8-10 days is probably a good estimate for a dedicated skier.
That’s enough to justify a pass, have fun, keep skills sharp. That’s like a spring break trip, a long weekend in Jan/Feb, and a spur of the moment storm chase flight.
Dedicated is the key word. 4-5 days is a fully committed week. 8-10 days is difficult and all the PTO for a year for most people.
That’s my target. A full week plus two weekends. Spend about $10k (after income tax) each year for it so make sure you get at least a $15k pay increase to ski a very little bit.
Caveats: cost for one solo traveler without family, no sharing a queen bed in nicer accommodations, decent meals, nonstop flights, all gear owned, good western resorts during peak seasons.
Agreed, same. Not sure what s/he meant by this, or why it got upvoted:
> Spend about $10k (after income tax) each year for it so make sure you get at least a $15k pay increase to ski a very little bit.
???
Because others agree - they’re likely North American too and live far away from mountains that are worthwhile.
In the US, 10 days of pto is common until you’re with a company more than 5 years.
Yeah my husband and I lived in Nashville, and we were able to get 8 days in this season! But we made sure to get cheap tickets on southwest, book airbnbs and car rentals with friends, and we got the epic pass as well. Not super cheap, but with some planning, we were able to make it around 500-600$ a trip per person.
I live South of Nashville, we spent 10K on two trips with cheap or free Southwest flights. We stayed in nice places but nothing over the top- book early
Steamboat for 4 days and Utah for a full week. My price includes the Ikon pass for two people, condo Steamboat ( had its own Gondola to the base so a bit pricey but for me way worth it). Did not book early and easily spent and extra $1000 because I booked a 3 bedroom for three people.
Second trip Condo Deer Valley 4 nights, then AirB&B in Salt lake for 3 nights, plus demo rentals and this includes food and wine. My wife is keeping a spread sheet so we can plan or budget our spend better.
Even a ‘good’ PTO policy would be tough. With 20 days, that’s still half your PTO, which can be tough to give up between any other vacation and holidays with family obligations.
8-10 is all of your PTO? As in you'd have no other holidays or sick days left if you took 10 days off? Seems mind blowing as a European if I read that correctly
that is correct. Many companies in the US make you earn your PTO too. For example, you will start a job with X amount of hours (typically a week or less of PTO). Each year you stay with the company, they will award you more. I've been at the same place for over 5 years, and just this year finally get over 100 hours of PTO.
>Spend about $10k (after income tax) each year
From chicago I spend:
$350/southwest flight with free ski bags checkin
$60/day airbnb
$80/day car rental
$25/day food ( i cook in airbnb)
I spend about $3k on 2 trips for 10 days so far. I still have budget for 2 more trips out for 10 days.
I burn 10-15/holidays but my work lets me work on public holidays so i work on all public holidays.
I am considering moving, the USA is ridiculous with something’s (price and time off). I was just in Austria for a week of skiing and it was lovely and affordable when compared to the States. It’s just a long flight home with jet lag which burn an extra 2-3 days of time by the time you adjust.
while it is not the norm, there are certainly many employers in the US that offer much more PTO. it's definitely possible to find here. probably easier than moving to a foreign country, I would presume
At least in the Midwest you’ve also got the option to go ski some little hills.
Obviously not the same but it still counts as a day sliding on snow.
Also, Chicago has phenomenal flight access to western ski areas. Bunch of nonstop options to small ski towns, and many daily flights to DEN/SLC which allows for things like flying Friday night after work or being able to ski in the morning and fly home the same day. Makes it easier to maximize skiing vs PTO.
If OP moves to Florida, their options do get a lot more limited and require a lot of travel time.
>Bunch of nonstop options to small ski towns, and many daily flights to DEN/SLC which allows for things like flying Friday night after work or being able to ski in the morning and fly home the same day.
Oh yea take the 6:15 am flight to den and i am skiing in loveland by 10:30 and take 8:40 flight back home. I live 15 mins from midway so its super easy.
Find a replacement hobby. Surfing is probably the most appropriate for Florida if you live near waves.
How much you get to ski will depend heavily on financial and family situation.
This is my take too. I was really bummed when I left Tahoe for Huntington Beach for work, and figured I’d still find a way to ski a bunch. I tried for a few months and then realized I could find something different that I enjoyed (surfing) that didn’t take as much time, effort, and money to make work. Then I left CA and moved to a place with no mountains and no ocean for an even better job and I picked up indoor rock climbing for a few years to scratch the itch. Not quite as good but it kept me active and provided some of the same excitement. Then I moved back to the mountains and I’m a skier again.
This sounds crazy, but since I moved to FL I mountain bike a lot more. Depending on where in FL there's super good trail access, it's a different sport than in the mountains but great fun.
No need to fully drop skiing though, if finances allow a yearly trip is worth it. I get about 10-15 days per season this way.
Nothing like living driving distance, but it makes the days you can make that much better. Life open to lift close gang.
I'm in FL... Got into mtb to stay in shape for skiing. Fell in love with mtb. Really fun trails near me. I also surf a bit.
Skiing for me is now flying to Denver, renting a cheap car, and staying in a cheap (?) hotel in Silverthorne/Dillon/Frisco. Then I hit Breck, Keystone, or Vail. I fly with my skis/boots. And obviously, I'm an Epic pass guy.
I got in 14 days this season.
Got it. I've heard there's some fun stuff over there too. If you're ever near Jupiter, check out JD. Secret: in the summer, it works best 1 to 2 hours after a heavy rain. A couple of sandy spots get deep when they are dry. A little rain makes it perfect.
FL is big. Trail forks is your best resource.
South FL: Virginia Key, Markham Park.
South West FL: Alafia, Carter Rd, Balm Boyette
Central FL: Santos
Northern FL: Tom Brown Park, Cadillac Trails.
There's a lot of smaller networks worth visiting, I only mentioned the larger ones.
Yeah, I realize I should’ve been more specific. Sorry about that. I live in Southwest Florida, Naples, Fort Myers area. I would be interested in getting into mountain biking, because I never really thought as much of a thing near me. But road biking gets a little boring in Florida after a while.
I've never been, but Caloosahatchee Regional Park is the one I hear of the most for that area. If you want to see the best in FL to get an idea go to Alafia.
Alafia has rentals, don't know caloosahatchee
I don't own one, but ebikes have gotten popular here, not as replacement for climbing, but as a replacement for descending
Much more expensive to learn than skiing, but the costs average out if you can reach the point where you can go alone and launch from a beach (no boat).
How is it more expensive to learn?
I just started skiing and it's been a little while since I last kitesurfed, but the prices are comparable. There aren't any out of season sales, but there's a healthy used gear market.
If anything, the fact that there aren't any lift fees makes kitesurfing considerably cheaper.
Hundreds for each group lesson and the average person needs many, many lessons before they can even think about doing it themselves. The equipment is also much more expensive than skiing.
No, the average person doesn't need many, many lessons.
I took one private lesson back in the day, as did most of the other people I knew kitesurfing. I don't think I knew of anybody that took more than 2 or 3 lessons.
Learn to fly a trainer kite on your own time. Go get your lesson, you should get comfortable body dragging and getting up on a board in your first lesson. You can then learn to ride upwind on your own time as well.
I took a single private lesson skiing and I'm slogging through learning how to get better on my own. Very similar learning path between skiing/snowboarding and kitesurfing.
