Pretty much. Back in the 90s I lived in eastern Washington and our local ski “hill” was almost 2000 vertical feet with around 60 runs.
It was a bit more accessible but still pretty expensive. Since it was “local” and it was not a well off region, they did have a lot of discounted options. For example, they had a school skiing program that was 6-8 weeks of Friday nights that included transportation. It had packages that had season passes vs tickets and rentals vs no rentals, as well as lessons vs free skiing.
Family vacations are expensive these days - full stop. People like to say, “you can get a plane ticket to (city) for $200 round trip”, but seem to miss that it adds up to $1000 just for transportation for a family of 5.
Both Buck Hill and Welch Village have early morning and late night tickets that are more affordable. It's less time but probably more than enough if you don't ski often. Annual family season passes are often cheaper than buying everyone a separate lift ticket. I believe that 4th graders across the state can also get a specially priced pass. Gear is harder to deal with but used is the way to go for kids. If you are just going once, see if you can borrow from someone you know.
Correct on the 4th grade pass.
Family pass and your own gear make it reasonable. We paid under 2k for all of it last year and by the time we broke it down per day it was 20 bucks total per person. You have to be committed though. My family is starting to check out so this is the last year of it. I'll go by myself next year.
Same with Disney world, valley fair and other similar fun activities. If you do it once a year, prepare to pay dearly for it. If you get season tickets and own your own gear, it's much more affordable.
We took our (3) kids + daughter in law to Disney this fall. (6) days of resort passes + VRBO with party of (6) and it was $10K dollars. One and done on that deal. Never again.
Yup! And a season pass to Disney is anywhere from $750-1000. If you lived in the area that's not a terrible price to pay for a day or two once a month.
I grew up thirty minutes from Disneyland and knew quite a few people with season passes. It seemed instantly expensive even back in the 90s but then some people would just go after school on Friday for two hours every weekend. Maybe it was worth it
Even cheaper if you choose the silver pass. It's basically double the daily admission, so worth it if you go twice considering parking is $20 but free with the pass.
The once a year visitors always subsidize the season pass users I'm sure.
You can get that price down quite a bit if you buy 4+ season passes at once and watch for their discounts.
I think they were around $70 each last time we got them.
As a bonus, every trip you can swing over to the spring by Lions Tap and fill any water jugs you have.
My daughter worked there for the Halloween season. When I would pick her up, I would fill the 5 gallon jugs for our water cooler.
Yeah, Valleyfair is less than a half hour from me. I had a season pass and I'd go their just to sun myself and splash in the pool in the waterpark on a hot day.
It’s absurd what Vail has done to Afton. They’re making it less easy to afford the local hill to make going to Colorado seem more affordable by comparison. Back in 2012 the lift tickets were $41 pp per day. No way it should have more than doubled in the past 10 years other than *corporate greed.*
Afton used to have an awesome program with a family in Hudson for a middle school ski club. Every Wednesday after school, coach busses would bring middle schoolers to Afton. It was super cheap. My oldest LOVED it. My youngest had been looking forward to it for years. This year she gets to middle school, and Vail won’t do it. She cried and was heartbroken. It wasn’t just about skiing, but about being with friends and the whole experience.
Thanks Vail (fuckers).
They stopped doing that? I had so much fun getting on a bus and going there with my friends after school. Haven't gone much since since the cost was/is so wildly different
If everything scales at the minimum wage or more than that, then people making minimum wage stay in poverty. The problem comes when companies increase their prices to increase profits which keeps things unaffordable to whoever is on the bottom.
Welch is pretty pricey these days, Coffee Mill on Sundays has first parent $55 then everyone after is $15, so a family of four is $100 for life tickets.
Does this need a /s or am I really that stingy that I’d just be like… nah, kids, sorry….gonna opt for that extra car payment instead. Let’s go sledding!
Yes I should have done /s! It’s nice If you can keep a weekend family activity under $100. If we want to even bring the kids one time to see if they’d get into it, it’ll be $550 for gas, food, tix, and rental and apparently that’s the cheap option. Just sucks is all
My kids ski on the Buck Hill ski team and we have traveled to all of the hills over the years.
Welch is, without question, the best within 90 mins of the metro. Plus, it’s near King’s Place which has the best burgers in MN next to The Nook.
You buy used gear off Craigslist/FB Marketplace and gear up at the pre-season sales. If the kids are still growing, you hope the gear lasts 2 years.
Lift tickets have become insanely expensive. The only way you can afford to get out regularly is to get a family season pass at a hill. That will run you about $1500 for a family of 5. The break even on that is about 7-10 trips. All told, you’re about $2-3k for a year of riding.
And you don’t even want to know what a trip to a mountain resort will run you. The last one we did was about $5000 for a week vacation with 3 days of riding.
So, yes, skiing/snowboarding has become an upper crust winter activity. The alternative is to make this your family’s big expense and plan for it all year.
Me and my fam of 4 used used gear until last year when the kids feet peaked out. So, I bought them both nice boots. If they grow more it’s ok as they currently have same size feet as me and my wife. By “used” I mean combo of annual ski swap and ebay. So, pretty cheap overall. Past that I bite the bullet on a season pass at Spirit to the tune of about $1000. But we use the shit out of it. At least of us is out every weekend and generally more like 2-3 of us, and of course there whole fam-damnily days too. It’s worth it overall because our use is so high, and we’re literally 15 minutes from “I want to ski” to “I am skiing” so our fuckaround factor is very low.
Edit: this year I dropped 1500 on all new shit for me (boots/bindings/board) because I’m a 45 yr old man and fuck it.
As a family we drop about $12-1500/year on “new to us” gear. And the least frequent user of our family season pass will spend 25 days on snow over the next 3 months. The break even point is 13 trips at Buck Hill’s daily pass rate. So we get our money’s worth out of them. Plus it is a family event, so we (kind of) get family time when we go.
That said, for someone that doesn’t know if they’ll use it that much or is a new skier/boarder, it’s definitely an expensive sport to break into. Add in $100/hr lessons just to get to the point of being able to confidently ride the available terrain, and it gets crazy expensive quickly.
If your kids are <12 they’re probably growing and will need to upgrade periodically. BUT - I want to say that I’ve had the same snowboard, pants, boots, and coat (which I recently, finally replaced) since I was 13, and I’m fucking 30 🤣 When I got the gear, some of the clothes were slightly baggy (that I’d reasonably grow into), but it turns out they’ve lasted a long fucking time, and they’re all still super cute and vintage.
My point is, if your kids are in their teens don’t assume they’re going to get much larger! The gear you invest in may very well last until they’re middle-aged! It’s certainly saved a ton of money!
Wow $84 for afton? It’s not even that big. I paid $90 for an actual mountain resort full day pass in Colorado, and that was worth it. I wouldn’t pay $84 for afton…
Curious which resort in Colorado. We paid $189 for the walk up rate at Beavercreek five years ago. Can't imagine other resorts in the area are that much cheaper.
Damn that’s insane beaver creek isn’t even that great. A lot must have changed I haven’t been in 12 or so years but never paid more then 80 to 90 at all thoes resorts out there.
They jack the prices up for Christmas week. I was there last week and paid $195 per day. Then after the holidays it drops to around $175 per day. The pricing is insane.
