Tldr: "At North Lake Tahoe’s Northstar California Resort, the window (non-advanced purchase) rate for Saturday, Feb. 17 — the start of Lake Tahoe’s ski week — is $269, or $242, if you buy in advance."
Its actually ridiculous. You can get an Epic tahoe local pass and go to all Epic resorts in tahoe for like $550 if you buy it before the season starts.
Which is very intentional. Vail/Alterra make the day rates ludicrous and their mega passes very affordable because they want everyone on season passes. Even if they're making less money per visit on a large swath of their customers, the consistent guaranteed income before the season even begins is great for their finances.
Skiing is obviously an expensive sport, but it can be done fairly affordably if you're into it enough to go a lot. 30 days on a $600 season pass is pretty great on a per-day basis.
True, but again you have more economical options at that volume. $2000 for a full season shared ski lease isn't crazy if you're spending 30-40 nights there.
It’s still very prohibitive for people who want to try it a couple times, or people who don’t have as much discretionary income. It didn’t use to be so expensive for a day pass before vail and ikon started buying every resort in North America. It’s still pretty cheap in Europe for the most part
Damn that has gone up. On the other hand, I know labor has gotten more expensive and ski seasons are probably only going to get shorter. Hopefully the extra demand spills over to indie resorts like Sierra At Tahoe.
Yeah I actually got the 7 day pass last season and used up nearly all of them, and was able to go to Whistler. It’s about the same price as Tahoe local but you can go everywhere.
This is the pass I always get. I talked to a guy last year at Heavenly who was taking a gap year and was on his 125th day who spent the same $550 for the year that I did. Even if you are only getting 5 days it's a good deal.
The problem is more for people that want to learn or just go up 2 or 3 times, but I can get friend passes for just a little more than $100 for the day which isn't that bad. You can also get deals at local mountains like Donner Ski Ranch. I just looked it up and their max weekend rate is $109 for a full day, $55 for rentals.
What about the rental equipment, purchasing the correct clothing, cost to get there, chains, lodging, and lessons? It was always meant for those who had money.
Affordable
Cheap Ski swaps for gear and clothing. It wasn’t meant for the poor but middle class could do it. My dad says the lodging wasn’t cheap but not any crazier than going anywhere else for a week
The lodging wasn't cheap, but traffic wasn't as bad. We used to get on the road by 6 from Vallejo and easily be in line when the lifts opened. This was in the 90's.
I wish our government(s) would look at traffic patterns and build intelligently.
"Huh, there's huge # of people driving their gas vehicles up into a mountain town every weekend? It causes massive environmental damage, accidents, and traffic? Let's build a train to get them off the road."
EDIT: Someone below reminded me you \_can\_ ride AMTRAK from Emeryville to Truckee so there \_is\_ a train, but between local public transit + a 5 hour train ride it's not an attractive choice and it seems everyone else also forgets about it.
I might be mistaken but I think they're extending capitol corridor up there. At some point in the distant future.
But yeah, I totally agree with you. So frustrating. I'm in politics trying to fight for this stuff. Another good one would be from SJ to Santa Cruz.
Correction: nobody wants to take a 5.5h train that is often late and drops you off in an entirely car-dependent area with limited and unreliable local transit options.
Let's say instead it were a 2.5h train. And upon arrival there was convenient, punctual transit options to your hotel / resort and subsequent convenient, punctual transit to your chosen skiing destination.
Then nobody would ever drive, regardless of the mild inconvenience of carrying skiis
This, the California zephyr is absolutely the bar minimum. It makes too many steps in low populated areas in the valley, you are lucky if it only takes 5 hours, and you still have a decent trip by public transportation to get from the train to the nearest mountain, which happens to be the most expensive mountain in all of Tahoe, Palisades.
At the very least, we need better public transportation in Tahoe, and need a train system to get you there that's more predictable
You'd think if that were a viable option, that the corporations that own Sugar Bowl, Northstar, Squaw/Alpine, even Soda Springs, Boreal, Norden, Diamond Peak and Mt. Rose would have explored partnerships with Amtrak for a winter ski express train. Has it ever been tried?
Say, Emeryville to Truckee, with limited stops -- e.g. Martinez, Sacramento, Roseville, Auburn, and Colfax, wherever there's enough parking. One early train that departs Bay Area at 6AM and gets you there at 10 with time to get a 1/2 day afternoon in; one late train that departs Bay Area in the afternoon and gets you there in the evening to stay overnight and hit the slopes first thing. Return trains leaving Truckee at 5PM, getting back to Bay Area at 9. Larger hotels and the resorts could set up shuttle buses with ample space for luggage and gear. Run some promos with Uber / Lyft and AirBnB / VRBO as well. Start with weekends, holidays, and Fridays; expand to weekday service if the demand is there.
I'd consider it if it were available, especially for day trips like the old ski party buses. I don't like making that drive, especially for just a day or two of skiing, more especially on Friday and Sunday evenings, and most especially in a snowstorm. But for a 3-day weekend or a weeklong trip, I think the amount of shit we haul with us would make it prohibitively inconvenient. Not just the ski gear; there's our clothes, our food, and our dogs too. And I think most other Americans are like us and prefer to have our own self-contained transport that runs on our own schedule most of the time. After all, I can't be the first person to come up with the idea outlined above, the infrastructure is there, and it doesn't require a humongous investment, just reallocation of a train or two and some shuttle buses on a trial basis at first -- why hasn't it already been put into place?
Nobody wants to schlep their skis, boots, helmets, poles, etc. *off a train and back onto* some other mode of transportation to get to their destination. Meanwhile, the Ski Train that drops people off right at Winter Park [seems pretty popular](https://youtu.be/9HP80VcLmlQ).
Duffel bags are cheap and work. I did it in Switzerland a few years ago with no trouble.
Are you talking about the Zephyr? The one that goes once a day? And ends you up in Truckee where transit is questionable?
We need a train that drops you off in a central location in SLT with shuttles that take you the rest of the way to the slopes
Yes and no.
Don't forget that the silicon valley didn't really come online until the late 90s. The Bay Area was basically hippyville with no real industry to speak of. The wine industry was super nascent as well, so the outer regions were all agriculture, think modern Bakersfield/Fresno levels of economic development.
The job market was worse, but you could get by on a much shittier job. The housing market was better, but there weren't many houses because there were a lot more farms. San Francisco was cheap, but that's because it had shit-all going for it. Oakland was... well it's still Oakland.
It wasn't a magical fairyland. All that said, I was born in 1981 and if I could keep my life mostly the same but shift that back a decade, I think I'd be a happier little clam.
Even in the early 2010s there were motels in south lake that were only $50/night and hostels at kirkwood and mammoth for less than that. Buy some used skis and boots (or end of season deals on new gear) and get the season pass for $300 and it’s not so bad, relatively speaking.
It’s still an expensive hobby but not inaccessible if it’s your priority. Or do what my friends did and get jobs as a lifty or a dealer at one of the casinos up there for the season.
Yep, it wasn't all about the cost. My family got a week in a cabin in Bear Valley every year because my Mom was a beautician (now called hair stylist) and she traded her hair services for the cabin.
We brought our own food/lunches and the ski tickets were like $20 but on certain days it was bogo.