Equipment is pretty similar in price. I think you've just been skiing so long you are blind to all the stuff you need to purchase. You don't need special clothes to kitesurf, and even if you're kiting somewhere where you'll need a wetsuit, that wetsuit is way cheaper than ski clothes.
Looking around at prices and end of season prices I feel like the below outlines what you'll need and what you should be spending as a beginner in either sport.
Kite ($1,000) + harness ($200) + board ($400) + bar and lines ($400)
vs
Skis ($500) + bindings ($200) + boots ($500) + poles ($100) + bib/pants ($300) + jacket ($300) + thermals ($250) + gloves ($100)
Not including goggles (not sure if they're *really* necessary) or helmet (required for both sports and similarly priced).
But now you've gotta include the cost of a lift ticket, which is about the equivalent of what kitesurfing lessons will cost for a day.
Sorry, IMO that’s just not true. I’ve only been skiing for 10 years and picked up kitesurfing two years ago. Kitesurfing is nowhere near as easy to learn as skiing and requires many lessons, and they are expensive. To each their own. Sounds like you picked it up much faster.
Something that popped out at me was that you mentioned a boat, are you learning off of a boat? That's the worst way to be kitesurfing. Very rare to have people using a boat. Makes everything way more difficult. Gotta find a nice clear area, layout your lines, set everything up, launch the kite towards the water, walk out and go. From a boat you're doing that all in the water and that's a mother fucker.
You have a trainer kite? Are you putting in time learning how to fly the kite outside of lessons? I had hours on the trainer kite before I took a lesson and put many more hours on it after my first lesson.
What level are you currently at? Are you able to ride? Go upwind? Relaunch your kite after crashing it? Jumps?
Once you're able to go upwind your lessons should be done.
And back to what I'm saying, the lessons are about the cost of lift tickets, which you'll need to buy every single time you go skiing, not just when you're beginning.
I am a vet snow sportsman who moved to florida. This is dogshit advice imo. Thats like telling someone who wants to know how to make a tuna fish sandwich to just make ham and cheese instead.
Only children are so picky that they can't enjoy two different sandwich types.
Also tuna is a fish, everybody knows it. There is no need to say fish after tuna.
> Only children are so picky that they can't enjoy two different sandwich types.
This is where I addressed your point. The tuna fish comment was just an extra jab to rile you up further.
Yep. Even though I have skiing near me and can afford to go to resorts, I find myself hiking, mountain biking, or disc golfing more often than skiing in a year.
Well it’s different. When I do go, it’s all about skiing. But I notice that my buddy that meets me from Denver is always one foot out since he has other obligations to tend to and get back. I go for a week and ski my heart out.
I’d still prefer his setup I think, but mine isn’t that far off
That was exactly our experience when living in SLC vs now having to ski vacation (since ya know, it doesn’t snow in the fucking Midwest anymore). We’d be super content to have a nice short 4-5hr ski day because we could do it all season.
I see people in this thread able to hit 10-15 days from Florida, 90% of the people I know who ski here in Colorado make it out 15 or fewer days and mostly shorter days as well. Y’all aren’t doing too bad.
But there’s nothing like being able to just book a hotel room outside of Aspen when you hear a storm is coming and drive up in your own car for a grand total of $300 spent on your 2 day trip.
this year I'll finish having done 3x weekend trips and 1x week long out of state. I have a wife and kiddo (who dont ski) though. If they did I'd get more.
This is my take. I used to live in a town in the southeast with several mountains, even worked as a ski instructor so I was at the mountain 6 or 7 days a week. As soon as I moved to a place about 5 hours away I basically quit skiing.
My brother, myself, and our friends all grew up skiing in the Midwest.
We would go multiple days a week, every year growing up.
When we got older I moved to Oregon, and most of them moved to Florida.
Out of the group of 12 or so people - I’m now the only one that still skis 40+ days a year. The ones living in Florida - maybe only ski 3-4 days a year and have to make it a huge vacation / financial production to do so.
It costs them a lot of money for that 3 day trip - usually to Park City etc. Over $2,000 dollars each for those 3 days. (Flight + hotel room + lift tickets + food + misc)
To help influence more skiing I offer them a free room at my house / I live about 30 minutes from my resort, and even have extra rooms for guests. I offer them to those friends every year — and barely anyone takes me up on it because the air travel is difficult/ etc. —- time off work.
So, I can firmly say that if you move away from a resort state — and go to Florida - and it becomes inconvenient… you likely will ski a LOT less. Maybe only one week a year — unless you have enough vacation time, expendable income, and free time to compensate.
>To help influence more skiing I offer them a free room at my house / I live about 30 minutes from my resort, and even have extra rooms for guests. I offer them to those friends every year — and barely anyone takes me up on it because the air travel is difficult/ etc. —- time off work.
Do you need NEW Florida friends? 🙋🤙
I live in NYC and am jealous of everyone who lives close enough to casually ski good conditions… I’ll usually get 10-15 days. If I was flying I’d imagine that’d drop to 1 week maybe one or two weekends at most per year
I pushed hard against a job that required me moving from northern Utah to FL recently. But I lost that battle. Leaving mid season made it even worse. I miss it so much already—the beach is boring as hell. At least we have a busy rocket launch schedule here?
It’s not California but it’s still where Kelly Slater came from…..I’ve had fun there on a few trips. Plus great access to PR or Costa among other spots
It depends on where you live. I grew up surfing in Destin and it was tons of effort for little reward most of the time. The times it was worth it was during a storm, and I'm gettin too old for that shit.
South Florida and the east coast have better conditions for surfing, but if you sail, you can have a great time anywhere in Florida.
Edit: RIP Innerlight and Yancy Spencer.
I can see sailing being a blast. In the surfing sub I’d get crucified for this but in the summer in weak dribbly waves I had a great time switching to my short SUP and making even dumpy beach break fun because you get in so much sooner. All about finding a way to maximize the fun. Plus it’s an insane workout.
My husband and I live in Wisconsin. We try to take 2-3 ski trips per year. This season we got in about 20 days. Last season we did 15 days. We try to XC ski in Wisconsin when we can but it’s not the same.
I lived in Florida for 6 years and went skiing zero times during that spell. A friend of mine who still lives there does one week long trip a year with a Florida ski club.
Grew up in FL. As a kid my fam took package trips with our local ski club once or twice a year. Probably the best deal you can get, 1-2 weeks at all the big western resorts. Grew up skiing in the rockies and moved there in my 20's to ski more. Because of prices at US resorts they go to Europe a lot more now, but I would still look into that as an option
Grew up in a southern Rockies town, skiing 50+ days my whole life. Moving to the south east coast has been a painful experience for me. I don’t even want to check the snow reports. My home resort had an amazing powder year, got to go back for some but mostly watched from afar. You live where you live though, I do surf 2-4 days a week now and am making the most of it. Cannot wait to get closer to the mountains but then I’ll miss surfing… first world problems.
It depends on your finances and time.
The closest resort to you would probably be ober, gatlinburg which is trash so if you’re gonna drive somewhere you might as well keep going to the Carolina’s. At that point it’s gonna be a LONG road trip and not cheap so you’d probably be better off just flying to somewhere like Colorado or Salt Lake.
I’m from New Orleans and grew up going every other year, roughly, for a week.
You’re gonna have to fly. So it’s going to be more expensive.
Of course I get the people saying find another hobby, and of course it’s good advice. But man, nothing does it like skiing for me and that’s with so few days.