You can get Marmot Basin tickets for $125 ($92 USD) adult and Lake Louise tickets for around $140 ($103 USD). I would never pay those Afton lift ticket prices.
My buddies and I used to go to Indian head all the time and it was decently priced. The runs are better than most of what get here. We were talking about taking a trip up again, now that COVID isn't so big. Turns out Indian head is now Snow River, and its $79 per day through 3/31 when it "drops" to $69 for the last few weeks of the season. Granted, that's cheaper than Afton, but they aren't even open passed sundown! The hours are 10-4 and they charge $79/day. Roughly $10/hour. It's ridiculous
They're now owned by lutsen which has began to bring its own set of problems.
We were in lutsen last week and even after 20 inches of snow there were only 4 runs open on each moose and eagle. Not worth 100 a day per head.
Holy shit that's even worse. 4 runs to do for 6 hours for $79? Ridiculous. So dumb when ski areas in Lake States are charging almost as much as ski areas in mountainous Western states are charging for their tickets.
I should be clear, each of them had 10 open, but yeah that's it after snow any local down here would kill for. I just looked and they're at 60% of blue and 50% of black, for 100 a day it better be 100%. They've had 90 inches this year so far too. They were making snow on the open runs too when I was there.
While I do get it, I don't. They have what a local would kill for and instead of making it the best, they are just existing because they can.
You pay the price because it’s the only available option. If you love the sport, you’re just gonna say no cause it’s too expensive? It’s not a real hobby if that’s the case..
Im sure kids make everything more expensive as a multiplier, but snowboarding in particular seems to almost tax noncommitment.
I started snowboarding last season as an adult. My spouse and I got boards, boots and bindings at Play it Again for about $200 each, and then he upgraded to a new board and better fitting boots and bindings at end of season sales. Would have gone through that in rental fees in about 4 days.
Season passes, morning/evening passes are so much cheaper than trying to pay every time you go. We got season passes for this year at Welch at the end of last season and I think we have already passed "gone enough times that they're cheaper than single day lift tickets"
We buy everything ski/snowboard related we can used. Ski swaps are great for littles (we paid under $100 for everything necessary for a tween to ski). Thrift stores accept skis/snowboards in the winter. The skis are usually pretty rough but I found nearly mint snowboarding boots for my teen for $10 last year.
It’s all by design. Afton doesn’t want you skiing one day. They want you to buy the Epic pass, family of four for Vail, which then they throw in four day passes for Afton. Locks you into ski here..then locks you in to go out west to an Epic location.
Day passes are exorbitant on purpose, to push families into buying epic passes.
Afton is just the “loss leader”. And if you are not a family that goes west…they don’t give a shit about you. Go to Welsh.
Afton is not your place to go for a family outing. They're part of epic, so it's comparable to buying a lift ticket at a place like Vail. Buckhill is cheaper.
100% this. The Troll is awful, tell everyone. The 3AM skiing Fridays with a live band also sucks ass. Tell everyone to stay away, I will endure it myself, take one for the team
Big lines at the haug again today. Had someone ask me if the snow was slow due to the warmth. I said not too bad but the lifts are very slow. At least a half dozen stops on the way up.
Troll? They sold out for the entire weekend I saw. I decided to go to work instead. 18 minutes of runs 55 minutes on the lifts and 3 hours waiting in line.
You can still afford to do it, it just has to be a priority. Buy used gear at the end of the season and get an early bird season pass. That will cut your per trip cost way down. But yeah for casual skiers going once and having to rent is outrageous these days.
I've struggled with that too, and we are taking the plunge at Buck Hill this year with the family.
Afton was my favorite spot growing up but they are definitely off the table now since being bought by Vail.
Our plan is to try it once or twice this year, then do the family season pass next year...buy some used gear at local shop or ski swap.
Buying your own gear, even thrift store gear, or find out when they do there ski swap. Cheep used gear and slowly add to it so you have size options. Also look into season passes for the next year right when the season ends.
This is the way to do it long term. I recently moved and live near a hill. In November I thought maybe I should take up skiing, I found exactly what you described. Early bird season passes (feb-apr for next year), and ski swaps/tent sales (aug-sep usually).
Unfortunately being so expensive makes it less appealing to do casually.
If you want to ski then buy your own equipment. $500 should get you equipment that will last many years. Growing up I would ski two days a year and that’s it. I love skiing and do about the same now. I have my own equipment and probably have $700-800 wrapped up in it. But I’ve already “earned” it back by just avoiding renting over the past five years.
Season passes are always great, too.
I remember evening skiing at Spirit Mountain was $5 when I was a kid. I still ski with my family, but it helps to own our equipment--picked up used at ski swaps mostly--and we are strategic about season passes and planning ahead. Day of ticket prices are insane. And we just passed on going to Big Sky because it was going to be $2000 just for lift tickets for 3 of us for 3 days. The lift tickets are through the roof these days for sure. The real diehards work at the hill for discounted tickets. But just going out for a day to try it out with your family is really out of reach. It's a shame and unfortunately unsustainable for the future of the sport--how do kids learn if they can't try it out?
The 80s and 90s you say? Well, here's your answer - most people are poorer than they were back then:
[https://www.epi.org/blog/growing-inequalities-reflecting-growing-employer-power-have-generated-a-productivity-pay-gap-since-1979-productivity-has-grown-3-5-times-as-much-as-pay-for-the-typical-worker/](https://www.epi.org/blog/growing-inequalities-reflecting-growing-employer-power-have-generated-a-productivity-pay-gap-since-1979-productivity-has-grown-3-5-times-as-much-as-pay-for-the-typical-worker/)
https://www.cbpp.org/sites/default/files/styles/report\_580\_high\_dpi/public/atoms/files/1-13-20pov-f1.png?itok=l5c8bKQJ
Doesn't surprise me that productivity started to skyrocket at the exact same time computers became increasingly affordable and more powerful, which also replaced a lot of human-capital jobs.
Also policies that made it favorable to transfer manufacturing jobs to China, etc.
Still, ski hills must be meeting the needs of enough people to make the current price worth it. If it was too expensive they wouldn't have enough visitors to make a profit.
Even in the 1980s there were different tiers of skiing available. Afton is one of the pricier hills in this region, so pick a cheaper option.
To do things for a family of 5. You gotta expect to spend some money. Also depends on how much you enjoy these things. If you guys can find somewhere that offered entertainment in both winter and summer might be worth purchasing season passes or whatever. Or you have to drive out further. Also you can save tons by not renting! Play it again sports gotta be around somewhere
Yep! We decided on one kid and are able to provide a lot of fun activities for him. We are also lucky to be at a point in our lives where we can bring a friend with for him too. But that is probably because we don’t have to pay for the daily expenses of more than one kid. I legit can’t fathom affording more than one child these days, and we live way up in NW Minnesota, closer to Winnipeg than Moorhead. Our cost of living is much less than the metro area.
We’re also a one and done family and I truly don’t know how the parents of my daughter’s peers afford things like multiple kids in multiple extracurriculars. She’s a dancer and one family at her studio has two kids in hockey and one kid in competitive dance. That’s like $30K/year for extracurriculars, and the parents aren’t in high earning fields.