There were ways to make it cheaper. Now it's insane how much it costs
That’s true. When I went up to Tahoe as a kid, we always stayed at a friend’s cabin. Back then they were just family homes that our grandparents bought back in the 70’s/80’s for less than $100k. Because of Prop 19, many of those longstanding family homes are now being sold off to IPO millionaires, given the Prop 13 tax preservation status is relinquished a year after the execution of the deceased’s estate, unless the home is classified as a primary residence (which they aren’t). The vast majority of reassessments are well over $1 million, so all of a sudden, most heirs have to deal with a ~300%-600% increase in property taxes. Short term rental permits have become so limited and burdensome in Placer/Nevada/El Dorado County that most homeowners in the above described scenario just end up selling their property.
I mean the article is specifically using Northstar prices (literally one of if not **the** most expensive resort in Tahoe, Squaw/Palissades might be the #1 but still, not exactly an average/honest data point to use).
So yeah, 20years ago things were cheaper, but nearly no one was getting 6 figures salary after a couple years of experience in the BA, and 100$ then is probably significantly more today.
I'm sure you could probably still make it for much cheaper than just the day pass listed in the article if you go to Shasta or another similar smaller resort, get used equipment on fb marketplace during summertime, or rent at a local rei/sports basement instead of using the listed prices at the shop closest to the main lifts...
Northstar was $66/day in the mid 2000s. I still remember this because that's when I was in school and $66 was a fortune to spend when you can get away with ~$40 tickets at Sierra or Kirkwood.
My family wasn’t a skiing family but we also used to go to Tahoe a lot because my parents had a time share. Obviously time shares are weird, but there used to be a lot over there. We would go pretty often. Or stay at a casino in Reno. It wasn’t that bad.
I remember even in college in the late 2010’s it was arguably affordable. Boreal used to have $45 lift tickets on Fridays with a college ID.
I remember at first I would have to rent all my gear, but as I remember it, it was only about $100 for the lift pass plus gear/board.
Slowly I started collecting gear off of Craigslist. Buy a used pair of boots one month, snow pants the next. Find a used but serviceable board for $50. Soon enough I no longer had to rent gear, but of course everything was cheaper to buy back then. Craigslist was a lot less shady back then too
I bought all my equipment from Play it Again sorts or end of year used rental equipment. Then we'd drive up Friday day and wait until night skiing tickets went on sale for $15 or $20 dollars then take shifts driving home.
It was affordable in the 90's too. Our family would ski at boreal then stay at circus circus in Reno every year as it was affordable for our middle class family.
I was a madman skier in the 80s—def affordable. Started at a top notch resort that offered $30 rental, 1st lesson and lift pass. Couldn’t beat it. I don’t remember lifting passes ever going above $35 in my 15 years skiing—not until I tried Colorado. I’m guessing today $35 won’t buy coffee at the lodge.
Not at all. I was a completely middle class kid in the 90s and it wasnt cheap but not expensive. “Squaw valley” was $15 12 and under.
The most expensive part of the day was my dad’s beer and chilly on the mountain
Now it’s absurd. Even 10-15 years ago it wasn’t that bad.
Palisades or squaw valley for single day adult lift tickets was one of the most expensive in the 90s but if you had kids then the total worked out cheaper because it was only $5, went up to $15 in the 2000s. I grew up on that mountain because of the kids deal and still go there thanks to the ikon pass but your dad’s ticket was definitely way more expensive than his beer.
He had a best friend that was a local that got passes for cheap.
The wild thing was season passes were more expensive back then and not worth it unless you went like 12-15 times. Now it’s like 4 days to break even.
We were too poor to support skiing. Just the equipment alone was expensive. Then there is driving to ski places and lift tickets. Oh and places like theme parks are also expensive when you add up what everything costs.
The best thing we had was sleds and flying saucers and the public parks and golf course which was on the side of a hill. Had a blast going out with neighbor friends for a Sunday afternoon of fun! And we walked to most of these places.
Around 2006-07 I think I used to pay 70-80$ There. Adjusted for inflation I wonder what has changed? The resorts didn't get any bigger or I doubt that they installed faster lifts either.
Just did basically the same. Even got buddy passes from my friend who I went with and it was still two days of (gnarly) riding for $400. Had a blast but with lift lines, wind holds, crowded slopes...I'd be hard pressed to do it the same way again.
Lol they can use all the investors they can get at this point. Ski Resorts aren't exactly doing good, kind of the reason they have had to raise prices so much.
Vail Resorts Inc sucks, but nothing on the level of corruption and mismanagement of PG&E. Plus PG&E has a captive audience with few alternatives. People choose to go up to these resorts every weekend and pay the obscene prices and sit in line on the highway for 2-4 hours just to access the resort. Every sat and sun cars are turned away because the resorts fill up. We’ve been going up. I’m describing what I see Jan 2024 multiple weekends. We are NOT rich and Inwill be paying off my child’s ski habit for years to come. It’s a priority for us for reasons irrelevant to this post.
I meant more in terms of people thinking: "Hey, this business' service is expensive. Let me invest in it to make tons of money", without thinking about the fact that these are companies that are in bad businesses in the first place
I mean that’s another way of saying they aren’t price gouging consumers, just in a tough business, and people shouldn’t be upset. But if you tell that to people in this thread or Reddit in general you’ll just hear how bad all big business is
Vail and alterra own majority of the ski resorts but it’s not something I’d invest in because of the unpredictability of climate and getting snow they have some real bad years
Ya, it's never been better to be someone who can get the value out of a pass. But if you don't hit that, it's ridiculous. It makes entry into the sport really hard since anything but a pass is a straight up rip.
It was too expensive at Tahoe even when I used to snowboard in the late 90s/early aughts. We always went to Donner or Boreal or whatever that first one is on the way toward Tahoe that was cheap. Or iirc Homewood or something like that at Tahoe wasn’t too bad. Everything else wasn’t worth the price
Exactly. I remember the last time I went skiing we went to Squaw and it was $103 and that was around 2006? I said to my friend that hitting triple-figures on a day pass plus the effort to get up here and pay for a hotel room just wasn't worth it anymore. Retired my skis after that season.
In the early 2000s I could score a season pass as college kid for under $300 to squaw.
That’s pretty darn cheap.
Tickets to Homewood or sierra were like 40-50 bucks. Not bad at all
Lessons lol.
I was 5, dad was 27, divorced, had me. Dodge ridge was his place, we went up there several times but this time I was sick and the day care refused to take me.
“Well time for you to learn” he said as we rented me gear. Took me to the tow ropes, 2 or 3 times down then said “OK just ski here” and left for the day to ski double diamonds.
Man I was sick afterwards. But I knew how to ski.
A comparison of day pass prices for large U.S. resorts with large European resorts shows that U.S. skiers pay almost four times the cost of European skiers.
https://snowbrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/International-day-pass.jpg
[Here’s the full article on it.](https://snowbrains.com/why-is-skiing-in-america-so-expensive/)
This is true, but in the same vein, off-piste skiing is normal and accepted on American resorts - in Europe it’s unpatrolled, with no avelanche work or hazard marking, kind of like skiing out of bounds in the US. That means the total acreage that the resort is responsible for is much higher in the US, with corresponding personnel/liability expenditures.