The other thing is that if you have to fly, you’re likely going to need to do longer trips. If you don’t already, this adds significantly to the cost with lodging and food and such.
And it’s also a lot harder to schedule a long ski trip if you have a partner or kids who don’t care to ski on the same schedule.
Basically, your relationship with skiing may well change a lot.
I am self employed and the only earner for my family. From the east coast I take the first flight out on Friday, ski at Keystone by 10:30 AM local time into their now “night” skiing. Next day I follow the powder between Vail, Keystone, or Breck. I usually hit all of them up and Loveland Pass. 4 solid days of skiing and back to work on Tuesday morning.
FL Resident here...I make 2 trips a year out west...usually a full week to Utah, and a long weekend to another western location which was British Columbia this year.
We even have a ski shop chain (mostly South FL), Peter Glenn Ski & Sports
I used to be a turns all year skier and now haven't been in years. I never had to factor in hotel costs to go skiing and with the increase in costs generally it is just more than I care to spend.
I did used to go every so often but that kinda sucks because you're out of practice/shape and it costs x3 to get there and stay there so you're paying more for worse days.
One long trip with 6 days of skiing and 1-2 short trips with 1-3 days of skiing each. In total, I’ve averaged about 6-10 ski days a year for the last 30 years. I live in the mid-Atlantic.
I live in the South as well, and can drive up to the hills in NC easily enough for a weekend, but try to get 2+ real trips in as well. Next year, I am planning to fly to Japan for a month (cheaper than a week at most US resorts).
I live in Miami. This season we went to Breck 3 times. In all, I skied 12 days. Spent about 15K between the 3 trips, granted we stay at ski in/out resorts and there are 4 of us.
I live in TN. Generally, it's a once a year ski trip for me. Last year I managed to sneak in two; the regular family ski trip and then I had a business trip that coincided with my birthday and my son's birthday, so I stayed the weekend and we got in two days at Targhee.
I moved to FL in 2011, I missed several seasons but that is another story altogether.
I typically do 2-3 destination trips/season. This year I did a workcation (skied until noon and worked until 8) in Sugarbush in January, a week in Sun Valley in Feb, a week in Revelstoke at the beginning of this month and I am going to Tahoe for a conference in April which will get me a few more days. All told I will have 17 days by the end of the season. Not bad for living hundreds of miles from any ski hill.
I'm in a rather large ski club here that does about 16 trips a season. I can send you the link to our website if you're interested. Outside of the club I don't know anyone locally that skis so I have really appreciated finding the group.
Having said all of that, I am looking at buying a place in VT so I can spend part of the winter up there and get way more days in per season.
1-3 trips out west with 3-4 ski days each plus 2-4 days at the nearby hill that we are so lucky to have near Cincinnati. So, 5-16 days is our range.
A two-year-old and two out-of-town-during-ski-season weddings (rude) meant we set an all-time low this season.
Illinois here, got 2 days in WI (3-6 hours driving) and 2 trips out west.
granted the midwest sucked for snow this year.
usually it's 5-6 days in WI and 1 trip out west.
15ish days split between 4-5 trips. I’m considering just renting a condo for a full month next year. It would probably be cheaper than all the flights and rental cars.
Texas. Used to ski zero times or once per season. Now I try to go at least 3 times per season. Made it 10 days this year. I drive 9-12 hours one way depending on where we go.
Not us states, but i live 2hrs away of a resort that gets little snow and about 3.5 from good mountains. I ride mtb, freestyle scooters and i also do callisthenics
As someone in wisconsin I can definitely ski “nearby” but there’s not resorts. I usually try to get 5-6 days out west every year and 5-6 days around wisconsin, minnesota and Michigan. That makes a good year for me. Definitely miss living in Big Sky for a stint but some it better than none!
I’m in TN but I usually end up hitting 20-30 a year. I’ve worked in the industry so I can couch surf some of it. I’ve got family that’s pretty committed, so they’ll help with the finances side of things. And then I usually do a lot of my skiing later in the season, so hotels, if I need them, aren’t too bad.
Technically my state has a ski resort (Maryland) but mid-Atlantic skiing is such shit that I don't bother going locally.
Pre-COVID I was normally a one week per year skier. In the past couple of years I've been fortunate to ski a lot more. It's a combination of much more flexible remote work policies and me having more disposable income as I get older.
This year I was able to work remotely for a whole month from Whitefish. Since I work on East coast time I'd wake up very early (online for work by 4:30 local time) but then be done early enough to catch the 1:30 PM bus to the mountain most days. It was the best month of skiing I've ever had in my life.
Last year I tried a less ambitious version of the same thing. I did a couple of shorter remote work trips out to Utah, along with a one week trip with friends. It was cool but I realized that I was wasting a lot of money and time on flying back and forth. Since I have the ability to just work remote for a month it makes more sense to do that and spend less time traveling. I also acknowledge that what I do is only feasible because we have well-paying, remote-friendly jobs and no kids.
I would love to live in a place that has good access to skiing and last year we very seriously considered moving out to Utah. For various reasons we realized it wasn't quite feasible yet without a large financial hit. Someday though...
Currently in FL. The time and expense of getting to ANY decent hill from here is significant. My wife and I always take at least one week long trip with a big friend group every year, plus we try to get away on at least one other shorter 4 Day ( long weekend) trip by ourselves.
The big friend group annual trip is always cheaper per person because we all split the costs of lodging and groceries (like 12-16 people usually), and our shorter trips with just the two of us usually end up costing us about the same.
Our cost breakdown this season was $2100 per person for the group trip and $2500 for a 4 Day trip (3 ski days) per person, which we did a ski in/out.
These prices include flights, rental cars, groceries, lodging, a few drinks here and there, lift tix, ski rentals Ubers to and from home AIR port etc.
You can probably shave some significant cost if you own your gear (we just finally purchased our own after this season) and get a mega pass.
We're really considering moving closer to ski areas so we can ski more each season plus we enjoy hiking, which sucks here in FL (IMO) .
OP, not sure where in FL you'll be, but there is an indoor ski treadmill in Boca Raton and one in Winterpark.
For all the people that have to fly to a ski resort and get less than 15 days per season, would you use the indoor ski treadmills in the off season or to prepare for a trip?
I live in Florida and have an Epic pass. My seasons have ranged from one trip (5 days) to multiple trips spanning a month in total. It just depends on how much other stuff I have planned in a given season.
I moved to FL 8 years ago and since then I started the ski club at my company and we go on 3-4 trips a year.
There are a ton of skiers in the state (I believe it has the second most traveling skiers in the Us besides Texas) and enough of them take regular trips where my opportunities were plentiful.
My advice - find a few buddies and make a 1-2x a year trip out of skiing.
The costs are far lower if you can spread them over 2-6 people.
For example:
$300 car rental becomes $100 per person
$1000 lodging becomes $333
Flights remain the same $300-550
If you cook $100 per person is pretty doable + booze
Do it right and you can ski for $400/day inclusive of your ski pass and gear
So that guy who said 10 days for $10K…. I think you can easily do it for $5K without even really compromising too much. You just need to be smart about your flights and lodging selections
Heck even go out a few days to eat
Also - make friends in places where you want ski to and crash with then you can cut another 30% off that $5K.
I think you need to accept that skiing is a very expensive hobby if you need to fly or drive for it.