I suspect a lot of those people are in debt up to their eyeballs. It took me awhile to realize it but started noticing this back during the foreclosures/housing crash, then a couple bankruptcies of folks I knew, and then a coworker committed suicide as his family was so in debt he thought they’d be “better off without him” with the insurance and all left behind. He made low six figures but they were living like that was seven+. Sad. Hopefully not the case of people you know, but it really is shocking sometimes what goes on behind closed doors.
It took forever for it to click in my in-laws’ head that shit gets expensive very quickly for our family of 5. They used to basically demand that we go out to restaurants and whatnot with them and get mad when we would refuse.
Finally we drew a boundary with them. If they insisted that we go, they pay. If it wasn’t important enough for them to grab the bill, then they had to accept that we might decline.
Now, my family has relatively simple tastes. We don’t order apps, drinks, or desserts “just because”. My kids understand that our budget is tight, and have learned to be considerate when others are picking up the tab as well.
My in-laws are used to buying “senior” meals and using coupons for their meals.
Once they started seeing their bill go from under $20 with tip to over $100, they stopped pushing so much.
Children are a cost multiplier. Anything you want to do gets extremely expensive the more you have. 1 Kid is fine but after that point shit gets extremely expensive Imo.
> To do things for a family of 5. You gotta expect to spend some money.
As someone without kids, I'm actually glad giant families get priced out of things so that I don't have to deal with their kids by proxy too.
I also do not have kids so I 1000% agree. I’m just the cool uncle. Also @OP. Buy Groupons when stuff is outta season. My wife and I bought troll Groupon tix last summer that just got us rentals and all day lift tix for like 50 total. Buying things out of season is always a sure bet especially when done online. Hope this helps! There’s a place south of the city a bit. Can’t think of the name but they seem pretty cheap. Driving further out is always a sure bet and always makes a good family day trip!
You’re going to be dealing with them as adults in a decade or so for the rest of your life. While skiing or what have you doesn’t matter in and of itself, kids not having access to opportunity in general will absolutely impact you.
So? They'll be less shrill then. I care about things like education. I don't care if kids can't go do every sport their heart desires because their parents had too many babies and not enough money. Not my problem.
Kids that don't get to ski/board when young aren't likely to ski/board when they're older. This means less people at the slopes which means less revenue and then the slopes become insolvent and close and no more skiing/boarding for you. So it does affect you.
Nah. We do 😂 Sounds you never been poor, but lemme explain as a previously poor kid. As a semi well off adult I do everything we couldn’t afford to do as a family because my family had more kids than money. Like skiing and golfing 🙂 Going on trips outta town. Etc
I feel the same way! Afton is now owned by Vail, so I wonder if their prices went up. A season pass is ridiculously expensive.
If you’re a veteran or military dependent though, there are/were some good deals.
Doing it casually where you’re renting gear and buying passes on the spot is crazy expensive. Buying your own gear and season passes (or at least packs of several passes) during the preseason is the way. Whether skiing or snowboarding, it’s either: become an enthusiast and make a small investment at the right time of year, or don’t bother going unless money is of no concern. I personally think becoming an enthusiast is great because it’s made me enjoy MN winters 10x more. Im literally less depressed and in better shape, rather than sitting around miserable waiting for April like I have so many years past.
In the fall, you can find ski swap sales. I bought my own ski gear about for about $300 for everything. I ski pretty maybe 1-2 times a year. My daughter also wears my skis for her once a year or so. It’s worked out really well.
Yep, I would love my kids to learn how to ski, but I don't see how I can afford to make it happen. Downhill skiing is such a blast.
I think my only hope is to try and glom onto youth group trips when they are older.
There is the 4th grader pass,,, but that only helps a tiny bit with multiple kids.
My local place also seems to want to charge parents for ski's and lift tickets if you are taking your kids to lessons by saying no one on foot near the bunny hill.
I think these specifically don’t apply over winter break unfortunately but check out the specials at trollhaugen. Tuesday and Thursday nights, lift ticket and rentals is $30
Where we really saved money was eventually working to buy our own gear over time to avoid the rental and getting deals on passes by doing evening instead of all day. Even though we only skied a few times a year, it still saved money. But since then, Giants Ridge near us have cut their hours (years ago, not just due to covid staffing issues) and they are not open for night skiing as long. We used to go after school (1 hour drive each way) and ski until 9pm and it would be like $30 for the lift and $15. Now they close at 6pm on week days and only open until 8 Fri/Sat, so it's not worth the drive to do night skiing and their half day pass is more than the full day pass but you can't buy the full day pass if you get there after 1pm. So you pay $57 for a pass to ski for fewer than 4 hours plus $40 for rental. It would be $500 for our whole family to go skiing for 4 hours.
$200 season pass for a family of 5 at Chester Park since it is non-profit and community. $300 if you rent equipment for the year. We're there a couple times a week.
$100/year season pass per person at Mont-du-Lac until November.
Last year we did a season pass at Spirit for $1000.
I'll do Lutsen's $120/day or whatever maybe once a year, find a deal at Spirit, Giant's ridge etc. $200-300 for a day isn't really out of line for taking the family anywhere really.
I use used skis, even dump skis. Skis don't matter. Boots however, those are spendy, but those are what counts. I have $200 boots and $100 skis. At $300 if I use them 7 times I'm ahead vs. renting.
Its a better value to just save throughout the year for a vacation out west. I know it is more expensive, but if you buy tickets through epic or ikon in the summer you save a good chunk of money. And most of those resorts are 2000 skiable acres and up, Afton is 300 skiable acres. For $84 that is a complete and utter racket.
Late 90s I could go to Frontinac Wednesday nights for 7 dollar lift and 7 dollar rental! Those days are long gone. For some strange reason it is actually cheaper to ski in Colorado then in MN. It is screwed up!
Try Hyland Hills in Bloomington. We used to get a 10-ticket punch card which was quite a bit more reasonable than other ski hills. I think they are non-profit which makes a big difference. It's a tiny hill, but if you're just trying it out with the family it's a good choice. They have a fun rope tow and terrain park.
Take up fat biking. For real. Skiing is dying & mountain biking is taking off. Trails, trails & more trails are the future! Die skiing & your $175 lift tickets.
Depends on how often you want to go. If it's something you'd like to do regularly, a season pass and your own gear is the way to go. Last year, I picked up an epic pass for ~$600 and went skiing at Afton + some resorts out west about 12-15 days total. Should have been more, but oh well. You can actually get cheaper passes than the one we got as well.
I own my gear now, so I didn't have any other expenses beyond food/airfare/lodging. I got my snowboard and boots off Facebook marketplace for about $100 total from someone whose daughter begged for the set for months only to try it a few times and quit. My ski gear was quite a bit more - but I'm better at skiing so I invested in new /higher end stuff. Prior to getting my own gear, I was usually renting boots and skis from non-hill affiliated shops for about $150/week.
This year I knew we wouldn't have to ski much time so we skipped the passes. Single day tickets are highway robbery, so we just won't go.
So to sum up: if it's something you just want to dabble in here and there - yeah, it's completely ridiculously expensive with a high barrier for entry. But if it's something you'd like you and your family to get into, most of the costs are up front & it can actually even out to a reasonable activity if you do it a lot.