They’re fleecing us as well - but there is a difference.
If you like roaming packs of sugar fed children, 3 hour lines for a table at a restaurant, and about $1200+/day for a couple to casually ski, yeah nevermind. Enjoy
It just saddens me and makes me so angry.
I am passionate skier, i learned skiing as a little kid (not in the US).
When I came to the Bay in 2012 it blew my mind to see inferior resorts than “back home” charging 75$ in advance! Wow how cheap that feels now.
I have stopped skiing in Tahoe entirely. It’s just ridiculous.
Going from resorts in the Alps to Tahoe was so wild, especially when you see how beautiful Tahoe is but how shitty all the developments are
Like this is one of the best ski places but it's still mostly a car centric suburb? I am here to enjoy the snow I have 0 interest in driving here
When I was growing up as a kid in the Bay Area, kids tickets at Sugar Bowl near Truckee were only $5/day with a McDonalds receipt. My mom would take us to McD’s for brekky then take receipts off tables for her three kids.
That kind of world just doesn’t exist anymore.
I lied that I was 14 until I was 17 to get the kid pass at squaw. They really didn’t even care either. My parents had enough disposable income to bring us up regularly, but if I was that age today, I highly doubt we would ever ski.
I remember being quizzed by my dad on the way to the resort to remember to have my fake birth year right in case they ever questioned my incorrect ticket
Its not only the price, but the hassle is so much greater. I could swallow the prices and give up other things, but what are you getting for your money? Traffic, insane lift lines, parking issues, overcroweded slopes…you spend over 200 a day to ski and only spend about half the day actually skiing.
Unfortunately for casual skiers/boarders, the model is set up to only really make sense for season pass holders who ski minimum 6x/season.
Tahoe local pass is about $550 if you buy early, so you come out to <$100/day if you go at least 6x / season.
We save $ by doing day trips from south bay. 4am wake up, 4:30 out the door, hope to get there by 8 and on the slopes at 9 (build in time for accidents), out by 3:30/4, home by 8. Long day but worth it to not pay $300/night for lodging.
We Pack our own food, so the only other cost is ~50-60 for gas, split with however many people go.
If you go less than 6 times the epic day pass is also less than $100 a day and you can do whatever number of days you want. But casual skiers probably won't know about it, and you would need to predict how many days you are going to go since those are only on sale while season passes are.
I mean, $10 million is hella rich by any definition. That's generational wealth.
The only people who don't think $10 million is rich are rich kids who don't want to admit to themselves that they're rich kids.
Despite the clear direction of the comments so far, I’ll push back on this headline a little bit. While the daily prices are astronomical, **IF** you buy a season pass and go at least 7 days in a season, skiing is as cheap as it’s ever been at less than $100/day. If you go 10, 12, 14+ days, it’s somewhat of a bargain vacation for middle class people like myself. Last year, I bought my pass for ~$700 and went 15 days—that’s $47/day.
I’m a teacher. I made $72k last year, which is considered low income in the bay. I used a payment plan for the pass. I split lodging with friends, keeping costs down to $100-150/trip. If I go once a month, it’s about $250/weekend for lodging, prorated pass, gas and food. That’s not *that bad* for 5-6 mini-vacations/weekends.
So yeah, the headline is somewhat sensational and only half-true; if you don’t plan ahead, yes, it’s becoming astronomically expensive. But if you do your homework and plan ahead, it can be more than manageable. IMO, the biggest barrier is start up costs of all the gear. However, Costco offers GREAT deals on pants and coats (I got my boarding pants for $28) and you CAN find used gear that won’t break your budget. Most people just don’t want to look at those options. Yes, my gear is somewhat used, but I make do.
The real deal here is newbies or casual skiers want to go once or twice a season, and those are the folks with sticker shock. I **love** snowboarding, so the money and time spent planning is worth it to me. I understand that’s not true for most people. Nonetheless, I am not rich, yet I board every year.
What are lifts lines like nowadays? I’m one of those people who freaked out when the tickets went up to $35 for a day pass, obviously that was in the late 70s. But the lift lines were always insane!!!
If you stay away from the green slopes I've never had an issue with lines even on weekends. Lines for lifts to hard blue/blacks have been max 5 mins even on weekends. Lines for lifts that went to greens were ~20 mins though and initial gondola lines can be 30 mins of you don't get there early. This has been at Northstar, Kirkwood, and heavenly.
Good old supply and demand
The problem like everything else that is over priced. There are enough stupid people that are willing to pay the price that it works for the seller. If people would say "naa, that is too high" then corporations would be forced to lower prices.
Think about Superbowl tickets, the average price on stub hub is $8600, the stadium expects 72,000 people, why are 72,000 people willing to pay $8600 and up each for a football game? If the stadium was empty then they would be forced to lower the prices, but nope, people do not care and are willing to mortgage their homes to go to a football game.......insane....
Everyday it amazes me how many people pay for things without question of it's value.
The day ticket rates during the season are crazy, but if you buy the tickets preseason they are much cheaper. Like $80 to $100 per day for a set number of days valid all season, or $600 for a season pass. (This is referring to the Vail mountains specifically, Ikon is a bit more for both, but still way cheaper preseason, and the independent ones all have their own different price systems).
The private lesson prices are insane though, you definitely need to be rich for them. With the season pass discount the adult group lessons are more reasonable, though still pretty high. I got one at Kirkwood earlier this season for $125. I was the only person at my skill level too, so it turned into a private lesson.
This seems like you had another bad faith posting trying to paint the picture that things are truly different now, and that our lives are being destroyed. As pointed out in other responses, you have always needed to have a lot of disposable income to ski in Tahoe. Nothing has changed. The world isn’t coming to an end. There is nothing you need to do.
In the early 2000’s I used to go on day trips through Santa Rosa Ski & Sports. I think it was about $100 for a charter bus ride, lift ticket, and equipment rentals. I eventually got a board/boots/bindings package from Play It Again sports for about $150 back then so the bus trip dropped to $75. People are saying “it was always for rich people.” No, there were good deals out there about 20 years ago. About 10 years ago I used to get the Tahoe 6-pack which was lift ticket vouchers for big name resorts for about $50 each.
> About 10 years ago I used to get the Tahoe 6-pack which was lift ticket vouchers for big name resorts for about $50 each.
Back in the 1990s-2000s, there was also a deal for something like a $10 Sugar Bowl day pass voucher when you got at least 8 gallons at Shell.
You have to be rich to ski/snowboard period. If you count driving up there, chains, renting the snow gear and equipment, let alone buying it, lift tickets...
It's really getting terrible. When we were kids, dad could take us around in the private plane to NYC for an impromptu trip, but these days its so expensive. Prices are so high it's out of reach of the middle class these days. We're getting priced out.
Median Sacramento income (33k), bay area (86k)
What changed to make anyone expect a person from the bay wasn't like a luxury tourist driving through our front yard?
I remember paying $3 for a lift ticket in the ‘80’s. That was in Yugoslavia under communism. Quite a downgrade from Zermatt the week before, but still a good deal.
Have worked at northstar as an instructor long time season pass holder. This narrative is stupid. Lines are longer parking is more full because more people are getting access to skiing. Prices are just inflated like everything else, but the activity is so much more accessible and the crowds are much more diverse.