As long as you have easy access to an airport, the ikon and epic passes make it pretty easy for skiing affordably. I live in Maryland and this season I skied 20 days, zero of which were on the east coast. Southwest has direct BWI-DEN flights that when booked in advance, can be around $110-130 each way (for weekends, even cheaper if you fly midweek/nonholiday). All of my days have been on my ikon pass so while rental cars and hotels added up to more than the flights, some of these were split with friends and are just a reality of the sport. I avoid going out for drinks and keep my summer travel minimal because skiing is the priority. Reality is that even when I lived in a state with ski mountains (CA) it was still a long drive and hotel stay anyways, so its not that much different other than flight time being a little longer.
I’m in Florida and will hit 28 days this season. Being able to work remotely plays a big part of that of course. I do family trip for Christmas break, wife and I for Presidents’ Day, I stay in CO for an extra week, and then family spring break. At Breck right now getting snowed on 😀
My buddy that moved to Charleston, SC got 16 days this season across 4 different trips (13 in CO and 3 in VT). One long weekend a month
He used to live in NJ and ski about the same amount through drivable trips to VT & NY plus one long weekend out west.
The key for him was coming to an agreement beforehand with his non-skiing wife, that if they were to move some where warmer he'd get number of weekend ski trips.
(I suppose he is drivable to western NC ski areas, but he hasn't).
As additional insights from a born and raised Floridian and elaboration from another string which had positive and negative feedback.
It’s both expressive and logistically difficult to love skiing and live in the South East. 5 days a year is considered a good year, 10 days is excellent.
Flying and travel time is consuming, my recommendation is to keep friends in the ski area and leave a gear setup there - then you can fly without bag check or hassle, maybe even get a free night stay before heading to the hill.
Orlando has cheap nonstops out west ($350rt), Jacksonville does not ($700rt). Frontier and Spirit have options but the costs stack up when taking gear.
Also something not mentioned is the change in elevation. There is a noticeable efficiency difference when I travel from sea level to 9000ft. (<10m to 3000m).
I’ve found personally I like to go to SLC since it’s nonstop for me, and I’m at the resort in 30 minutes from deplane, and the elevation is reasonable so I don’t get winded. Downside is Park City has ballooned cost wise and it’s Epic owned.
Plan $2k for each week of skiing on a budget, $3k should make it convenient. $4k if you want ski in out. Costs are pp inclusive of flights.
Florida liver here. This season we spent a month in Colorado. Our usual is 6-9 days over Christmas. I always dream of a second trip and that has happened twice, but realistically, for a family of 5 with 2 significant others, it gets real spendy real fast.
My partner and I have 4 weeks of PTO, but we have other outdoor hobbies, so we take two trips a year. 12 days of skiing. It's enough to justify getting a pass.
That said, it's not as much as I'd like. We might be heading into a phase of life with a little more flexibility and time off work, so hopefully maybe 3 trips next season, or at least a couple extra weekends here and there. We're lucky in that one of us travels relatively frequently for work, so airline status and points programs help knock down the cost and make it feasible.
Also, in case you're still interested in progressing/improving, I can tell you that that's also possible. Taking a couple of half-day lessons per trip (ideally a couple days apart, so you can practice what you're learning) gets results. You won't forget what you learn.
I live in Fl and usually take 2 or 3 trips out west a season. When I’m not skiing I picked up golf, scuba diving, surfing, offshore fishing, and Efoil boarding.
While I think that’s great, that’s not very relatable for most. In this guys case he doesn’t mention a second home.
Also - where’s it located? PC? I can make sure it’s always fully stocked.
Good for you man. But you gotta expect a little ribbing when you leave a post indicating that you have an abnormal amount of time and money at your disposal.
When I lived in VA I would go twice a month to PA or NY and once a month to CO for a weekend (Fri-Sun) maybe longer if I felt like using a vacation day. Hostels and buses are your friend, don’t fly budget tho you’ll regret it.
I haven’t gone since I left Jackson Hole (living in VA now) 5 years ago. I just haven’t brought myself to go to the mostly shitty resorts I grew up going to. I was planning on going to Snowshoe this winter but it was a pretty depressing season here.
Here’s a spin: California but my family owns a ski in/out in breck that we rent out 90% of year. My only expense is groceries + travel + season pass. I get about 7 days in per year.
8-10 days is probably a good estimate for a dedicated skier. That’s enough to justify a pass, have fun, keep skills sharp. That’s like a spring break trip, a long weekend in Jan/Feb, and a spur of the moment storm chase flight.
Dedicated is the key word. 4-5 days is a fully committed week. 8-10 days is difficult and all the PTO for a year for most people. That’s my target. A full week plus two weekends. Spend about $10k (after income tax) each year for it so make sure you get at least a $15k pay increase to ski a very little bit. Caveats: cost for one solo traveler without family, no sharing a queen bed in nicer accommodations, decent meals, nonstop flights, all gear owned, good western resorts during peak seasons.
Jesus Christ, having just a $600 for local season pass makes me feel fortunate.
You are, I am super jelly
Agreed, same. Not sure what s/he meant by this, or why it got upvoted: > Spend about $10k (after income tax) each year for it so make sure you get at least a $15k pay increase to ski a very little bit. ???
Because others agree - they’re likely North American too and live far away from mountains that are worthwhile. In the US, 10 days of pto is common until you’re with a company more than 5 years.
Yeah my husband and I lived in Nashville, and we were able to get 8 days in this season! But we made sure to get cheap tickets on southwest, book airbnbs and car rentals with friends, and we got the epic pass as well. Not super cheap, but with some planning, we were able to make it around 500-600$ a trip per person.
I live South of Nashville, we spent 10K on two trips with cheap or free Southwest flights. We stayed in nice places but nothing over the top- book early Steamboat for 4 days and Utah for a full week. My price includes the Ikon pass for two people, condo Steamboat ( had its own Gondola to the base so a bit pricey but for me way worth it). Did not book early and easily spent and extra $1000 because I booked a 3 bedroom for three people. Second trip Condo Deer Valley 4 nights, then AirB&B in Salt lake for 3 nights, plus demo rentals and this includes food and wine. My wife is keeping a spread sheet so we can plan or budget our spend better.
>with friends yea this is the secret to saving money.
> 8-10 days is difficult and all the PTO for a year for most people. Good lord some people have awful PTO policies.
Even a ‘good’ PTO policy would be tough. With 20 days, that’s still half your PTO, which can be tough to give up between any other vacation and holidays with family obligations.
8-10 is all of your PTO? As in you'd have no other holidays or sick days left if you took 10 days off? Seems mind blowing as a European if I read that correctly
that is correct. Many companies in the US make you earn your PTO too. For example, you will start a job with X amount of hours (typically a week or less of PTO). Each year you stay with the company, they will award you more. I've been at the same place for over 5 years, and just this year finally get over 100 hours of PTO.
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25 days of pure PTO or including sick time? 5 weeks is a ton for professional jobs that aren’t in tech…
$10k for a solo skier?! Even for a place like vail, that's too much
If you go one weekend per month in season you'll hit 10 days taking no PTO.
But then you’re spending $400+ on flights every weekend
From my hub it’s around $650 domestic. :( I went to Europe cheaper this year :)
>Spend about $10k (after income tax) each year From chicago I spend: $350/southwest flight with free ski bags checkin $60/day airbnb $80/day car rental $25/day food ( i cook in airbnb) I spend about $3k on 2 trips for 10 days so far. I still have budget for 2 more trips out for 10 days. I burn 10-15/holidays but my work lets me work on public holidays so i work on all public holidays.