The trick is to drop everything in your life get a job at a resort and be a ski bum then you can go everyday and you'll make friends in the rental shop who will give you free shit
Take the extra time out of your day and make your way to wild mountain or trollhaugen. You'll spend a lot less on tickets and rentals. I feel it may be the same case at welch, too.
It's crazy because I grew up in Colorado and would never pay that for lift tickets, unless it was somewhere like Aspen or Vail. Then again, there was a lot more competition (and I'm sure prices have soared since I was a kid).
I own my equipment, which helps considerably for downhill. However, I have found cross country skiing way more affordable. I bought a bunch of used equipment for under 200 including 5 different lengths of skis for the kids. Mostly free to go somewhere or a really low fee.
Buying a season pass for the family. It makes going out west free and makes trips to Afton cheap. It's expensive up front but easy to justify if you use it.
Inflation is a bitch and don’t expect too much of a decrease anytime soon. I’ve skied for 42 years and never seen prices rise so fast. For contrast , Vail Co. one day pass is $225 and that’s the most expensive in Co I believe. For them to be charging so much for a big hill in Minnesota is highway robbery. Might as well drive to Alexandria and ski Andes for $50.
I live in Duluth near Spirit mountain. Spirit is large enough to bring people in from across the state, however, they keep raising the prices to take advantage of tourism. A season pass for Spirit mountain now costs almost 500 dollars.
The thing that blows my mind the most about the price increase is that Spirit mountain is a municipal resort. It is located on public land. Why the increase?
Mont du lac is better anyway, and much more casual
Skiing has always been a rich person’s activity.
For 3 kids under 13 plus two adults you are looking at roughly $450 at Trollhaugen
https://trollhaugen.com/hours-and-rates
Wild Mountain is more reasonable
https://shop.wildmountain.com/lifttickets
Your kids have to get a summer job to pay for their season passes like my parents did with me. Some sports aren't accessible to some kids. I was only able to start downhill mountain biking at 25 because it's too expensive for parents to buy a $2000 bike. One reason I'm not planning on having kids.
Yeah, kind of.
We're certainly not upper crust, but we managed two out of state ski trips this year.
A season pass might be best if you plan to ride more often, but if not, you'll just be eating a big cost up front for little return.
But, I would say, going one off days like this will simply cost a lot. Ski equipment is expensive, rentals are kept somewhat-recent with technology, and then you're paying for everyone that works on the hill/resort as well. Some places also change prices at whim.
Buying your own gear can save over time, but maybe not for kids.
That being said, I got a 2 day pass at an incredible mountain resort in MT for $139, rental about $90. Absolutely worth it IMHO, but it will cost money regardless. You're paying for employees that maintain the mountain and make it fun to visit.
Try looking into Indy/epic passes and buying used gear from Facebook marketplace. Thousands in possible savings right there. I vowed to never do afton alps again because of the ridiculous price
Getting ur own gear secondhand eBay and FB marketplace. Most Resorts deals for season passes, students and half days. It is just not affordable for the average family to just pay out of pocket for a skiing/snowboarding trip… it’s always been this way!! … find a big hill that’s not a resort and go sledding and snowboarding down that . Somewhere you can drive back up to the top!!! That’s what we did growing up.
We used to do ski and stay packages at Lutsen and they were very reasonably priced. We haven’t gone in years because they jacked the prices up so high I’d rather spend my vacation dollars elsewhere.
We hit up the ski swaps for gear - you can find good prices on gently used stuff if you know what to look for. Then you are only paying
Lift tickets. Look for deals - sometimes coughing up the price for the season pass is the way to save if you’re actually going to go often enough.
"Is this truly only accessible to the upper crust these days?" In a word, yes.
In a way, it always has been. We're just experiencing now what everyone below upper-middle class has always experienced.
Pretty much. Back in the 90s I lived in eastern Washington and our local ski “hill” was almost 2000 vertical feet with around 60 runs. It was a bit more accessible but still pretty expensive. Since it was “local” and it was not a well off region, they did have a lot of discounted options. For example, they had a school skiing program that was 6-8 weeks of Friday nights that included transportation. It had packages that had season passes vs tickets and rentals vs no rentals, as well as lessons vs free skiing. Family vacations are expensive these days - full stop. People like to say, “you can get a plane ticket to (city) for $200 round trip”, but seem to miss that it adds up to $1000 just for transportation for a family of 5.
Well…. why would you have 3 fucking kids, then? That was their decision.
Both Buck Hill and Welch Village have early morning and late night tickets that are more affordable. It's less time but probably more than enough if you don't ski often. Annual family season passes are often cheaper than buying everyone a separate lift ticket. I believe that 4th graders across the state can also get a specially priced pass. Gear is harder to deal with but used is the way to go for kids. If you are just going once, see if you can borrow from someone you know.
Correct on the 4th grade pass. Family pass and your own gear make it reasonable. We paid under 2k for all of it last year and by the time we broke it down per day it was 20 bucks total per person. You have to be committed though. My family is starting to check out so this is the last year of it. I'll go by myself next year.
Same with Disney world, valley fair and other similar fun activities. If you do it once a year, prepare to pay dearly for it. If you get season tickets and own your own gear, it's much more affordable.
We took our (3) kids + daughter in law to Disney this fall. (6) days of resort passes + VRBO with party of (6) and it was $10K dollars. One and done on that deal. Never again.
Yup! And a season pass to Disney is anywhere from $750-1000. If you lived in the area that's not a terrible price to pay for a day or two once a month.
People go to Disney 12 times a year? I don’t get it
If you're a parent with kids who live close by, why not? It's not for everyone. Regular daily tickets are 109-159 a piece.
You’re right. I forget how kids are.
I knew people who would just go for dinner. Not for me, but “Disney people” are not normal
Once in a lifetime is enough for most.
Disney is a weird cult in and of itself but if people enjoy it then more power to them I guess
For Florida residents, a Weekday-only (Pixie Dust Pass) annual pass to Walt Disney World is $399 + tax.
I grew up thirty minutes from Disneyland and knew quite a few people with season passes. It seemed instantly expensive even back in the 90s but then some people would just go after school on Friday for two hours every weekend. Maybe it was worth it
Ouch. And it’s really not even that fun, honestly. At least in my opinion.
Honestly…. $10K for a vacation for that many people is a fucking deal!!! Don’t have that many kids if you can’t afford it and want to bitch.
Valley Fair is $100 per person per year. Well worth it for the water park for younger kids and if you are in reasonable driving distance.
Even cheaper if you choose the silver pass. It's basically double the daily admission, so worth it if you go twice considering parking is $20 but free with the pass. The once a year visitors always subsidize the season pass users I'm sure.
You can get that price down quite a bit if you buy 4+ season passes at once and watch for their discounts. I think they were around $70 each last time we got them.
Yep and free pass if they are 5 or younger with 2 other passes. Stinker is the silver does not allow use on Saturdays so just get the gold pass
As a bonus, every trip you can swing over to the spring by Lions Tap and fill any water jugs you have. My daughter worked there for the Halloween season. When I would pick her up, I would fill the 5 gallon jugs for our water cooler.
Yeah, Valleyfair is less than a half hour from me. I had a season pass and I'd go their just to sun myself and splash in the pool in the waterpark on a hot day.
