$300 lift ticket for Arizona Ski Bowl?!!!!!!! Plus $200 prices are common. Sure you can buy passes that help mitigate the cost but Sheesh. I don't want an Ikon pass because I'm never going to travel to multiple resorts. I live 2 hours from Mt Bachelor. I'm 72 so the pass I bought in April for the following season was only $479. I'm so glad I'm a geezer. It would have been at least twice that much if I was a younger skier. The demographics appear to be changing in that during mid week days it's mostly grey haired. What's going to happen when we're gone? A family of 4 spending $400-500 for a day of skiing? I don't think so. To me it appears to me greed has taken over. Am I an out of touch grumpy old fart?
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Lift ticket $ Insanity
- Thread starter miatamarty
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You could say $309 is a market signal to say we're at capacity don't come. But they could just put up a sign to that effect and not sell any tickets. Problem with the price is that suckers will have been caught out and ending up having to pay and still more will have shown (at all the cost involved) for the pleasure of saying "hell no".
People have been saying for years the US corporate ski industry is in a greed spiral. The demand (boosted by a good snow year thus far) doesn't seem to be letting up. But the "casual" demand could yet be killed in a recession.
People have been saying for years the US corporate ski industry is in a greed spiral. The demand (boosted by a good snow year thus far) doesn't seem to be letting up. But the "casual" demand could yet be killed in a recession.
I think a lot of resorts are hesitant to not offer tickets at all on busy days, they probably get a bunch of people going "I drove/flew out here for this!!", and so they offer them at these insane rates instead. Every business is greedy, I think the bigger issue with ski resorts is how insanely popular they've gotten and the weather of the last couple years hasn't exactly done anyone any favors.
For better or worse people are definitely getting pushed to buying either an Ikon or Epic pass, as well as one of the cheaper midweek or whatever season passes from their local resort.
For your last question a little bit as it has been leading up to this for the last few years since alterra kicked off. So the writing has been on the wall for awhile.
It is the same as getting an airline ticket or hotel room. You can't just show up for the airport or hotel lobby and expect to anything but a premium price. Those days are over.
As far as the question of who's going to ski, it's too crowded? Don't worry for the resorts on this one. Remote and flexible work may have been coming eventually, but pandemic has dramatically accelerated that shift. There is a lot of load shift to midweek as people can work remote. Wednesday at the golf course isn't just for doctors and dentists anymore. The weekend now goes from Thursday to Tuesday.
If your mountain hasn't experienced this it is just a matter of time. Any lulls in capacity, the flexible work will also allow more migration in the coming years to push this to any uncrowded resort towns.
When I started skiing as a poor student, I felt alpine skiing was economically inaccessible for me. I was only able to learn thanks to college student pricing.
So I didn't continue when I finished college. Once the student discount was gone, I stopped downhill skiing. However, I continued to cross country ski. That eventually led back to alpine ski. By then, I could "afford" it as a casual skier, at the price back then.
I suspect that's still going to be true for today's young people. They may not start skiing. Or they may not continue skiing. But they CAN afford it if they want to 1) only ski a weekend a year as a one-off luxury/vacation; or 2) if they really like it, buy a pass.
What's gone are probably those who ski less than 10 days a year, and do it "as the mood strikes". The "mood" of paying $300/day probably don't strike very often.
So I didn't continue when I finished college. Once the student discount was gone, I stopped downhill skiing. However, I continued to cross country ski. That eventually led back to alpine ski. By then, I could "afford" it as a casual skier, at the price back then.
I suspect that's still going to be true for today's young people. They may not start skiing. Or they may not continue skiing. But they CAN afford it if they want to 1) only ski a weekend a year as a one-off luxury/vacation; or 2) if they really like it, buy a pass.
What's gone are probably those who ski less than 10 days a year, and do it "as the mood strikes". The "mood" of paying $300/day probably don't strike very often.
The disparity between the prices of passes versus the walk up rate for a day ticket has been going on for some time but seems to be getting worse. As a senior and a veteran I have access to some pretty great pass prices. Even for those that have to pay the normal adult rate for a pass it's still a good deal as long as you are willing to commit to 10 or more ski days. And there are other products like 4-packs that can significantly lower the daily cost for those that don't want to commit to a pass. But it does take a bit of planning and I feel sorry for the family that just shows up at the ticket window on a holiday and doesn't know the lay of the land.