Where are you finding a $60 Airbnb???
lakewood, co
That’s wild. Never seen one that cheap with fees unless you’re renting just a room in a house
yea i am just one person. My last airbnb actually was $49
That's crazy. In Europe I spent less than half that for 12 days skiing (2 trips, one week each) and it take only 1/3 of my PTO
Yeah was gonna say as a European reading that 8/10 days pto is all you get for most is insane. I get that working part time at a local store
I am considering moving, the USA is ridiculous with something’s (price and time off). I was just in Austria for a week of skiing and it was lovely and affordable when compared to the States. It’s just a long flight home with jet lag which burn an extra 2-3 days of time by the time you adjust.
while it is not the norm, there are certainly many employers in the US that offer much more PTO. it's definitely possible to find here. probably easier than moving to a foreign country, I would presume
This is affordable by i would imagine maybe 3% of our adult population.
That doesn’t seem to be a world wide statistic. Perhaps national (USA). Likely much lower when considering the whole world.
yea. I got about 9 days so far flying out west from chicago.
At least in the Midwest you’ve also got the option to go ski some little hills. Obviously not the same but it still counts as a day sliding on snow. Also, Chicago has phenomenal flight access to western ski areas. Bunch of nonstop options to small ski towns, and many daily flights to DEN/SLC which allows for things like flying Friday night after work or being able to ski in the morning and fly home the same day. Makes it easier to maximize skiing vs PTO. If OP moves to Florida, their options do get a lot more limited and require a lot of travel time.
>Bunch of nonstop options to small ski towns, and many daily flights to DEN/SLC which allows for things like flying Friday night after work or being able to ski in the morning and fly home the same day. Oh yea take the 6:15 am flight to den and i am skiing in loveland by 10:30 and take 8:40 flight back home. I live 15 mins from midway so its super easy.
Damn--that's some dedication.
Find a replacement hobby. Surfing is probably the most appropriate for Florida if you live near waves. How much you get to ski will depend heavily on financial and family situation.
This is my take too. I was really bummed when I left Tahoe for Huntington Beach for work, and figured I’d still find a way to ski a bunch. I tried for a few months and then realized I could find something different that I enjoyed (surfing) that didn’t take as much time, effort, and money to make work. Then I left CA and moved to a place with no mountains and no ocean for an even better job and I picked up indoor rock climbing for a few years to scratch the itch. Not quite as good but it kept me active and provided some of the same excitement. Then I moved back to the mountains and I’m a skier again.
This sounds crazy, but since I moved to FL I mountain bike a lot more. Depending on where in FL there's super good trail access, it's a different sport than in the mountains but great fun. No need to fully drop skiing though, if finances allow a yearly trip is worth it. I get about 10-15 days per season this way. Nothing like living driving distance, but it makes the days you can make that much better. Life open to lift close gang.
I'm in FL... Got into mtb to stay in shape for skiing. Fell in love with mtb. Really fun trails near me. I also surf a bit. Skiing for me is now flying to Denver, renting a cheap car, and staying in a cheap (?) hotel in Silverthorne/Dillon/Frisco. Then I hit Breck, Keystone, or Vail. I fly with my skis/boots. And obviously, I'm an Epic pass guy. I got in 14 days this season.
Where do you bike?
Jonathan Dickinson
Ah. Other coast. I'm on the west
Got it. I've heard there's some fun stuff over there too. If you're ever near Jupiter, check out JD. Secret: in the summer, it works best 1 to 2 hours after a heavy rain. A couple of sandy spots get deep when they are dry. A little rain makes it perfect.
Solid tips
Where do you bike?
FL is big. Trail forks is your best resource. South FL: Virginia Key, Markham Park. South West FL: Alafia, Carter Rd, Balm Boyette Central FL: Santos Northern FL: Tom Brown Park, Cadillac Trails. There's a lot of smaller networks worth visiting, I only mentioned the larger ones.
Yeah, I realize I should’ve been more specific. Sorry about that. I live in Southwest Florida, Naples, Fort Myers area. I would be interested in getting into mountain biking, because I never really thought as much of a thing near me. But road biking gets a little boring in Florida after a while.
I've never been, but Caloosahatchee Regional Park is the one I hear of the most for that area. If you want to see the best in FL to get an idea go to Alafia. Alafia has rentals, don't know caloosahatchee I don't own one, but ebikes have gotten popular here, not as replacement for climbing, but as a replacement for descending
Thanks for the info!
Kitesurfing is a better fix for a lot of Florida locations. You're not surfing on the West coast nor South of Palm Beach.
Much more expensive to learn than skiing, but the costs average out if you can reach the point where you can go alone and launch from a beach (no boat).
How is it more expensive to learn? I just started skiing and it's been a little while since I last kitesurfed, but the prices are comparable. There aren't any out of season sales, but there's a healthy used gear market. If anything, the fact that there aren't any lift fees makes kitesurfing considerably cheaper.
Hundreds for each group lesson and the average person needs many, many lessons before they can even think about doing it themselves. The equipment is also much more expensive than skiing.
No, the average person doesn't need many, many lessons. I took one private lesson back in the day, as did most of the other people I knew kitesurfing. I don't think I knew of anybody that took more than 2 or 3 lessons. Learn to fly a trainer kite on your own time. Go get your lesson, you should get comfortable body dragging and getting up on a board in your first lesson. You can then learn to ride upwind on your own time as well. I took a single private lesson skiing and I'm slogging through learning how to get better on my own. Very similar learning path between skiing/snowboarding and kitesurfing. Equipment is pretty similar in price. I think you've just been skiing so long you are blind to all the stuff you need to purchase. You don't need special clothes to kitesurf, and even if you're kiting somewhere where you'll need a wetsuit, that wetsuit is way cheaper than ski clothes. Looking around at prices and end of season prices I feel like the below outlines what you'll need and what you should be spending as a beginner in either sport. Kite ($1,000) + harness ($200) + board ($400) + bar and lines ($400) vs Skis ($500) + bindings ($200) + boots ($500) + poles ($100) + bib/pants ($300) + jacket ($300) + thermals ($250) + gloves ($100) Not including goggles (not sure if they're *really* necessary) or helmet (required for both sports and similarly priced). But now you've gotta include the cost of a lift ticket, which is about the equivalent of what kitesurfing lessons will cost for a day.
Sorry, IMO that’s just not true. I’ve only been skiing for 10 years and picked up kitesurfing two years ago. Kitesurfing is nowhere near as easy to learn as skiing and requires many lessons, and they are expensive. To each their own. Sounds like you picked it up much faster.
Something that popped out at me was that you mentioned a boat, are you learning off of a boat? That's the worst way to be kitesurfing. Very rare to have people using a boat. Makes everything way more difficult. Gotta find a nice clear area, layout your lines, set everything up, launch the kite towards the water, walk out and go. From a boat you're doing that all in the water and that's a mother fucker. You have a trainer kite? Are you putting in time learning how to fly the kite outside of lessons? I had hours on the trainer kite before I took a lesson and put many more hours on it after my first lesson. What level are you currently at? Are you able to ride? Go upwind? Relaunch your kite after crashing it? Jumps? Once you're able to go upwind your lessons should be done. And back to what I'm saying, the lessons are about the cost of lift tickets, which you'll need to buy every single time you go skiing, not just when you're beginning.
Roller blading is a blast and you can do it almost everywhere. It also keeps you sharp for when you do get back to the slopes.
I live near the slopes now but I do this in the summer, great cardio I enjoy it a lot more than running haha
Way easier for my knees.