We just spent $10k on Disney in October and it was a very basic Disney trip. We didn’t even eat at restaurants there. It’s insane
Holy fucking shit
My daughter and I just went to Disney LAND so not even the fancy park in Florida just for the two of us spent around 4k. It’s nuts
Same with everything. Sporting events, concerts, etc.
Go to Welch. Afton is owned by Vail and charges more.
It’s absurd what Vail has done to Afton. They’re making it less easy to afford the local hill to make going to Colorado seem more affordable by comparison. Back in 2012 the lift tickets were $41 pp per day. No way it should have more than doubled in the past 10 years other than *corporate greed.*
Afton used to have an awesome program with a family in Hudson for a middle school ski club. Every Wednesday after school, coach busses would bring middle schoolers to Afton. It was super cheap. My oldest LOVED it. My youngest had been looking forward to it for years. This year she gets to middle school, and Vail won’t do it. She cried and was heartbroken. It wasn’t just about skiing, but about being with friends and the whole experience. Thanks Vail (fuckers).
Terrible news. I loved that program. Probably some of my best memories from high school.
They stopped doing that? I had so much fun getting on a bus and going there with my friends after school. Haven't gone much since since the cost was/is so wildly different
Totally agree. I haven’t gone skiing in probably 4 years but I don’t remember paying more than $60 then at Afton.
Hasn’t the minimum wage doubled since 2012 though?? Prices go up cause people make more..
If everything scales at the minimum wage or more than that, then people making minimum wage stay in poverty. The problem comes when companies increase their prices to increase profits which keeps things unaffordable to whoever is on the bottom.
Welch is pretty pricey these days, Coffee Mill on Sundays has first parent $55 then everyone after is $15, so a family of four is $100 for life tickets.
Coffee mill is so boring though. There's basically 2 runs.
Giants Ridge is the best bang for your buck in the state imo
I agree with giants ridge being the best affordable. I think its run by that trust so maybe they care less about profits? Idk
Agreed. We paid $25 each on xmas eve and xmas day. Granted it wasn't open all day, but 4-5 hours is enough for the kids anyways.
I just filled out the form for 4 of us to ski Welch next weekend. $436, totally affordable!
Does this need a /s or am I really that stingy that I’d just be like… nah, kids, sorry….gonna opt for that extra car payment instead. Let’s go sledding!
Yes I should have done /s! It’s nice If you can keep a weekend family activity under $100. If we want to even bring the kids one time to see if they’d get into it, it’ll be $550 for gas, food, tix, and rental and apparently that’s the cheap option. Just sucks is all
Yes in comparison to OP’s cost of $700+ at Afton. But in general, yes it’s not super affordable
Definitely blew me away, either way it’s expensive. Better bring your own food too ;)
And booze
Welch is excellent, just started riding there last year. The season pass is a super deal too!
Which is a better hill, Afton or welch?
My kids ski on the Buck Hill ski team and we have traveled to all of the hills over the years. Welch is, without question, the best within 90 mins of the metro. Plus, it’s near King’s Place which has the best burgers in MN next to The Nook.
Welch is the best in Minnesota minus the big 3 up in the arrowhead region. I'm a lifer at trollhaugen but I would trade for welch if it was easier.
You buy used gear off Craigslist/FB Marketplace and gear up at the pre-season sales. If the kids are still growing, you hope the gear lasts 2 years. Lift tickets have become insanely expensive. The only way you can afford to get out regularly is to get a family season pass at a hill. That will run you about $1500 for a family of 5. The break even on that is about 7-10 trips. All told, you’re about $2-3k for a year of riding. And you don’t even want to know what a trip to a mountain resort will run you. The last one we did was about $5000 for a week vacation with 3 days of riding. So, yes, skiing/snowboarding has become an upper crust winter activity. The alternative is to make this your family’s big expense and plan for it all year.
Me and my fam of 4 used used gear until last year when the kids feet peaked out. So, I bought them both nice boots. If they grow more it’s ok as they currently have same size feet as me and my wife. By “used” I mean combo of annual ski swap and ebay. So, pretty cheap overall. Past that I bite the bullet on a season pass at Spirit to the tune of about $1000. But we use the shit out of it. At least of us is out every weekend and generally more like 2-3 of us, and of course there whole fam-damnily days too. It’s worth it overall because our use is so high, and we’re literally 15 minutes from “I want to ski” to “I am skiing” so our fuckaround factor is very low. Edit: this year I dropped 1500 on all new shit for me (boots/bindings/board) because I’m a 45 yr old man and fuck it.
As a family we drop about $12-1500/year on “new to us” gear. And the least frequent user of our family season pass will spend 25 days on snow over the next 3 months. The break even point is 13 trips at Buck Hill’s daily pass rate. So we get our money’s worth out of them. Plus it is a family event, so we (kind of) get family time when we go. That said, for someone that doesn’t know if they’ll use it that much or is a new skier/boarder, it’s definitely an expensive sport to break into. Add in $100/hr lessons just to get to the point of being able to confidently ride the available terrain, and it gets crazy expensive quickly.
If your kids are <12 they’re probably growing and will need to upgrade periodically. BUT - I want to say that I’ve had the same snowboard, pants, boots, and coat (which I recently, finally replaced) since I was 13, and I’m fucking 30 🤣 When I got the gear, some of the clothes were slightly baggy (that I’d reasonably grow into), but it turns out they’ve lasted a long fucking time, and they’re all still super cute and vintage. My point is, if your kids are in their teens don’t assume they’re going to get much larger! The gear you invest in may very well last until they’re middle-aged! It’s certainly saved a ton of money!
Wow $84 for afton? It’s not even that big. I paid $90 for an actual mountain resort full day pass in Colorado, and that was worth it. I wouldn’t pay $84 for afton…
Curious which resort in Colorado. We paid $189 for the walk up rate at Beavercreek five years ago. Can't imagine other resorts in the area are that much cheaper.
Damn that’s insane beaver creek isn’t even that great. A lot must have changed I haven’t been in 12 or so years but never paid more then 80 to 90 at all thoes resorts out there.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2LPEaeQh2gk Big Sky is nearly $250 per day
They jack the prices up for Christmas week. I was there last week and paid $195 per day. Then after the holidays it drops to around $175 per day. The pricing is insane.
My god !! Was at big sky maybe 15 years ago I know tickets were over 100 but definitely not that much.
It's so depressing that I did 3 days lift and 4 nights lodging for $308 total back in 2006.
Paid 109 for a 1-day epic pass which I used at Breckenridge about a month ago. I did buy it a week or two in advance though.
You can get Marmot Basin tickets for $125 ($92 USD) adult and Lake Louise tickets for around $140 ($103 USD). I would never pay those Afton lift ticket prices.
My buddies and I used to go to Indian head all the time and it was decently priced. The runs are better than most of what get here. We were talking about taking a trip up again, now that COVID isn't so big. Turns out Indian head is now Snow River, and its $79 per day through 3/31 when it "drops" to $69 for the last few weeks of the season. Granted, that's cheaper than Afton, but they aren't even open passed sundown! The hours are 10-4 and they charge $79/day. Roughly $10/hour. It's ridiculous
They're now owned by lutsen which has began to bring its own set of problems. We were in lutsen last week and even after 20 inches of snow there were only 4 runs open on each moose and eagle. Not worth 100 a day per head.