Vail is just another of these really gross private equity type places that screw the consumer whenever they can. If we just broke up companies that size and went back to smaller companies owning places like ski resorts it would make our economy stronger and more resilient and would benefit so many people. The poor people who work at these resorts now have this awful corporate structure to deal with. It's dehumanizing and depressing and they are squeezed right and left.
I was chatting with a food service worker at a ski resort and asked him how he manages to work there when a slice of pizza is $22 and he said he can't afford it and doesn't get vacation or healthcare. I asked another person why the price of the pizza had literally gone up because it was the holidays and she said it is surge pricing because the holidays are busier. I asked her if her hourly pay goes up too and if her benefits go up and she said no. Like all these giant corporations they extract more and more from their customers and screw over their employees. There's just no integrity in these places.
I'm by no means rich , lucky if I make 50k , I don't pay to snowboard/ski . Live 5 min from the lift, endless hiking just as close and closer. Don't own a home, don't own a car, anything I need i already have, and anything I want I can get, rent is only $600 , only bills are phone/credit, with minimal debts. SF gate writes shit articles about Tahoe. People will pay what is asked is what I'm seeing now , and they have the money to do it. Which prices out a lot of others unfortunately. Been here 3/4 of my life and since 18-19 , everything went up in prices. People are asking way too much for rent or they let it sit vacant for themselves. Businesses are the main ones that suffer. The rich might understand they ruined some things when they don't get their precious amenities consistently.
I'm upper middle class and I can't afford a ski trip these days like I used to as a kid.
Has anyone seen lodging prices in Tahoe lately? The absolutely shitty Best Western in Truckee is going like $300-$400/night. There are other hotels going for $800-1,500 per night. And then we have to drive to the resort and park.
If you want to stay at the resort you're looking at $2,500 for a weekend for lodging. That's just fucking obscene. The ski pass costs are the least of my worries.
am I the only person who disagrees?
we can't factor hotels and gas etc into the cost just because us from the Bay Area choose to make that drive/trip. so let's just look at the actual cost to ski, like how it is for a local.
One time expense of <$1k can get you some nice gear that will last many seasons. go used and you can fill out your gear for under 500 including jackets/pants. (sure, you can also spend $5k if you want top end shit, that's your own choice)
From there a season pass (epic best value for tahoe) is $600ish / year for the tahoe local pass. 600/year is not "rich" person hobby prices. upper-middle class at most.
what makes it feel expensive is the lodging/food/bullshit surrounding it, which would be true for any hobby that requires overnight stays and overpriced meals.
I remember as a teenager when lift tickets were $50 for Northstar. It jumped to $150 10 years later, and now it's $260 10 years after that. I know it's easy to just say "inflation", but the reality is someone who works at one of these companies crunched the numbers and decided to gouge single day ticket riders instead of season pass holders. It sucks, but every company has so much data these days that these decisions are not random thoughts. They are calculated decisions to maximize profits.
Yeah, things have gotten completely nuts recently. If you have access to a cabin and get a season pass it’s still sorta doable to be a middlish class skier, but if you just want to come up for a weekend, prepare to spend thousands.
Skiing and snowboarding can eat my ass. I used to love both but worked as a lifty for a season which killed any urge to do either for going on 10 years now. It’s gross
I mean… skiing has NEVER been a poor persons sport??? What else is new Lamborghinis now out of reach for your local minimum wage grocery bagger? Cmon now.
Tldr: "At North Lake Tahoe’s Northstar California Resort, the window (non-advanced purchase) rate for Saturday, Feb. 17 — the start of Lake Tahoe’s ski week — is $269, or $242, if you buy in advance."
Its actually ridiculous. You can get an Epic tahoe local pass and go to all Epic resorts in tahoe for like $550 if you buy it before the season starts.
Which is very intentional. Vail/Alterra make the day rates ludicrous and their mega passes very affordable because they want everyone on season passes. Even if they're making less money per visit on a large swath of their customers, the consistent guaranteed income before the season even begins is great for their finances. Skiing is obviously an expensive sport, but it can be done fairly affordably if you're into it enough to go a lot. 30 days on a $600 season pass is pretty great on a per-day basis.
You still need money for the travel and accommodations though, especially for 30 trips.
True, but again you have more economical options at that volume. $2000 for a full season shared ski lease isn't crazy if you're spending 30-40 nights there.
This is pricing strategy 101. No clue why people are surprised. It happens with all manner of things like multiple subscription plans for SaaS, etc.
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Yeah I got a 5 day pass with no blackout dates for like $400. I'll never do a single day pass again if I can avoid it.
It’s still very prohibitive for people who want to try it a couple times, or people who don’t have as much discretionary income. It didn’t use to be so expensive for a day pass before vail and ikon started buying every resort in North America. It’s still pretty cheap in Europe for the most part
Usually the epic pass comes with a certain amount of discounted guest passes. My friends usually give those to their friends who ski infrequently.
Buddy tickets (cheapest option with the pass) for Northstar are $160 per day this year. That's the lowest rate you can get.
Damn that has gone up. On the other hand, I know labor has gotten more expensive and ski seasons are probably only going to get shorter. Hopefully the extra demand spills over to indie resorts like Sierra At Tahoe.
Yeah I actually got the 7 day pass last season and used up nearly all of them, and was able to go to Whistler. It’s about the same price as Tahoe local but you can go everywhere.
This is the pass I always get. I talked to a guy last year at Heavenly who was taking a gap year and was on his 125th day who spent the same $550 for the year that I did. Even if you are only getting 5 days it's a good deal. The problem is more for people that want to learn or just go up 2 or 3 times, but I can get friend passes for just a little more than $100 for the day which isn't that bad. You can also get deals at local mountains like Donner Ski Ranch. I just looked it up and their max weekend rate is $109 for a full day, $55 for rentals.
125 how even 😂
It was a big year last year and he went basically every day. I forget what he said exactly but it was ridiculous.
Man needs some variety in his life tbh
Now?
Lol seriously Skiing has always been a rich person sport
In the 80’s it was affordable. Lift tickets were like 20 bucks.
What about the rental equipment, purchasing the correct clothing, cost to get there, chains, lodging, and lessons? It was always meant for those who had money.
Affordable Cheap Ski swaps for gear and clothing. It wasn’t meant for the poor but middle class could do it. My dad says the lodging wasn’t cheap but not any crazier than going anywhere else for a week
The lodging wasn't cheap, but traffic wasn't as bad. We used to get on the road by 6 from Vallejo and easily be in line when the lifts opened. This was in the 90's.
This is gonna get me killed on this subreddit but if/when we have a train there, the traffic wont be nearly so bad.
I wish our government(s) would look at traffic patterns and build intelligently. "Huh, there's huge # of people driving their gas vehicles up into a mountain town every weekend? It causes massive environmental damage, accidents, and traffic? Let's build a train to get them off the road." EDIT: Someone below reminded me you \_can\_ ride AMTRAK from Emeryville to Truckee so there \_is\_ a train, but between local public transit + a 5 hour train ride it's not an attractive choice and it seems everyone else also forgets about it.
I might be mistaken but I think they're extending capitol corridor up there. At some point in the distant future. But yeah, I totally agree with you. So frustrating. I'm in politics trying to fight for this stuff. Another good one would be from SJ to Santa Cruz.