It's just one part of the larger problem that is the cost of the sport. I want to take my son out west to ski on spring break its become very difficult to justify the costs of the trip. When I find affordable skiing the lodging or transportation costs make impractical. No matter where I look a week of skiing is going to cost our family of 3 somewhere north of $5000 for a week. As much as I love to ski I just don't know that I get that kind of enjoyment out of it. Even a weekend road trip to Timberline WV is $1000+ and we get half price lift tickets. Of course if could all just be more noticeable these days when the cost to feed your family, heat your home, and fuel your car has seen huge increases. I know our disposable income has all but evaporated over the last 12-18 months.
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The risk is that family walks away and buys sledges or maybe a tubing ticket or goes to a waterpark and strikes skiing off the family agenda. And rather than boasting about skiing and being positive advocates tells all their friends how its not really realistic. Well that's the blue collar/lower white collar version anyway.
Out of curiosity-what would be the price for a season pass for those places with 300$ lift ticket?
That is a very real scenario. We are most likely heading to the beach or spending time at our seasonal campsite instead of skiing on spring break and I would say we are an upper-middle class family, at least in Ohio.
When I looked at going to Park City we were looking at $225 a day to ski if we bought a multi-day lift ticket but I could have bought an Epic pass in the spring for I think $859 that would have been good all season at any Vail resort.
Somewhat sorry but also a bit jealous.
If they are able to just jump and go on big trips without the urge to plan out details and things like lift tickets and anxiety involved; maybe that's a happy go lucky life. Perhaps there is bliss in that ignorance.
It's not like the resorts hide the info, or are trying to make pass products secret.
If they aren't converted to skiers or pass holders, also don't see that as a downside. If some family and kid over 5trips goes to on 1 ski trip then 4 other adventures to like Hawaii and New York and Disneyland or whatever; that's seems like a better use of money and time than just 5trips of the same thing.
If they are able to just jump and go on big trips without the urge to plan out details and things like lift tickets and anxiety involved; maybe that's a happy go lucky life. Perhaps there is bliss in that ignorance.
It's not like the resorts hide the info, or are trying to make pass products secret.
If they aren't converted to skiers or pass holders, also don't see that as a downside. If some family and kid over 5trips goes to on 1 ski trip then 4 other adventures to like Hawaii and New York and Disneyland or whatever; that's seems like a better use of money and time than just 5trips of the same thing.
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Well that's not bad at all. I pay 500 euros for one resort only. Weekdays only pass.
A family of 4 will spend a lot more then that for other forms of entertainment. A Broadway show, a major sporting event or concert, up side of 500 for just a couple of hours entertainment. Skiing is actually a bargin.
But its pre planning, There are so many ways to not pay the walk up price. AZ Snow Bowl is part of a slew of areas down in the 4 corner region that have a multi area pass (even if your not going to travel) that over a period of 2 or 3 days have got to be a better bargin then that. My local hill no longer offers walk up tickets, everything is done on line and handled by kiosks at the mountain.
The season pass prices aren't bad at all, especially if you can use it locally or take a couple trips a year. The downside is that I can't use any of the multi-resort passes locally and I really only have the chance to take one trip a year.
The detail though is can you buy the euro skipass year-round and at the window ?
Or do they shut off pass sales by end of November forcing you to plan ahead (and punishing those that did not plan ahead).
Passes can only be bough at season opening or just a couple of days prior. I'd much rather be able to buy it still in September or earlier.
You are correct. This pricing model is squeezing quarterly profit from existing customers with no care about the future of the industry.
I don't agree that this pricing model is squeezing profit from loyal customers. If you're a regular, you have a season pass. The season pass prices honestly aren't that bad anywhere I've looked, assuming you buy in advance of the season. Especially for things like unlimited weekday passes. The Ikon/Epic passes are honestly just a great deal if you're able to go more than 7 or 8 times a year.
The day-of ticket pricing model is squeezing profit from rich travelers and very casual skiers/snowboarders. If you don't want to plan ahead, it will cost you.. or you can get an Ikon/Epic and you have tons of options.
The super high day-of prices are to discourage random people from coming. It's kind of a good thing for season pass holders.
The day-of ticket pricing model is squeezing profit from rich travelers and very casual skiers/snowboarders. If you don't want to plan ahead, it will cost you.. or you can get an Ikon/Epic and you have tons of options.
The super high day-of prices are to discourage random people from coming. It's kind of a good thing for season pass holders.
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