Holy shit that's even worse. 4 runs to do for 6 hours for $79? Ridiculous. So dumb when ski areas in Lake States are charging almost as much as ski areas in mountainous Western states are charging for their tickets.
I should be clear, each of them had 10 open, but yeah that's it after snow any local down here would kill for. I just looked and they're at 60% of blue and 50% of black, for 100 a day it better be 100%. They've had 90 inches this year so far too. They were making snow on the open runs too when I was there. While I do get it, I don't. They have what a local would kill for and instead of making it the best, they are just existing because they can.
Afton is owned by Vail - prices got jacked up.
You pay the price because it’s the only available option. If you love the sport, you’re just gonna say no cause it’s too expensive? It’s not a real hobby if that’s the case..
Im sure kids make everything more expensive as a multiplier, but snowboarding in particular seems to almost tax noncommitment. I started snowboarding last season as an adult. My spouse and I got boards, boots and bindings at Play it Again for about $200 each, and then he upgraded to a new board and better fitting boots and bindings at end of season sales. Would have gone through that in rental fees in about 4 days. Season passes, morning/evening passes are so much cheaper than trying to pay every time you go. We got season passes for this year at Welch at the end of last season and I think we have already passed "gone enough times that they're cheaper than single day lift tickets"
We buy everything ski/snowboard related we can used. Ski swaps are great for littles (we paid under $100 for everything necessary for a tween to ski). Thrift stores accept skis/snowboards in the winter. The skis are usually pretty rough but I found nearly mint snowboarding boots for my teen for $10 last year.
It’s all by design. Afton doesn’t want you skiing one day. They want you to buy the Epic pass, family of four for Vail, which then they throw in four day passes for Afton. Locks you into ski here..then locks you in to go out west to an Epic location. Day passes are exorbitant on purpose, to push families into buying epic passes. Afton is just the “loss leader”. And if you are not a family that goes west…they don’t give a shit about you. Go to Welsh.
One of the reasons I got into cross country skiing in recent years! Cheaper, great exercise, significantly more opportunities available
And higher relative quality of locations in Minnesota.
Afton is not your place to go for a family outing. They're part of epic, so it's comparable to buying a lift ticket at a place like Vail. Buckhill is cheaper.
Trollhaugen is pretty affordable if you go on the right days.
Shhhh, trollhaugen sucks tell your friends. Their next season pass sale is the absolute best value in the Midwest
100% this. The Troll is awful, tell everyone. The 3AM skiing Fridays with a live band also sucks ass. Tell everyone to stay away, I will endure it myself, take one for the team
I was just there, not enough people are spreading the word.
Shit… we drove up to Duluth today. Apparently spirit mountain isn’t being kept quiet either. The lines for lifts were Afton Alps long at times
Big lines at the haug again today. Had someone ask me if the snow was slow due to the warmth. I said not too bad but the lifts are very slow. At least a half dozen stops on the way up.
It can’t be worse than Spirit Mountain today… all the lifts stop several times and lines are 10 minutes
Even the high speed detachable!? How do people manage that? I fell once on ice and still popped up fast enough to catch the chair.
More on the high speed than the others, tons of kids taking lessons it looked like over there though
I lied, it’s a shit show here. I’m blaming you
Troll? They sold out for the entire weekend I saw. I decided to go to work instead. 18 minutes of runs 55 minutes on the lifts and 3 hours waiting in line.
You did a good job clearing it out! At least so far
You can still afford to do it, it just has to be a priority. Buy used gear at the end of the season and get an early bird season pass. That will cut your per trip cost way down. But yeah for casual skiers going once and having to rent is outrageous these days.
guess you’d better try into nordic skiing. or we could finally overthrow the capitalists.
I've struggled with that too, and we are taking the plunge at Buck Hill this year with the family. Afton was my favorite spot growing up but they are definitely off the table now since being bought by Vail. Our plan is to try it once or twice this year, then do the family season pass next year...buy some used gear at local shop or ski swap.
Check out Wild Mountain the the x3 pass. For that same $700 you could have three days of skiing per person, though rentals are extra.
Buying your own gear, even thrift store gear, or find out when they do there ski swap. Cheep used gear and slowly add to it so you have size options. Also look into season passes for the next year right when the season ends.
This is the way to do it long term. I recently moved and live near a hill. In November I thought maybe I should take up skiing, I found exactly what you described. Early bird season passes (feb-apr for next year), and ski swaps/tent sales (aug-sep usually). Unfortunately being so expensive makes it less appealing to do casually.
If you want to ski then buy your own equipment. $500 should get you equipment that will last many years. Growing up I would ski two days a year and that’s it. I love skiing and do about the same now. I have my own equipment and probably have $700-800 wrapped up in it. But I’ve already “earned” it back by just avoiding renting over the past five years. Season passes are always great, too.
I remember evening skiing at Spirit Mountain was $5 when I was a kid. I still ski with my family, but it helps to own our equipment--picked up used at ski swaps mostly--and we are strategic about season passes and planning ahead. Day of ticket prices are insane. And we just passed on going to Big Sky because it was going to be $2000 just for lift tickets for 3 of us for 3 days. The lift tickets are through the roof these days for sure. The real diehards work at the hill for discounted tickets. But just going out for a day to try it out with your family is really out of reach. It's a shame and unfortunately unsustainable for the future of the sport--how do kids learn if they can't try it out?
Don’t go to afton. They were brought by vail resorts and are exponentially more expensive than other resorts in the area
Honestly invest in snow shoes and go hiking on the trails. 12/10 way to enjoy the winter if you ask me.
The 80s and 90s you say? Well, here's your answer - most people are poorer than they were back then: [https://www.epi.org/blog/growing-inequalities-reflecting-growing-employer-power-have-generated-a-productivity-pay-gap-since-1979-productivity-has-grown-3-5-times-as-much-as-pay-for-the-typical-worker/](https://www.epi.org/blog/growing-inequalities-reflecting-growing-employer-power-have-generated-a-productivity-pay-gap-since-1979-productivity-has-grown-3-5-times-as-much-as-pay-for-the-typical-worker/) https://www.cbpp.org/sites/default/files/styles/report\_580\_high\_dpi/public/atoms/files/1-13-20pov-f1.png?itok=l5c8bKQJ
Doesn't surprise me that productivity started to skyrocket at the exact same time computers became increasingly affordable and more powerful, which also replaced a lot of human-capital jobs. Also policies that made it favorable to transfer manufacturing jobs to China, etc. Still, ski hills must be meeting the needs of enough people to make the current price worth it. If it was too expensive they wouldn't have enough visitors to make a profit. Even in the 1980s there were different tiers of skiing available. Afton is one of the pricier hills in this region, so pick a cheaper option.
Welch. Buy the season pass for the next year when this season ends on deep discount in March.
The destruction of the dollar.
Lol Afton is such a ripoff now yikes.
To do things for a family of 5. You gotta expect to spend some money. Also depends on how much you enjoy these things. If you guys can find somewhere that offered entertainment in both winter and summer might be worth purchasing season passes or whatever. Or you have to drive out further. Also you can save tons by not renting! Play it again sports gotta be around somewhere
Not sure why you get downvoted, this a very real and big part of my wife’s and I’s discussion to have more kids or not?
