If you look at skier visits for the last 60 years or so, they've been fairly steady in the last 35 years. You can see dips after the oil crisis of '73 and '78, and see a dip in the northeast's all time horrible no snow year of 15-16. Other than that, no real dip in big inflation years, no big dip in the crash of 2006, the S&L crash, the DotCom crash, or 9-11. Granted this is just Vermont, that's the longest graph I had easy access to. But at least here in the land of steady habits, it appears inflation is not going to cast a large shadow over the ski hill.


View attachment 183760

Surely that's about how you plot the trend curve? Up until 93 you could easily have said they were falling from a peak and again subsequent data might show falling from a plateau around 2015.

 

[skifishbum]

bout how many years into livin a "lifestyle" do yas figure it takes to just claim it as your life
askin for some fishy ski bum friends

 

[Jwrags]

So shifting back to the original premise of this thread, inflation's impact on skiing, I think that this is going to be resort dependent. We have booked a lot of trips this year since my daughter is actively competing in Freeride. In addition to this, we also have some family trips and I also have guys trip. In total about 6 trips booked so far and likely a few more on the way. Here is my take on what we booked so far:

Canada is still a big bang for you buck:

• We booked Whistler between Christmas and New Years and were able to find a well located affordable condo in the village. Edge cards are still a great deal. We plan to cook a lot and buy lunch on the hill. Overall a little more expensive than what we paid 4 years back when used to go to Whistler but not much more.
• Red - this place was very reasonable, 3 nights hotel (4 min shuttle from hill) for less than $500 cdn in early Feb.
• Banff - super reasonable, there for a week and have 2 hotel rooms in the heart of Banff for less than $300/night combined. April is a super bargain
• Jackson Hole - staying at a 4 star resort for about $100/night - prices seem quite reasonable in March
• Crystal - great deal on a weeks condo rental at Crystal Chalets for tail end of Presidents Day Weekend
• Schweitzer - reasonable hotel prices in Ponderay ditto for meals

Now I am sure if was going to Big Sky, Aspen or Vail or some of the other super trendy extra spendy resorts I might be complaining about inflation, but that is not how this year worked out so far. We have Ikon passes for most of our trips and Edge cards for Whistler, which is saving us a ton on lift tickets. The point being is if you plan in advance so you get great deals on accommodation and buy the right combination of multi-resort passes, you can still get a pretty big bang for you buck. Now to be clear skiing is not cheap ... just Ikon passes alone runs us over $4K and that is significant ... but this is not going to be significantly more expensive as compared to last year or the previous year. Then again we save a lot of money on flights as I secured all our tickets with points or will drive. When I do rent a car I am able to use my corporate discount which makes it super reasonable too. But I also had those deals last year, so for the most part we have not seen a huge inflationary hit on our ski trips ... next year that might be a different story

Do you care to mention names of places? I am especially interested in where you are staying in Jackson. Feel free to message me if you are willing to share but do not want it out in public.

 

[dovski]

Do you care to mention names of places? I am especially interested in where you are staying in Jackson. Feel free to message me if you are willing to share but do not want it out in public.

@Jwrags I am more than happy to share my secret sauce with everyone, especially since I have already booked all my accommodation While we really like staying slopeside, in places like Red, Banff and Jackson we found much better options in town at a fraction the cost of slopeside. In Whistler we opted to stay in the village about a 10 minute walk to the lifts but right on the bus line and next to the marketplace. We actually like that location better as we are walking distance from all the shops and restaurants in the village. Early booking makes a big difference and we absolutely use our pass discounts to get better deals on accommodation. We have also found that going direct with property owners or property management firms gets way better pricing and service than AirBnB or VRBO. Here are all the places we booked so far this year. We may try to fit in one or two more trips as we would really like to ski Alta/Snowbird and Big Sky this year too.

@Whistler we booked a condo in Northstar through Whistler Superior properties cost was about $700 CDN/Night between Christmas and New Years
@Red we are staying at the Prestige Mountain Resort, they have a 3 nights for the price of 2 deal, nightly cost is $160 CDN. It is a 4 min drive from Red and there is also a shuttle from the hotel.
@Banff we booked two rooms at the Ptarmigan Inn and worked out to about $375 CDN per night for both rooms and breakfast is included, They also offer a free ski shuttle
@Jackson Hole we are staying in the Rustic Inn for about $200/night but split between two people so $100 each per night and that includes breakfast and a free ski shuttle
@Crystal we are staying in Crystal Chalets for $250/night
@Schweitzer we booked the Best Western Plus Ponderay Mountain Lodge for about $150/night. This is the closest hotel to Schweitzer that is not mountainside. It also includes breakfast

 

[David Chaus]

I'm also staying at the Prestige at Rossland, and also the Prestige at Kamloops for one night before staying for 3 nights at Sun Peaks.
For Schweitzer, staying in Sandpoint the Hotel Ruby Ponderay is across the street from the BW Plus Ponderay Lodge. I've also stayed at the Outdoors Inn, which is a old-school type roadside motel with really nice remodeled rooms.

One of the things I love about both of these destinations is the fact the town is so close to the ski area, and have really affordable accommodations, dining and grocery stores nearby.

 

[dovski]

I'm also staying at the Prestige at Rossland, and also the Prestige at Kamloops for one night before staying for 3 nights at Sun Peaks.
For Schweitzer, staying in Sandpoint the Hotel Ruby Ponderay is across the street from the BW Plus Ponderay Lodge. I've also stayed at the Outdoors Inn, which is a old-school type roadside motel with really nice remodeled rooms.

One of the things I love about both of these destinations is the fact the town is so close to the ski area, and have really affordable accommodations, dining and grocery stores nearby.

How was the Ruby Ponderay? We almost stayed there but the Best Western seemed a little nicer and was half the price of the Ruby. Best Western also has a 2bdrm family suite which seemed like a plus. On the downside I don't think the Best Western has ski lockers or a tuning room which Ruby does have.

 

[P-Ute]

How was the Ruby Ponderay? We almost stayed there but the Best Western seemed a little nicer and was half the price of the Ruby. Best Western also has a 2bdrm family suite which seemed like a plus. On the downside I don't think the Best Western has ski lockers or a tuning room which Ruby does have.

I stayed at the Hotel Ruby for 3 nights last February because it was cheapest available and close to the ski resort. Had a room with single queen bed. It was comfortable, clean, warm and dry. Staff was pleasant and helpful. The room seemed quite small to me but had been recently updated. The "Free Breakfast" was meh.
I do not remember any ski lockers or tuning room. I would stay there again.

 

[SkiSchoolPros]

Yesterday at Beaver Creek, I offered to let some friends use a couple of my Ski with a Friend lift ticket "discounts" which used to offer a nice savings. Now, 1 day was going for $242 ($33 0ff the $275 window price). They opted for a 3 day ticket which was over $800 each with taxes/fees, almost as much as I paid for a full Epic pass.

With Wall Street focusing on Epic Pass sales, they are really punishing those who don’t plan ahead.

 

[Andy Mink]

$275

 

[fatbob]

What's even more avaricious is they know full well lots of those one day skiers are probably taking 10 or so runs before they are tired.

 

[Shawn]

probably taking 10 or so runs before they are tired.

Though to be honest 10-15 runs is probably ideal for the frequent skier, too. You don't have to spend all day on the mountain, you get better fitness returns from doing it more frequently, you get to stay fresh for those 10-15 runs, ski better conditions, stay warmer, etc. Of course the frequent skier is getting their money's worth with a pass whereas the one-day skiers are paying $27/run