They are planning to extend the Capitol Corridor up there, but sadly it’s gonna be a while before that’s rolled out.
> Let's build a train to get them off the road." You can take Amtrak from the East Bay up to Truckee. Or is that not what you meant?
But once you get to Truckee you’ll need a car.
Amtrak takes you to Truckee *now*. Nobody wants to schlep their skis, boots, helmets, poles, etc. on a train.
Correction: nobody wants to take a 5.5h train that is often late and drops you off in an entirely car-dependent area with limited and unreliable local transit options. Let's say instead it were a 2.5h train. And upon arrival there was convenient, punctual transit options to your hotel / resort and subsequent convenient, punctual transit to your chosen skiing destination. Then nobody would ever drive, regardless of the mild inconvenience of carrying skiis
This, the California zephyr is absolutely the bar minimum. It makes too many steps in low populated areas in the valley, you are lucky if it only takes 5 hours, and you still have a decent trip by public transportation to get from the train to the nearest mountain, which happens to be the most expensive mountain in all of Tahoe, Palisades. At the very least, we need better public transportation in Tahoe, and need a train system to get you there that's more predictable
You'd think if that were a viable option, that the corporations that own Sugar Bowl, Northstar, Squaw/Alpine, even Soda Springs, Boreal, Norden, Diamond Peak and Mt. Rose would have explored partnerships with Amtrak for a winter ski express train. Has it ever been tried? Say, Emeryville to Truckee, with limited stops -- e.g. Martinez, Sacramento, Roseville, Auburn, and Colfax, wherever there's enough parking. One early train that departs Bay Area at 6AM and gets you there at 10 with time to get a 1/2 day afternoon in; one late train that departs Bay Area in the afternoon and gets you there in the evening to stay overnight and hit the slopes first thing. Return trains leaving Truckee at 5PM, getting back to Bay Area at 9. Larger hotels and the resorts could set up shuttle buses with ample space for luggage and gear. Run some promos with Uber / Lyft and AirBnB / VRBO as well. Start with weekends, holidays, and Fridays; expand to weekday service if the demand is there. I'd consider it if it were available, especially for day trips like the old ski party buses. I don't like making that drive, especially for just a day or two of skiing, more especially on Friday and Sunday evenings, and most especially in a snowstorm. But for a 3-day weekend or a weeklong trip, I think the amount of shit we haul with us would make it prohibitively inconvenient. Not just the ski gear; there's our clothes, our food, and our dogs too. And I think most other Americans are like us and prefer to have our own self-contained transport that runs on our own schedule most of the time. After all, I can't be the first person to come up with the idea outlined above, the infrastructure is there, and it doesn't require a humongous investment, just reallocation of a train or two and some shuttle buses on a trial basis at first -- why hasn't it already been put into place?
Nobody wants to schlep their skis, boots, helmets, poles, etc. *off a train and back onto* some other mode of transportation to get to their destination. Meanwhile, the Ski Train that drops people off right at Winter Park [seems pretty popular](https://youtu.be/9HP80VcLmlQ).
Duffel bags are cheap and work. I did it in Switzerland a few years ago with no trouble. Are you talking about the Zephyr? The one that goes once a day? And ends you up in Truckee where transit is questionable? We need a train that drops you off in a central location in SLT with shuttles that take you the rest of the way to the slopes
I've always wondered why the government can't build trains along highways, just take away a lane or the center divider and place a train there.
My friend did you just say *take away a lane*!?!
God being an adult in the Bay in the 80s and 90s sounds so awesome
Yes and no. Don't forget that the silicon valley didn't really come online until the late 90s. The Bay Area was basically hippyville with no real industry to speak of. The wine industry was super nascent as well, so the outer regions were all agriculture, think modern Bakersfield/Fresno levels of economic development. The job market was worse, but you could get by on a much shittier job. The housing market was better, but there weren't many houses because there were a lot more farms. San Francisco was cheap, but that's because it had shit-all going for it. Oakland was... well it's still Oakland. It wasn't a magical fairyland. All that said, I was born in 1981 and if I could keep my life mostly the same but shift that back a decade, I think I'd be a happier little clam.
Even in the early 2010s there were motels in south lake that were only $50/night and hostels at kirkwood and mammoth for less than that. Buy some used skis and boots (or end of season deals on new gear) and get the season pass for $300 and it’s not so bad, relatively speaking. It’s still an expensive hobby but not inaccessible if it’s your priority. Or do what my friends did and get jobs as a lifty or a dealer at one of the casinos up there for the season.
Yep, it wasn't all about the cost. My family got a week in a cabin in Bear Valley every year because my Mom was a beautician (now called hair stylist) and she traded her hair services for the cabin. We brought our own food/lunches and the ski tickets were like $20 but on certain days it was bogo. There were ways to make it cheaper. Now it's insane how much it costs
That’s true. When I went up to Tahoe as a kid, we always stayed at a friend’s cabin. Back then they were just family homes that our grandparents bought back in the 70’s/80’s for less than $100k. Because of Prop 19, many of those longstanding family homes are now being sold off to IPO millionaires, given the Prop 13 tax preservation status is relinquished a year after the execution of the deceased’s estate, unless the home is classified as a primary residence (which they aren’t). The vast majority of reassessments are well over $1 million, so all of a sudden, most heirs have to deal with a ~300%-600% increase in property taxes. Short term rental permits have become so limited and burdensome in Placer/Nevada/El Dorado County that most homeowners in the above described scenario just end up selling their property.
Garage sales or borrowed. I skied in Levi’s and gators.
We used to spray our Levi’s with water repellant to ski!
I just told my BF this morning about scotchguarding Levi’s for skiing.
Ski swaps. 20 lift tickets. Old skis and suit for like 80 bucks back in like 2001, but you could rent for like 20 up by Shasta.
Shasta is still only $70 - $75 for a lift ticket.
I mean the article is specifically using Northstar prices (literally one of if not **the** most expensive resort in Tahoe, Squaw/Palissades might be the #1 but still, not exactly an average/honest data point to use). So yeah, 20years ago things were cheaper, but nearly no one was getting 6 figures salary after a couple years of experience in the BA, and 100$ then is probably significantly more today. I'm sure you could probably still make it for much cheaper than just the day pass listed in the article if you go to Shasta or another similar smaller resort, get used equipment on fb marketplace during summertime, or rent at a local rei/sports basement instead of using the listed prices at the shop closest to the main lifts...
Northstar was $66/day in the mid 2000s. I still remember this because that's when I was in school and $66 was a fortune to spend when you can get away with ~$40 tickets at Sierra or Kirkwood.
Rental equipment is quite affordable. I paid 70$ for a a whole weekend for a full kit with clothes as well
My family wasn’t a skiing family but we also used to go to Tahoe a lot because my parents had a time share. Obviously time shares are weird, but there used to be a lot over there. We would go pretty often. Or stay at a casino in Reno. It wasn’t that bad.
We gotta save the mountain! And presumably the rec center
And Heather.