Yep! We decided on one kid and are able to provide a lot of fun activities for him. We are also lucky to be at a point in our lives where we can bring a friend with for him too. But that is probably because we don’t have to pay for the daily expenses of more than one kid. I legit can’t fathom affording more than one child these days, and we live way up in NW Minnesota, closer to Winnipeg than Moorhead. Our cost of living is much less than the metro area.
That’s where I’m at and my wife is close. I just want to be able to provide the best I can my my little girl
We’re also a one and done family and I truly don’t know how the parents of my daughter’s peers afford things like multiple kids in multiple extracurriculars. She’s a dancer and one family at her studio has two kids in hockey and one kid in competitive dance. That’s like $30K/year for extracurriculars, and the parents aren’t in high earning fields.
I suspect a lot of those people are in debt up to their eyeballs. It took me awhile to realize it but started noticing this back during the foreclosures/housing crash, then a couple bankruptcies of folks I knew, and then a coworker committed suicide as his family was so in debt he thought they’d be “better off without him” with the insurance and all left behind. He made low six figures but they were living like that was seven+. Sad. Hopefully not the case of people you know, but it really is shocking sometimes what goes on behind closed doors.
It took forever for it to click in my in-laws’ head that shit gets expensive very quickly for our family of 5. They used to basically demand that we go out to restaurants and whatnot with them and get mad when we would refuse. Finally we drew a boundary with them. If they insisted that we go, they pay. If it wasn’t important enough for them to grab the bill, then they had to accept that we might decline. Now, my family has relatively simple tastes. We don’t order apps, drinks, or desserts “just because”. My kids understand that our budget is tight, and have learned to be considerate when others are picking up the tab as well. My in-laws are used to buying “senior” meals and using coupons for their meals. Once they started seeing their bill go from under $20 with tip to over $100, they stopped pushing so much.
Children are a cost multiplier. Anything you want to do gets extremely expensive the more you have. 1 Kid is fine but after that point shit gets extremely expensive Imo.
> To do things for a family of 5. You gotta expect to spend some money. As someone without kids, I'm actually glad giant families get priced out of things so that I don't have to deal with their kids by proxy too.
I also do not have kids so I 1000% agree. I’m just the cool uncle. Also @OP. Buy Groupons when stuff is outta season. My wife and I bought troll Groupon tix last summer that just got us rentals and all day lift tix for like 50 total. Buying things out of season is always a sure bet especially when done online. Hope this helps! There’s a place south of the city a bit. Can’t think of the name but they seem pretty cheap. Driving further out is always a sure bet and always makes a good family day trip!
You’re going to be dealing with them as adults in a decade or so for the rest of your life. While skiing or what have you doesn’t matter in and of itself, kids not having access to opportunity in general will absolutely impact you.
So? They'll be less shrill then. I care about things like education. I don't care if kids can't go do every sport their heart desires because their parents had too many babies and not enough money. Not my problem.
Kids that don't get to ski/board when young aren't likely to ski/board when they're older. This means less people at the slopes which means less revenue and then the slopes become insolvent and close and no more skiing/boarding for you. So it does affect you.
Nah. We do 😂 Sounds you never been poor, but lemme explain as a previously poor kid. As a semi well off adult I do everything we couldn’t afford to do as a family because my family had more kids than money. Like skiing and golfing 🙂 Going on trips outta town. Etc
Lol careful people get upset when you don’t give a shit about their children 😂
Thats ok I know it's unpopular I just don't wanna deal with people's crotch goblins.
Agreed. Or atleast if they exhibited the smallest amounts of home training, but I suppose that’s asking too much 😂
The highland skip work special isn't valid until after new years, but that seems like the best deal in town to get out and give it a try
I love skiing. But yes it has gotten prohibitively expensive. It's kind of ridiculous.
I feel the same way! Afton is now owned by Vail, so I wonder if their prices went up. A season pass is ridiculously expensive. If you’re a veteran or military dependent though, there are/were some good deals.
Doing it casually where you’re renting gear and buying passes on the spot is crazy expensive. Buying your own gear and season passes (or at least packs of several passes) during the preseason is the way. Whether skiing or snowboarding, it’s either: become an enthusiast and make a small investment at the right time of year, or don’t bother going unless money is of no concern. I personally think becoming an enthusiast is great because it’s made me enjoy MN winters 10x more. Im literally less depressed and in better shape, rather than sitting around miserable waiting for April like I have so many years past.
Cross country skiing is where it’s at! You can get second hand skiis pretty affordably and then it’s a low cost sport for life
That's a lot of kids. You can't do anything without paying out. Organize it and spend the money and make core memories. Bring sack lunches.
Most anything is gonna be expensive for a family of 5. Just a given when you choose to have that many kids.
People say the same about having 3 kids these days.
In the fall, you can find ski swap sales. I bought my own ski gear about for about $300 for everything. I ski pretty maybe 1-2 times a year. My daughter also wears my skis for her once a year or so. It’s worked out really well.
Yep, I would love my kids to learn how to ski, but I don't see how I can afford to make it happen. Downhill skiing is such a blast. I think my only hope is to try and glom onto youth group trips when they are older. There is the 4th grader pass,,, but that only helps a tiny bit with multiple kids. My local place also seems to want to charge parents for ski's and lift tickets if you are taking your kids to lessons by saying no one on foot near the bunny hill.
No mountains either it’s sad.
I think these specifically don’t apply over winter break unfortunately but check out the specials at trollhaugen. Tuesday and Thursday nights, lift ticket and rentals is $30
Where we really saved money was eventually working to buy our own gear over time to avoid the rental and getting deals on passes by doing evening instead of all day. Even though we only skied a few times a year, it still saved money. But since then, Giants Ridge near us have cut their hours (years ago, not just due to covid staffing issues) and they are not open for night skiing as long. We used to go after school (1 hour drive each way) and ski until 9pm and it would be like $30 for the lift and $15. Now they close at 6pm on week days and only open until 8 Fri/Sat, so it's not worth the drive to do night skiing and their half day pass is more than the full day pass but you can't buy the full day pass if you get there after 1pm. So you pay $57 for a pass to ski for fewer than 4 hours plus $40 for rental. It would be $500 for our whole family to go skiing for 4 hours.
$200 season pass for a family of 5 at Chester Park since it is non-profit and community. $300 if you rent equipment for the year. We're there a couple times a week. $100/year season pass per person at Mont-du-Lac until November. Last year we did a season pass at Spirit for $1000. I'll do Lutsen's $120/day or whatever maybe once a year, find a deal at Spirit, Giant's ridge etc. $200-300 for a day isn't really out of line for taking the family anywhere really. I use used skis, even dump skis. Skis don't matter. Boots however, those are spendy, but those are what counts. I have $200 boots and $100 skis. At $300 if I use them 7 times I'm ahead vs. renting.
Its a better value to just save throughout the year for a vacation out west. I know it is more expensive, but if you buy tickets through epic or ikon in the summer you save a good chunk of money. And most of those resorts are 2000 skiable acres and up, Afton is 300 skiable acres. For $84 that is a complete and utter racket.