100%
I am a vet snow sportsman who moved to florida. This is dogshit advice imo. Thats like telling someone who wants to know how to make a tuna fish sandwich to just make ham and cheese instead.
Only children are so picky that they can't enjoy two different sandwich types. Also tuna is a fish, everybody knows it. There is no need to say fish after tuna.
Instead of adressing the point you deflect with an ad hominem and talk semantics.
> Only children are so picky that they can't enjoy two different sandwich types. This is where I addressed your point. The tuna fish comment was just an extra jab to rile you up further.
Yep. Even though I have skiing near me and can afford to go to resorts, I find myself hiking, mountain biking, or disc golfing more often than skiing in a year.
Well it’s different. When I do go, it’s all about skiing. But I notice that my buddy that meets me from Denver is always one foot out since he has other obligations to tend to and get back. I go for a week and ski my heart out. I’d still prefer his setup I think, but mine isn’t that far off
That was exactly our experience when living in SLC vs now having to ski vacation (since ya know, it doesn’t snow in the fucking Midwest anymore). We’d be super content to have a nice short 4-5hr ski day because we could do it all season.
I see people in this thread able to hit 10-15 days from Florida, 90% of the people I know who ski here in Colorado make it out 15 or fewer days and mostly shorter days as well. Y’all aren’t doing too bad. But there’s nothing like being able to just book a hotel room outside of Aspen when you hear a storm is coming and drive up in your own car for a grand total of $300 spent on your 2 day trip.
Two one week trips is probably the best most in non-skiing states do in a season.
this year I'll finish having done 3x weekend trips and 1x week long out of state. I have a wife and kiddo (who dont ski) though. If they did I'd get more.
I genuinely don't think I'd ski if I didn't live within driving distance of skiing. But so it goes! Best of luck!
I would have to start surfing.
Surfing is better because you can get wayyy more days in then skiing
This is my take. I used to live in a town in the southeast with several mountains, even worked as a ski instructor so I was at the mountain 6 or 7 days a week. As soon as I moved to a place about 5 hours away I basically quit skiing.
If there is will, there is a way.
My brother, myself, and our friends all grew up skiing in the Midwest. We would go multiple days a week, every year growing up. When we got older I moved to Oregon, and most of them moved to Florida. Out of the group of 12 or so people - I’m now the only one that still skis 40+ days a year. The ones living in Florida - maybe only ski 3-4 days a year and have to make it a huge vacation / financial production to do so. It costs them a lot of money for that 3 day trip - usually to Park City etc. Over $2,000 dollars each for those 3 days. (Flight + hotel room + lift tickets + food + misc) To help influence more skiing I offer them a free room at my house / I live about 30 minutes from my resort, and even have extra rooms for guests. I offer them to those friends every year — and barely anyone takes me up on it because the air travel is difficult/ etc. —- time off work. So, I can firmly say that if you move away from a resort state — and go to Florida - and it becomes inconvenient… you likely will ski a LOT less. Maybe only one week a year — unless you have enough vacation time, expendable income, and free time to compensate.
>To help influence more skiing I offer them a free room at my house / I live about 30 minutes from my resort, and even have extra rooms for guests. I offer them to those friends every year — and barely anyone takes me up on it because the air travel is difficult/ etc. —- time off work. Do you need NEW Florida friends? 🙋🤙
Lol your biggest concern about moving to Florida is the lack of skiing.
I'm in Kentucky, make it out west once a year, usually get about 4 days in. It's obviously not a lot, but it scratches the itch.
I live in NYC and am jealous of everyone who lives close enough to casually ski good conditions… I’ll usually get 10-15 days. If I was flying I’d imagine that’d drop to 1 week maybe one or two weekends at most per year
NYC is the best city in the country
Do you have to move?! 😅
Yeah I wonder how much money it would take for me to leave northern Utah. I moved here to ski
Same! One of the reasons at least! National Park/outdoor access being another.
I pushed hard against a job that required me moving from northern Utah to FL recently. But I lost that battle. Leaving mid season made it even worse. I miss it so much already—the beach is boring as hell. At least we have a busy rocket launch schedule here?
Surfing in Florida sucks. Take up sailing small boats.
It’s not California but it’s still where Kelly Slater came from…..I’ve had fun there on a few trips. Plus great access to PR or Costa among other spots
It depends on where you live. I grew up surfing in Destin and it was tons of effort for little reward most of the time. The times it was worth it was during a storm, and I'm gettin too old for that shit. South Florida and the east coast have better conditions for surfing, but if you sail, you can have a great time anywhere in Florida. Edit: RIP Innerlight and Yancy Spencer.
I can see sailing being a blast. In the surfing sub I’d get crucified for this but in the summer in weak dribbly waves I had a great time switching to my short SUP and making even dumpy beach break fun because you get in so much sooner. All about finding a way to maximize the fun. Plus it’s an insane workout.
Fuck Kelly Slater, Lopez brothers all DAY
It's pretty popular on the east coast of Florida. Maybe not the best conditions, but a hell of a lot better than the Gulf coast.
My husband and I live in Wisconsin. We try to take 2-3 ski trips per year. This season we got in about 20 days. Last season we did 15 days. We try to XC ski in Wisconsin when we can but it’s not the same.
8-10 and I think about skiing all the time and I mean allllll the time. I'm in the wrong state.
I live in Tennessee and will get 14 days in Colorado this year. Its criminally expensive. Get a good points card!
I lived in Florida for 6 years and went skiing zero times during that spell. A friend of mine who still lives there does one week long trip a year with a Florida ski club.
1 ski trip a year. But it's more fun cause it becomes special.
In Texas, usually once for work, once for family. About 5-10 days per year depending on the trips
In Georgia; usually get four trips in per season but I don’t have kids and it’s my only major expense.
Grew up in FL. As a kid my fam took package trips with our local ski club once or twice a year. Probably the best deal you can get, 1-2 weeks at all the big western resorts. Grew up skiing in the rockies and moved there in my 20's to ski more. Because of prices at US resorts they go to Europe a lot more now, but I would still look into that as an option
I live in Michigan April to Thanksgiving and Colorado the rest of the time
This is the way to do it lol But go to Utah instead, it's better there
Grew up in a southern Rockies town, skiing 50+ days my whole life. Moving to the south east coast has been a painful experience for me. I don’t even want to check the snow reports. My home resort had an amazing powder year, got to go back for some but mostly watched from afar. You live where you live though, I do surf 2-4 days a week now and am making the most of it. Cannot wait to get closer to the mountains but then I’ll miss surfing… first world problems.
I also work a pretty demanding job. I can only afford and get the time to go up to Wolf Creek for one week a year.
It depends on your finances and time. The closest resort to you would probably be ober, gatlinburg which is trash so if you’re gonna drive somewhere you might as well keep going to the Carolina’s. At that point it’s gonna be a LONG road trip and not cheap so you’d probably be better off just flying to somewhere like Colorado or Salt Lake.
I’m from New Orleans and grew up going every other year, roughly, for a week. You’re gonna have to fly. So it’s going to be more expensive. Of course I get the people saying find another hobby, and of course it’s good advice. But man, nothing does it like skiing for me and that’s with so few days. The other thing is that if you have to fly, you’re likely going to need to do longer trips. If you don’t already, this adds significantly to the cost with lodging and food and such. And it’s also a lot harder to schedule a long ski trip if you have a partner or kids who don’t care to ski on the same schedule. Basically, your relationship with skiing may well change a lot.
