The Two Warring Companies That Ruined Skiing
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The Two Warring Companies That Ruined Skiing
https://slate.com/business/2023/12/epic-versus-ikon-ski-duopoly-cost.html
The past two decades have seen mountains all over succumb.
For skiers, the [Epic and Ikon] passes are an irresistible deal. In the ’90s, a season pass to a single ski area could go for $2,000 (inflation-adjusted). Now, for half that price, you can ski several world-class mountains all over the world. Thanks to an inexcusably permissive class schedule my senior year of high school and the then-still-novel Colorado Pass, I logged 70-plus days for a grand sum of $349—an unbeatable five bucks an outing. This kind of value has led proponents to declare that Vail and Alterra have made skiing more accessible than ever.
But accessible for whom? For a recreational skier of means in Brooklyn who can front a thousand bucks well before the start of the season, a pass does indeed open up new possibilities. The story is different, though, for a working dad in Denver who wants to take his kid up to Breckenridge for a day in late December to try out skiing. He will find that everything that is not a season pass is criminally expensive. Parking is $20; his lift ticket $251 (online—at the window it’ll be $279); basic rental gear $78; burger, fries, and a Gatorade for lunch $35; end-of-day Coors Light $8; and $418 for the kid’s rental, ticket, and group lesson (at least the lesson includes lunch). All in, an $800-plus day.
As a parent with young skiers, this crap keeps resorts out of reach for my family. Support your local independent hill if you have one, lest they all get eaten up.
If it wasn’t for Vail and Alterra, the majority of ski resorts wouldn’t exist at all anymore. Covid would have killed most of them off, just due to the closures alone. Being distributed across the planet allows them to distribute the losses as well. And they’re a huge proponent of fighting against global warming.
And no clue where you’re buying day passes, but it’s absolutely no where near $800, what a bunch of bs. I haven’t bought a season pass in years and I went up earlier this year and spent $150 total for four days. There’s no parking fee (where in the world are you skiing that requires paying a parking fee???), getting my board waxed was like $20 and an entire meal another $20.
Don’t fucking rent in the mountains, that’s not even a hard thing to understand, rent down at Christy’s and it’s also like $20-30. Here’s Park Meadows rates for this Saturday. 
And for sources on the big massive companies actually saving resorts?
https://www.outsideonline.com/2367016/keep-skiing-weird
https://coloradosun.com/2020/12/11/vail-resorts-earnings-covid-ski-season/
What an absolute load of crock from the author.
Edit: might have been three days, not four. And also might have been 2022. Time makes no sense anymore.
I can't vouch for the specific dollar amount in the article, but the general gist of it is very familiar to me.
I usually ski two locally-owned hills in the Pacific Northwest (both of which survived COVID on their own), and typically have 3 kids with me. Day passes and a tank of gas total at least $230. If we were to go to the resort where I learned to ski as a kid, and which is now owned by Alterra, it's easily over $500 (and yes they charge for parking). It can be much more than that because they use demand pricing and charge more on busier days. All that is just lift tickets for one day, not including rentals, meals, or lessons.
Well, a couple of things the author mentioned are true. You certainly can spend $800 a day taking your kid to Breckenridge if you want to. And every major resort in Colorado does have close-in parking that they charge for.
But it think pinning all the changes the author laments on the mega pass model is seriously bunk. The trend of displacing free slopeside parking with high end condos and fancy restaurants pre-dates the rise of the Epic/Ikon rivalry by decades. As does the cost of ski school and day tickets outpacing the rate of inflation.
When the author points to the displacement of us dirtbags by rich tourists, there are two problems with that. First rich tourists don’t give a crap what lift tickets cost. It wasn’t cheap passes that drew them in, it was luxury accommodations, day spas, grooming, and the shape ski revolution that made skiing more appealing to the jet set. And second, the dirtbags are still here, enjoying the rock-bottom per day cost of skiing on a cheap pass. We just have to live a bit further away.
The one argument he makes that I think is true is that the casual skier of modest means has been priced out of the resorts these two companies operate. But there are alternatives. The dad in his example would probably follow your advice about bringing lunch and renting in town, and go to Loveland instead of Breckenridge. They’d have just as much fun for under $200.
When the author really goes off the rails, though is when he starts talking about the deleterious effects on the culture of skiing he believes cheap passes have had. Live music is gone? Wrong. A-Basin beach scene a bit of nostalgia from a romantic bygone era? Nonsense; his flowery descriptions would apply to any clement spring Saturday at A-Basin to this day. Secret smoke shacks? Just because they dismantled the 2-story one they built right off the trail and splashed all over social media doesn’t mean all the shacks are gone, lol.
In short I agree with you it’s ridiculous to say that ski area operator consolidation has “ruined skiing.” I don’t deny that it has changed the landscape and not all of the changes are to my liking. But not every change can be attributed to Katz’s pricing model, and there are some benefits as well. Recently there have been great investments made in expanding terrain and upgrading lifts at the VR and Alterra resorts I frequent.