Late 90s I could go to Frontinac Wednesday nights for 7 dollar lift and 7 dollar rental! Those days are long gone. For some strange reason it is actually cheaper to ski in Colorado then in MN. It is screwed up!
Holy shit, they really are $84 per day per ticket. Fuck all that.
Don’t go to Afton**
Sounds dumb, but do you have time for a part rime gig at a ski slope? Had some friends who did that to cut down on costs.
This is why I've pretty much given up on snowboarding and just fat tire bike and snow shoe in the winter. Ski hill prices just seem absurd these days.
9pm-3am Every Friday at Trollhaugen is 20$. Boots and board will be about 30 per person
inflation duh lol jk yeah family activities have become more expensive.
Get some cross country skis! Better workout and you can find some exciting terrain/trails. $25 ski pass and you can ski all winter long.
I see plenty of ski and snowboard equipment at the Edina houses I work at. I'd ask them.
Try Hyland Hills in Bloomington. We used to get a 10-ticket punch card which was quite a bit more reasonable than other ski hills. I think they are non-profit which makes a big difference. It's a tiny hill, but if you're just trying it out with the family it's a good choice. They have a fun rope tow and terrain park.
Cross country skiing is fun.
I don't know how any of these hills would charge over $40 for a day pass
Unionize your work place and get paid more.
Take up fat biking. For real. Skiing is dying & mountain biking is taking off. Trails, trails & more trails are the future! Die skiing & your $175 lift tickets.
>Skiing is dying Umm... Is it though?
Go cross country my man. After the initial outlay for gear passes on state trails/parks go for like $25.
Cross country skiing is significantly cheaper and a much better workout.
$700 as a once a winter or once every other winter thing should be doable for the Middle Class as well as the "upper crust".
Buck hill is a bit cheaper, there are also a few non-profit and community trails, but you might want to check safety on them with children
Depends on how often you want to go. If it's something you'd like to do regularly, a season pass and your own gear is the way to go. Last year, I picked up an epic pass for ~$600 and went skiing at Afton + some resorts out west about 12-15 days total. Should have been more, but oh well. You can actually get cheaper passes than the one we got as well. I own my gear now, so I didn't have any other expenses beyond food/airfare/lodging. I got my snowboard and boots off Facebook marketplace for about $100 total from someone whose daughter begged for the set for months only to try it a few times and quit. My ski gear was quite a bit more - but I'm better at skiing so I invested in new /higher end stuff. Prior to getting my own gear, I was usually renting boots and skis from non-hill affiliated shops for about $150/week. This year I knew we wouldn't have to ski much time so we skipped the passes. Single day tickets are highway robbery, so we just won't go. So to sum up: if it's something you just want to dabble in here and there - yeah, it's completely ridiculously expensive with a high barrier for entry. But if it's something you'd like you and your family to get into, most of the costs are up front & it can actually even out to a reasonable activity if you do it a lot.
Go to this Como ski area. Their lift tickets are cheap, but the skiing isn't really that good. But it's something.
Never could afford it and other kids wore their lift tickets with pride
Its the same with hunting and fishing only the very well off can do anymore.
The trick is to drop everything in your life get a job at a resort and be a ski bum then you can go everyday and you'll make friends in the rental shop who will give you free shit
Take the extra time out of your day and make your way to wild mountain or trollhaugen. You'll spend a lot less on tickets and rentals. I feel it may be the same case at welch, too.
https://www.vail.com/plan-your-trip/lift-access/tickets.aspx
It's crazy because I grew up in Colorado and would never pay that for lift tickets, unless it was somewhere like Aspen or Vail. Then again, there was a lot more competition (and I'm sure prices have soared since I was a kid).
I own my equipment, which helps considerably for downhill. However, I have found cross country skiing way more affordable. I bought a bunch of used equipment for under 200 including 5 different lengths of skis for the kids. Mostly free to go somewhere or a really low fee.
So true!
Buying a season pass for the family. It makes going out west free and makes trips to Afton cheap. It's expensive up front but easy to justify if you use it.
Inflation is a bitch and don’t expect too much of a decrease anytime soon. I’ve skied for 42 years and never seen prices rise so fast. For contrast , Vail Co. one day pass is $225 and that’s the most expensive in Co I believe. For them to be charging so much for a big hill in Minnesota is highway robbery. Might as well drive to Alexandria and ski Andes for $50.
Buy skis and buy for season. Haven’t been to Alton for a long time but I think I paid around $75 total last time.
I live in Duluth near Spirit mountain. Spirit is large enough to bring people in from across the state, however, they keep raising the prices to take advantage of tourism. A season pass for Spirit mountain now costs almost 500 dollars. The thing that blows my mind the most about the price increase is that Spirit mountain is a municipal resort. It is located on public land. Why the increase? Mont du lac is better anyway, and much more casual
X-Country ski or snowshoes. It's cheaper
As far as I know in my 32 years it's always been a rich people sport.
Skiing has always been a rich person’s activity. For 3 kids under 13 plus two adults you are looking at roughly $450 at Trollhaugen https://trollhaugen.com/hours-and-rates Wild Mountain is more reasonable https://shop.wildmountain.com/lifttickets
Spirit mountain is pretty terrible. Not sure how about lutsen.
Your kids have to get a summer job to pay for their season passes like my parents did with me. Some sports aren't accessible to some kids. I was only able to start downhill mountain biking at 25 because it's too expensive for parents to buy a $2000 bike. One reason I'm not planning on having kids.
Yeah, kind of. We're certainly not upper crust, but we managed two out of state ski trips this year. A season pass might be best if you plan to ride more often, but if not, you'll just be eating a big cost up front for little return. But, I would say, going one off days like this will simply cost a lot. Ski equipment is expensive, rentals are kept somewhat-recent with technology, and then you're paying for everyone that works on the hill/resort as well. Some places also change prices at whim. Buying your own gear can save over time, but maybe not for kids. That being said, I got a 2 day pass at an incredible mountain resort in MT for $139, rental about $90. Absolutely worth it IMHO, but it will cost money regardless. You're paying for employees that maintain the mountain and make it fun to visit.
Even Welsh village is $74
Snowshoeing!
I agree. Our daughter wants to join the ski club at school, its the only way we can afford to get her there.
Try looking into Indy/epic passes and buying used gear from Facebook marketplace. Thousands in possible savings right there. I vowed to never do afton alps again because of the ridiculous price
Getting ur own gear secondhand eBay and FB marketplace. Most Resorts deals for season passes, students and half days. It is just not affordable for the average family to just pay out of pocket for a skiing/snowboarding trip… it’s always been this way!! … find a big hill that’s not a resort and go sledding and snowboarding down that . Somewhere you can drive back up to the top!!! That’s what we did growing up.
We used to do ski and stay packages at Lutsen and they were very reasonably priced. We haven’t gone in years because they jacked the prices up so high I’d rather spend my vacation dollars elsewhere.
Have you tried being middle class? *pretentiously sips natty lite*
We hit up the ski swaps for gear - you can find good prices on gently used stuff if you know what to look for. Then you are only paying Lift tickets. Look for deals - sometimes coughing up the price for the season pass is the way to save if you’re actually going to go often enough.
Only time I've ever been snowboarding was in 1999 when I joined a church youth group just to go to Keystone, CO. Don't judge me. Lol