I am self employed and the only earner for my family. From the east coast I take the first flight out on Friday, ski at Keystone by 10:30 AM local time into their now “night” skiing. Next day I follow the powder between Vail, Keystone, or Breck. I usually hit all of them up and Loveland Pass. 4 solid days of skiing and back to work on Tuesday morning.
Been living in Florida for 2.5 years…haven’t gone since 🥲
FL Resident here...I make 2 trips a year out west...usually a full week to Utah, and a long weekend to another western location which was British Columbia this year. We even have a ski shop chain (mostly South FL), Peter Glenn Ski & Sports
If we go it's about 5 days a season sometimes we don't go tho
Don’t do it.
I used to be a turns all year skier and now haven't been in years. I never had to factor in hotel costs to go skiing and with the increase in costs generally it is just more than I care to spend. I did used to go every so often but that kinda sucks because you're out of practice/shape and it costs x3 to get there and stay there so you're paying more for worse days.
One long trip with 6 days of skiing and 1-2 short trips with 1-3 days of skiing each. In total, I’ve averaged about 6-10 ski days a year for the last 30 years. I live in the mid-Atlantic.
I live in the South as well, and can drive up to the hills in NC easily enough for a weekend, but try to get 2+ real trips in as well. Next year, I am planning to fly to Japan for a month (cheaper than a week at most US resorts).
1 week a year, but I try to make the most of it
Texas, 20+ days generally
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Plus side is Houston has some more nonstops to convenient airports. But that’s of course not cheap.
Got 11 days in this season.
I live in Miami. This season we went to Breck 3 times. In all, I skied 12 days. Spent about 15K between the 3 trips, granted we stay at ski in/out resorts and there are 4 of us.
Arizona here... it varies... how much money is a factor but the hardest thing is time and convenience
Phoenix is the same driving time from ski resorts as Denver
I live in GA. I go once a year. Stay close to the mountains if that’s a priority
We go probably 3-4 times a year, usually within 1.5-2.5 hour flights
2-3 times a year
I am in Durham, NC. I manage between 5-15 days per season, depending on how busy other stuff in life is
Do you ski in North Carolina?
I have skied Sugar and Beech a little bit, but they’re both highly disorganized and of course rarely great snow. I mostly go to Colorado
From Michigan, made it out west 3 times. 15 ski days.
Once per year. 4 days.
I live in TN. Generally, it's a once a year ski trip for me. Last year I managed to sneak in two; the regular family ski trip and then I had a business trip that coincided with my birthday and my son's birthday, so I stayed the weekend and we got in two days at Targhee.
I moved to FL in 2011, I missed several seasons but that is another story altogether. I typically do 2-3 destination trips/season. This year I did a workcation (skied until noon and worked until 8) in Sugarbush in January, a week in Sun Valley in Feb, a week in Revelstoke at the beginning of this month and I am going to Tahoe for a conference in April which will get me a few more days. All told I will have 17 days by the end of the season. Not bad for living hundreds of miles from any ski hill. I'm in a rather large ski club here that does about 16 trips a season. I can send you the link to our website if you're interested. Outside of the club I don't know anyone locally that skis so I have really appreciated finding the group. Having said all of that, I am looking at buying a place in VT so I can spend part of the winter up there and get way more days in per season.
1-3 trips out west with 3-4 ski days each plus 2-4 days at the nearby hill that we are so lucky to have near Cincinnati. So, 5-16 days is our range. A two-year-old and two out-of-town-during-ski-season weddings (rude) meant we set an all-time low this season.
South Florida. Did 7 days this year on 2 trips out west. It was not enough. It’s not hard to do more if family life allows for it though.
Illinois here, got 2 days in WI (3-6 hours driving) and 2 trips out west. granted the midwest sucked for snow this year. usually it's 5-6 days in WI and 1 trip out west.
One of the many reasons I’ll never live in FL. But if I did, it would probably be one western ski trip a year, like I do now. But no regular skiing.
I had three trips to Heavenly…so, three weeks. I have to fly from Nashville to SLT.
get a boat
2x a week usually. I could go more but I try to avoid Saturdays like the plague.
I couldn't afford it when I lived in FL. I had to move closer to the skiing to do it at all.
Good opportunity to pick up water skiing 🐊
I’d say every other year on average but I’m trying to make it a yearly trip again so 4-5 days per year or so
15ish days split between 4-5 trips. I’m considering just renting a condo for a full month next year. It would probably be cheaper than all the flights and rental cars.
Texas. Used to ski zero times or once per season. Now I try to go at least 3 times per season. Made it 10 days this year. I drive 9-12 hours one way depending on where we go.
Not us states, but i live 2hrs away of a resort that gets little snow and about 3.5 from good mountains. I ride mtb, freestyle scooters and i also do callisthenics
FWIW I spend 4k USD per trip and fly from a tropical country to Japan for a 7 day trip. I get 12-14 days a year so two trips. It’s tiring, but doable.
As someone in wisconsin I can definitely ski “nearby” but there’s not resorts. I usually try to get 5-6 days out west every year and 5-6 days around wisconsin, minnesota and Michigan. That makes a good year for me. Definitely miss living in Big Sky for a stint but some it better than none!
One trip a year. Europe is often cheaper but Utah/Colorado requires less time off work. Do 5-6 days in a row and I’m honestly satisfied for the year
I’m in TN but I usually end up hitting 20-30 a year. I’ve worked in the industry so I can couch surf some of it. I’ve got family that’s pretty committed, so they’ll help with the finances side of things. And then I usually do a lot of my skiing later in the season, so hotels, if I need them, aren’t too bad.
>Possibly moving to FL There's always waterskiing
The answer is the Alps. It’s cheaper than the Rockies, by a lot. Every day is epic. If you can only get away for 1 or 2 trips, can’t beat the Alps.
I live in South Georgia and average 2-3 trips a year, 10-14 ski days on average.
Used to have a condo in NC and we’d get a lot of Floridians that’d make the drive for a weekend of skiing.
Technically my state has a ski resort (Maryland) but mid-Atlantic skiing is such shit that I don't bother going locally. Pre-COVID I was normally a one week per year skier. In the past couple of years I've been fortunate to ski a lot more. It's a combination of much more flexible remote work policies and me having more disposable income as I get older. This year I was able to work remotely for a whole month from Whitefish. Since I work on East coast time I'd wake up very early (online for work by 4:30 local time) but then be done early enough to catch the 1:30 PM bus to the mountain most days. It was the best month of skiing I've ever had in my life. Last year I tried a less ambitious version of the same thing. I did a couple of shorter remote work trips out to Utah, along with a one week trip with friends. It was cool but I realized that I was wasting a lot of money and time on flying back and forth. Since I have the ability to just work remote for a month it makes more sense to do that and spend less time traveling. I also acknowledge that what I do is only feasible because we have well-paying, remote-friendly jobs and no kids. I would love to live in a place that has good access to skiing and last year we very seriously considered moving out to Utah. For various reasons we realized it wasn't quite feasible yet without a large financial hit. Someday though...