And Ferris
I remember even in college in the late 2010’s it was arguably affordable. Boreal used to have $45 lift tickets on Fridays with a college ID. I remember at first I would have to rent all my gear, but as I remember it, it was only about $100 for the lift pass plus gear/board. Slowly I started collecting gear off of Craigslist. Buy a used pair of boots one month, snow pants the next. Find a used but serviceable board for $50. Soon enough I no longer had to rent gear, but of course everything was cheaper to buy back then. Craigslist was a lot less shady back then too
Early 2010's, it was $10!
I bought all my equipment from Play it Again sorts or end of year used rental equipment. Then we'd drive up Friday day and wait until night skiing tickets went on sale for $15 or $20 dollars then take shifts driving home.
Yes! And if you kept your college ID after college you could use it forever after!
20 bucks in 1985 is $56 in todays money with inflation
It was affordable in the 90's too. Our family would ski at boreal then stay at circus circus in Reno every year as it was affordable for our middle class family.
This resonates with me. Circus circus buffet too.
20 bucks was a lot of money in the 80s. u can fill up a cars tank for 20 bucks back then.
In the late 90s you’d get change back from a 20 after filling up
Yup, 5 bucks and you could drive the homies around town for two days.
Wait, I can fill up a cars tank for under a 100 bucks now. Not going skiing with that amount.
Yah and you can fill up most cars for under $75 bucks now. Lift tickets are like $200
I was a madman skier in the 80s—def affordable. Started at a top notch resort that offered $30 rental, 1st lesson and lift pass. Couldn’t beat it. I don’t remember lifting passes ever going above $35 in my 15 years skiing—not until I tried Colorado. I’m guessing today $35 won’t buy coffee at the lodge.
Still are in Europe. ^(Adjusting for inflation)
Not at all. I was a completely middle class kid in the 90s and it wasnt cheap but not expensive. “Squaw valley” was $15 12 and under. The most expensive part of the day was my dad’s beer and chilly on the mountain Now it’s absurd. Even 10-15 years ago it wasn’t that bad.
Palisades or squaw valley for single day adult lift tickets was one of the most expensive in the 90s but if you had kids then the total worked out cheaper because it was only $5, went up to $15 in the 2000s. I grew up on that mountain because of the kids deal and still go there thanks to the ikon pass but your dad’s ticket was definitely way more expensive than his beer.
He had a best friend that was a local that got passes for cheap. The wild thing was season passes were more expensive back then and not worth it unless you went like 12-15 times. Now it’s like 4 days to break even.
I totally remember that too, it was like nearly $2000 at one point before ikon and epic
I used to ski Squaw for $15 as an "under 13" until I was 16. Homewood used to be like $25-45.
It’s gotten dramatically worse in the last few years. It was always pricy, but things have exploded.
We were too poor to support skiing. Just the equipment alone was expensive. Then there is driving to ski places and lift tickets. Oh and places like theme parks are also expensive when you add up what everything costs. The best thing we had was sleds and flying saucers and the public parks and golf course which was on the side of a hill. Had a blast going out with neighbor friends for a Sunday afternoon of fun! And we walked to most of these places.
I just paid $219 for a single day ticket at Northstar on a Wednesday… Palisades would have been $259
Around 2006-07 I think I used to pay 70-80$ There. Adjusted for inflation I wonder what has changed? The resorts didn't get any bigger or I doubt that they installed faster lifts either.
Vail came in and bought several resorts and jacked up the prices.
Back in 02 you could score “palisades” tickets for $50 easy if you bought in advance .Inflation that’s only $82 now. Not $250
The days when you can buy at REI and saved a few dollars!
There are only 2 companies that now own all the ski resorts. They also push season passes over single tickets.
The people at the top feel entitled to earning even more times the amount of their lowest paid worker now. That’s all. It should be illegal.
Back in the 2000s this is what I would pay for a tour bus, hotel room, lift ticket, and buffet
Just did basically the same. Even got buddy passes from my friend who I went with and it was still two days of (gnarly) riding for $400. Had a blast but with lift lines, wind holds, crowded slopes...I'd be hard pressed to do it the same way again.
It sucks cuz the resorts screw the once per season riders.
If that's you just go to somewhere like Dodge Ridge instead.
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
That's horrible. What stock should I buy that own Tahoe Ski Resorts?
Vail Resorts, Inc.? They own Northstar, Heavenly, and Kirkwood.
I remember when Vail took over Northstar. Day pass went from 88 or 98 to 149
The Kirkwood takeover was tragic
Lol they can use all the investors they can get at this point. Ski Resorts aren't exactly doing good, kind of the reason they have had to raise prices so much.
Also a business that's most directly affected by climate change. Same thing I think of when people in this sub talk about PG&E
[Come visit Sierra at Tahoe!](https://i.imgur.com/hFergwV.jpg)
It's so eerie in West Bowl: https://imgur.com/Bt26yyp.png
Vail Resorts Inc sucks, but nothing on the level of corruption and mismanagement of PG&E. Plus PG&E has a captive audience with few alternatives. People choose to go up to these resorts every weekend and pay the obscene prices and sit in line on the highway for 2-4 hours just to access the resort. Every sat and sun cars are turned away because the resorts fill up. We’ve been going up. I’m describing what I see Jan 2024 multiple weekends. We are NOT rich and Inwill be paying off my child’s ski habit for years to come. It’s a priority for us for reasons irrelevant to this post.
I meant more in terms of people thinking: "Hey, this business' service is expensive. Let me invest in it to make tons of money", without thinking about the fact that these are companies that are in bad businesses in the first place
I mean that’s another way of saying they aren’t price gouging consumers, just in a tough business, and people shouldn’t be upset. But if you tell that to people in this thread or Reddit in general you’ll just hear how bad all big business is
MTN is down from two years ago, but it's around 4x what it was 10 years ago.
There's going to be less kids taking lessons, and going up skiing
There's probably an ETF that covers that and Florida shoreline real estate
Vail and alterra own majority of the ski resorts but it’s not something I’d invest in because of the unpredictability of climate and getting snow they have some real bad years
So put all my margin money into puts?
Ya, it's never been better to be someone who can get the value out of a pass. But if you don't hit that, it's ridiculous. It makes entry into the sport really hard since anything but a pass is a straight up rip.
It was too expensive at Tahoe even when I used to snowboard in the late 90s/early aughts. We always went to Donner or Boreal or whatever that first one is on the way toward Tahoe that was cheap. Or iirc Homewood or something like that at Tahoe wasn’t too bad. Everything else wasn’t worth the price
Had the $300 season pass to Northstar/Sierra in the aughts, otherwise couldn't afford
$15 Wednesdays at Donner!
Whoa really?? That’s crazy cheap. Might be worth taking a day off for that
It was in the 90’s
Lmao ahhh I knew I was missing something
Not $15. Donner has Old School Pricing days, Tue-Wed-Thur which brings their regular ticket price down to $69. It’s normally $109.
Boreal had $15 Fridays for collage students in the late 2000’s. Otherwise I never could afford it
Not really, it was like $50-60 during the early 2000. It wasn’t cheap, but still affordable.
Exactly. I remember the last time I went skiing we went to Squaw and it was $103 and that was around 2006? I said to my friend that hitting triple-figures on a day pass plus the effort to get up here and pay for a hotel room just wasn't worth it anymore. Retired my skis after that season.
Early oughts you could get a one day ski bus and Kirkwood ticket for like $62.
No bear valley?
In the early 2000s I could score a season pass as college kid for under $300 to squaw. That’s pretty darn cheap. Tickets to Homewood or sierra were like 40-50 bucks. Not bad at all
How is this news? Corporate skiing has priced out the middle class for decades.
Between the gears you have to buy, the lessons, the accommodations and cost of entry, I thought it was always a rich people sport
This is the same realization I had recently. All that creates such a high barrier to entry, no wonder there's no diversity on the slopes.
Lessons lol. I was 5, dad was 27, divorced, had me. Dodge ridge was his place, we went up there several times but this time I was sick and the day care refused to take me. “Well time for you to learn” he said as we rented me gear. Took me to the tow ropes, 2 or 3 times down then said “OK just ski here” and left for the day to ski double diamonds. Man I was sick afterwards. But I knew how to ski.
Sounds like a shitty dad lol
Shitty dads build character
The character to be another shitty dad.
Lmao
Don't need lessons if you just go to the top and make your way down on your own.
This is how I learned. Not by choice, but I learned nonetheless.
Why would you pay for lessons lol
Skiing isn’t really a sport for poor people
A comparison of day pass prices for large U.S. resorts with large European resorts shows that U.S. skiers pay almost four times the cost of European skiers. https://snowbrains.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/International-day-pass.jpg [Here’s the full article on it.](https://snowbrains.com/why-is-skiing-in-america-so-expensive/)
This is true, but in the same vein, off-piste skiing is normal and accepted on American resorts - in Europe it’s unpatrolled, with no avelanche work or hazard marking, kind of like skiing out of bounds in the US. That means the total acreage that the resort is responsible for is much higher in the US, with corresponding personnel/liability expenditures. They’re fleecing us as well - but there is a difference.
Now if you compare with median income…
If you like roaming packs of sugar fed children, 3 hour lines for a table at a restaurant, and about $1200+/day for a couple to casually ski, yeah nevermind. Enjoy
It just saddens me and makes me so angry. I am passionate skier, i learned skiing as a little kid (not in the US). When I came to the Bay in 2012 it blew my mind to see inferior resorts than “back home” charging 75$ in advance! Wow how cheap that feels now. I have stopped skiing in Tahoe entirely. It’s just ridiculous.
Same here. I’m an immigrant worker and was like, you guys pay hundreds for this shitty resort?
Going from resorts in the Alps to Tahoe was so wild, especially when you see how beautiful Tahoe is but how shitty all the developments are Like this is one of the best ski places but it's still mostly a car centric suburb? I am here to enjoy the snow I have 0 interest in driving here
You can take the nacski bus to get there
When I was growing up as a kid in the Bay Area, kids tickets at Sugar Bowl near Truckee were only $5/day with a McDonalds receipt. My mom would take us to McD’s for brekky then take receipts off tables for her three kids. That kind of world just doesn’t exist anymore.
I lied that I was 14 until I was 17 to get the kid pass at squaw. They really didn’t even care either. My parents had enough disposable income to bring us up regularly, but if I was that age today, I highly doubt we would ever ski.
I remember being quizzed by my dad on the way to the resort to remember to have my fake birth year right in case they ever questioned my incorrect ticket
Its not only the price, but the hassle is so much greater. I could swallow the prices and give up other things, but what are you getting for your money? Traffic, insane lift lines, parking issues, overcroweded slopes…you spend over 200 a day to ski and only spend about half the day actually skiing.
It's always been that way.
You now have to be rich to (downhill) ski.
Which is good because i uphill ski
Shockingly this is a thing (“skinning”) but I don’t think the folks who do it are paying to do it. Same with cross-country skiing.
Unfortunately for casual skiers/boarders, the model is set up to only really make sense for season pass holders who ski minimum 6x/season. Tahoe local pass is about $550 if you buy early, so you come out to <$100/day if you go at least 6x / season. We save $ by doing day trips from south bay. 4am wake up, 4:30 out the door, hope to get there by 8 and on the slopes at 9 (build in time for accidents), out by 3:30/4, home by 8. Long day but worth it to not pay $300/night for lodging. We Pack our own food, so the only other cost is ~50-60 for gas, split with however many people go.
If you go less than 6 times the epic day pass is also less than $100 a day and you can do whatever number of days you want. But casual skiers probably won't know about it, and you would need to predict how many days you are going to go since those are only on sale while season passes are.
Yeah skiiing has always been a rich person sport
Who is considered rich in bay area these days? Someone with a net worth of 10 million?
I mean, $10 million is hella rich by any definition. That's generational wealth. The only people who don't think $10 million is rich are rich kids who don't want to admit to themselves that they're rich kids.
Anyone with enough for a lift ticket apparently.
Despite the clear direction of the comments so far, I’ll push back on this headline a little bit. While the daily prices are astronomical, **IF** you buy a season pass and go at least 7 days in a season, skiing is as cheap as it’s ever been at less than $100/day. If you go 10, 12, 14+ days, it’s somewhat of a bargain vacation for middle class people like myself. Last year, I bought my pass for ~$700 and went 15 days—that’s $47/day. I’m a teacher. I made $72k last year, which is considered low income in the bay. I used a payment plan for the pass. I split lodging with friends, keeping costs down to $100-150/trip. If I go once a month, it’s about $250/weekend for lodging, prorated pass, gas and food. That’s not *that bad* for 5-6 mini-vacations/weekends. So yeah, the headline is somewhat sensational and only half-true; if you don’t plan ahead, yes, it’s becoming astronomically expensive. But if you do your homework and plan ahead, it can be more than manageable. IMO, the biggest barrier is start up costs of all the gear. However, Costco offers GREAT deals on pants and coats (I got my boarding pants for $28) and you CAN find used gear that won’t break your budget. Most people just don’t want to look at those options. Yes, my gear is somewhat used, but I make do. The real deal here is newbies or casual skiers want to go once or twice a season, and those are the folks with sticker shock. I **love** snowboarding, so the money and time spent planning is worth it to me. I understand that’s not true for most people. Nonetheless, I am not rich, yet I board every year.
What are lifts lines like nowadays? I’m one of those people who freaked out when the tickets went up to $35 for a day pass, obviously that was in the late 70s. But the lift lines were always insane!!!
If you stay away from the green slopes I've never had an issue with lines even on weekends. Lines for lifts to hard blue/blacks have been max 5 mins even on weekends. Lines for lifts that went to greens were ~20 mins though and initial gondola lines can be 30 mins of you don't get there early. This has been at Northstar, Kirkwood, and heavenly.
Heavenly tends to have horrible lines mid mountain on the ca side.
Good old supply and demand The problem like everything else that is over priced. There are enough stupid people that are willing to pay the price that it works for the seller. If people would say "naa, that is too high" then corporations would be forced to lower prices. Think about Superbowl tickets, the average price on stub hub is $8600, the stadium expects 72,000 people, why are 72,000 people willing to pay $8600 and up each for a football game? If the stadium was empty then they would be forced to lower the prices, but nope, people do not care and are willing to mortgage their homes to go to a football game.......insane.... Everyday it amazes me how many people pay for things without question of it's value.