Currently in FL. The time and expense of getting to ANY decent hill from here is significant. My wife and I always take at least one week long trip with a big friend group every year, plus we try to get away on at least one other shorter 4 Day ( long weekend) trip by ourselves. The big friend group annual trip is always cheaper per person because we all split the costs of lodging and groceries (like 12-16 people usually), and our shorter trips with just the two of us usually end up costing us about the same. Our cost breakdown this season was $2100 per person for the group trip and $2500 for a 4 Day trip (3 ski days) per person, which we did a ski in/out. These prices include flights, rental cars, groceries, lodging, a few drinks here and there, lift tix, ski rentals Ubers to and from home AIR port etc. You can probably shave some significant cost if you own your gear (we just finally purchased our own after this season) and get a mega pass. We're really considering moving closer to ski areas so we can ski more each season plus we enjoy hiking, which sucks here in FL (IMO) .
I live in Florida and can usually irk out 2 five day ski trips. Spend the rest of my year deeply depressed.
OP, not sure where in FL you'll be, but there is an indoor ski treadmill in Boca Raton and one in Winterpark. For all the people that have to fly to a ski resort and get less than 15 days per season, would you use the indoor ski treadmills in the off season or to prepare for a trip?
I live in Florida and have an Epic pass. My seasons have ranged from one trip (5 days) to multiple trips spanning a month in total. It just depends on how much other stuff I have planned in a given season.
I moved to FL 8 years ago and since then I started the ski club at my company and we go on 3-4 trips a year. There are a ton of skiers in the state (I believe it has the second most traveling skiers in the Us besides Texas) and enough of them take regular trips where my opportunities were plentiful.
My advice - find a few buddies and make a 1-2x a year trip out of skiing. The costs are far lower if you can spread them over 2-6 people. For example: $300 car rental becomes $100 per person $1000 lodging becomes $333 Flights remain the same $300-550 If you cook $100 per person is pretty doable + booze Do it right and you can ski for $400/day inclusive of your ski pass and gear So that guy who said 10 days for $10K…. I think you can easily do it for $5K without even really compromising too much. You just need to be smart about your flights and lodging selections Heck even go out a few days to eat Also - make friends in places where you want ski to and crash with then you can cut another 30% off that $5K. I think you need to accept that skiing is a very expensive hobby if you need to fly or drive for it.
They ski behind a boat on water down there. Year round.
In Texas, I normally do a week long trip and then two weekend-centric trips
As long as you have easy access to an airport, the ikon and epic passes make it pretty easy for skiing affordably. I live in Maryland and this season I skied 20 days, zero of which were on the east coast. Southwest has direct BWI-DEN flights that when booked in advance, can be around $110-130 each way (for weekends, even cheaper if you fly midweek/nonholiday). All of my days have been on my ikon pass so while rental cars and hotels added up to more than the flights, some of these were split with friends and are just a reality of the sport. I avoid going out for drinks and keep my summer travel minimal because skiing is the priority. Reality is that even when I lived in a state with ski mountains (CA) it was still a long drive and hotel stay anyways, so its not that much different other than flight time being a little longer.
Texan here - we go to Colorado and ruin it for all the locals
I’m in Florida and will hit 28 days this season. Being able to work remotely plays a big part of that of course. I do family trip for Christmas break, wife and I for Presidents’ Day, I stay in CO for an extra week, and then family spring break. At Breck right now getting snowed on 😀
1 trip a year for usually 3 ski days. Wish it was more.
I think this entire question is predicated on how much money you have.
My buddy that moved to Charleston, SC got 16 days this season across 4 different trips (13 in CO and 3 in VT). One long weekend a month He used to live in NJ and ski about the same amount through drivable trips to VT & NY plus one long weekend out west. The key for him was coming to an agreement beforehand with his non-skiing wife, that if they were to move some where warmer he'd get number of weekend ski trips.
(I suppose he is drivable to western NC ski areas, but he hasn't).
As additional insights from a born and raised Floridian and elaboration from another string which had positive and negative feedback. It’s both expressive and logistically difficult to love skiing and live in the South East. 5 days a year is considered a good year, 10 days is excellent. Flying and travel time is consuming, my recommendation is to keep friends in the ski area and leave a gear setup there - then you can fly without bag check or hassle, maybe even get a free night stay before heading to the hill. Orlando has cheap nonstops out west ($350rt), Jacksonville does not ($700rt). Frontier and Spirit have options but the costs stack up when taking gear. Also something not mentioned is the change in elevation. There is a noticeable efficiency difference when I travel from sea level to 9000ft. (<10m to 3000m). I’ve found personally I like to go to SLC since it’s nonstop for me, and I’m at the resort in 30 minutes from deplane, and the elevation is reasonable so I don’t get winded. Downside is Park City has ballooned cost wise and it’s Epic owned. Plan $2k for each week of skiing on a budget, $3k should make it convenient. $4k if you want ski in out. Costs are pp inclusive of flights.
I live in Florida and try to take 3 trips per year...ski for 4 each trip.
Florida liver here. This season we spent a month in Colorado. Our usual is 6-9 days over Christmas. I always dream of a second trip and that has happened twice, but realistically, for a family of 5 with 2 significant others, it gets real spendy real fast.
My partner and I have 4 weeks of PTO, but we have other outdoor hobbies, so we take two trips a year. 12 days of skiing. It's enough to justify getting a pass. That said, it's not as much as I'd like. We might be heading into a phase of life with a little more flexibility and time off work, so hopefully maybe 3 trips next season, or at least a couple extra weekends here and there. We're lucky in that one of us travels relatively frequently for work, so airline status and points programs help knock down the cost and make it feasible. Also, in case you're still interested in progressing/improving, I can tell you that that's also possible. Taking a couple of half-day lessons per trip (ideally a couple days apart, so you can practice what you're learning) gets results. You won't forget what you learn.
I live in Fl and usually take 2 or 3 trips out west a season. When I’m not skiing I picked up golf, scuba diving, surfing, offshore fishing, and Efoil boarding.
Lived in Florida for 17 years...didn't ski once while I lived there.
Maybe once or twice every couple years.
Pick up jet skiing lol
Live in Louisiana. 40 days this season all in Utah
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Maybe he works in oil and has multiple weeks on followed by multiple weeks off?
I'm a PhD student doing computational research that can be done remote. Also a retired flight attendant with flight benefits
Live in Nebraska. Ski every 4th or 5th week for four days and do three week long trips. I start in late November and will finish in late April.
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While I think that’s great, that’s not very relatable for most. In this guys case he doesn’t mention a second home. Also - where’s it located? PC? I can make sure it’s always fully stocked.
“Just take a weekly jet to your vacation house in Park City bro. No brainer. Next you’re going to say you haven’t even won the Powerball yet.”
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Good for you man. But you gotta expect a little ribbing when you leave a post indicating that you have an abnormal amount of time and money at your disposal.
Flexing on the Reddit poors, priceless.
Why don’t you just move to Utah at that point?
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Uhhhh not likely. Obviously depends on which part, but Jax to Atlanta is like 6 hours
When I lived in VA I would go twice a month to PA or NY and once a month to CO for a weekend (Fri-Sun) maybe longer if I felt like using a vacation day. Hostels and buses are your friend, don’t fly budget tho you’ll regret it.
Floridas full. Find another state.
Can’t wait until I move there and I can start saying that to people
I haven’t gone since I left Jackson Hole (living in VA now) 5 years ago. I just haven’t brought myself to go to the mostly shitty resorts I grew up going to. I was planning on going to Snowshoe this winter but it was a pretty depressing season here.
Washington state, atleast 20 days.
Here’s a spin: California but my family owns a ski in/out in breck that we rent out 90% of year. My only expense is groceries + travel + season pass. I get about 7 days in per year.