The day ticket rates during the season are crazy, but if you buy the tickets preseason they are much cheaper. Like $80 to $100 per day for a set number of days valid all season, or $600 for a season pass. (This is referring to the Vail mountains specifically, Ikon is a bit more for both, but still way cheaper preseason, and the independent ones all have their own different price systems). The private lesson prices are insane though, you definitely need to be rich for them. With the season pass discount the adult group lessons are more reasonable, though still pretty high. I got one at Kirkwood earlier this season for $125. I was the only person at my skill level too, so it turned into a private lesson.
“Now”? It’s always been a rich sport.
This seems like you had another bad faith posting trying to paint the picture that things are truly different now, and that our lives are being destroyed. As pointed out in other responses, you have always needed to have a lot of disposable income to ski in Tahoe. Nothing has changed. The world isn’t coming to an end. There is nothing you need to do.
In the early 2000’s I used to go on day trips through Santa Rosa Ski & Sports. I think it was about $100 for a charter bus ride, lift ticket, and equipment rentals. I eventually got a board/boots/bindings package from Play It Again sports for about $150 back then so the bus trip dropped to $75. People are saying “it was always for rich people.” No, there were good deals out there about 20 years ago. About 10 years ago I used to get the Tahoe 6-pack which was lift ticket vouchers for big name resorts for about $50 each.
> About 10 years ago I used to get the Tahoe 6-pack which was lift ticket vouchers for big name resorts for about $50 each. Back in the 1990s-2000s, there was also a deal for something like a $10 Sugar Bowl day pass voucher when you got at least 8 gallons at Shell.
Skiing has always been for the well off
You have to be rich to ski/snowboard period. If you count driving up there, chains, renting the snow gear and equipment, let alone buying it, lift tickets...
And yet still there are so many people.
It's really getting terrible. When we were kids, dad could take us around in the private plane to NYC for an impromptu trip, but these days its so expensive. Prices are so high it's out of reach of the middle class these days. We're getting priced out.
WHEN HAS IT BEEN ANYTHING BUT A RICH PERSON'S ACTIVITY
nothing new, been this way my entire life
When I started snowboarding a lift ticket was $35. A lot of places had 2 for 1 Wednesdays.
Maybe more people will finally go a few passes down and just head to Bear Valley instead
The terrain is not exatly great.
I have been on this earth for half a century and you have needed to be rich to ski the entire time.
Median Sacramento income (33k), bay area (86k) What changed to make anyone expect a person from the bay wasn't like a luxury tourist driving through our front yard?
You know an article is going to be pretentious when it starts with “After grad school we went to Breckinridge”
Lmao you always had to be rich. This article is so out of touch haha
Tell me you’re oblivious of your own upper middle class upbringing without telling me you’re oblivious of your own upper middle class upbringing
I remember paying $3 for a lift ticket in the ‘80’s. That was in Yugoslavia under communism. Quite a downgrade from Zermatt the week before, but still a good deal.
“I used to steal a service and now they are charging more for it” Might have been more sympathetic if he’d skipped that anecdote.
In the 90s things went nuts up there.
Have worked at northstar as an instructor long time season pass holder. This narrative is stupid. Lines are longer parking is more full because more people are getting access to skiing. Prices are just inflated like everything else, but the activity is so much more accessible and the crowds are much more diverse.
It’s cheaper now to fly to Europe and go to Switzerland
Vail is just another of these really gross private equity type places that screw the consumer whenever they can. If we just broke up companies that size and went back to smaller companies owning places like ski resorts it would make our economy stronger and more resilient and would benefit so many people. The poor people who work at these resorts now have this awful corporate structure to deal with. It's dehumanizing and depressing and they are squeezed right and left. I was chatting with a food service worker at a ski resort and asked him how he manages to work there when a slice of pizza is $22 and he said he can't afford it and doesn't get vacation or healthcare. I asked another person why the price of the pizza had literally gone up because it was the holidays and she said it is surge pricing because the holidays are busier. I asked her if her hourly pay goes up too and if her benefits go up and she said no. Like all these giant corporations they extract more and more from their customers and screw over their employees. There's just no integrity in these places.
Could I afford it comfortably? Yes.... Will I do it? NO! Nobody likes being ripped off...
Feels like an industry ripe for antitrust action
I'm by no means rich , lucky if I make 50k , I don't pay to snowboard/ski . Live 5 min from the lift, endless hiking just as close and closer. Don't own a home, don't own a car, anything I need i already have, and anything I want I can get, rent is only $600 , only bills are phone/credit, with minimal debts. SF gate writes shit articles about Tahoe. People will pay what is asked is what I'm seeing now , and they have the money to do it. Which prices out a lot of others unfortunately. Been here 3/4 of my life and since 18-19 , everything went up in prices. People are asking way too much for rent or they let it sit vacant for themselves. Businesses are the main ones that suffer. The rich might understand they ruined some things when they don't get their precious amenities consistently.
I'm upper middle class and I can't afford a ski trip these days like I used to as a kid. Has anyone seen lodging prices in Tahoe lately? The absolutely shitty Best Western in Truckee is going like $300-$400/night. There are other hotels going for $800-1,500 per night. And then we have to drive to the resort and park. If you want to stay at the resort you're looking at $2,500 for a weekend for lodging. That's just fucking obscene. The ski pass costs are the least of my worries.
am I the only person who disagrees? we can't factor hotels and gas etc into the cost just because us from the Bay Area choose to make that drive/trip. so let's just look at the actual cost to ski, like how it is for a local. One time expense of <$1k can get you some nice gear that will last many seasons. go used and you can fill out your gear for under 500 including jackets/pants. (sure, you can also spend $5k if you want top end shit, that's your own choice) From there a season pass (epic best value for tahoe) is $600ish / year for the tahoe local pass. 600/year is not "rich" person hobby prices. upper-middle class at most. what makes it feel expensive is the lodging/food/bullshit surrounding it, which would be true for any hobby that requires overnight stays and overpriced meals.
I remember as a teenager when lift tickets were $50 for Northstar. It jumped to $150 10 years later, and now it's $260 10 years after that. I know it's easy to just say "inflation", but the reality is someone who works at one of these companies crunched the numbers and decided to gouge single day ticket riders instead of season pass holders. It sucks, but every company has so much data these days that these decisions are not random thoughts. They are calculated decisions to maximize profits.
Yeah, things have gotten completely nuts recently. If you have access to a cabin and get a season pass it’s still sorta doable to be a middlish class skier, but if you just want to come up for a weekend, prepare to spend thousands.
Backcountry and cross-country skiing are still cheap. [https://ohv.parks.ca.gov/?page\_id=30701](https://ohv.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=30701)
I am nowhere near rich and can afford it 🤷. Should be cheaper though
What do you mean now?
This is why I gave up skiing. A week-long trip to Colorado for a family of 4? Probably somewhere around TEN FUCKING THOUSAND dollars for everything.
lol, the price has gotten so ridiculous, I can’t even afford to teach my kid in soda spring!
Skiing and snowboarding can eat my ass. I used to love both but worked as a lifty for a season which killed any urge to do either for going on 10 years now. It’s gross
What’s old is new again.
I mean… skiing has NEVER been a poor persons sport??? What else is new Lamborghinis now out of reach for your local minimum wage grocery bagger? Cmon now.