I posted this over on reddit, but this is some personal stuff, so…
I’ve been skiing since I was 4. It was a huge part of our family culture, with seasonal rental houses every winter in New England for large groups of people, weekends spent at the mountain and at the house, and as the kids grewup, we went as well, though it was starting to get expensive.
Now, we’re post-pandemic, and the mountains are… jam packed. Lift prices are astronomical, and you can’t rent a house for love or money (fuck you AirBNB).
I live in the northeast, and my local mountain is charging $75-ish for a 4 hour lift ticket. Note that they do not have sufficient parking, so you can’t actually park and walk into the lodge, you have to park in a remote lot, get on a bus with your gear, ride to the lodge, THEN you might be able hit the slopes.
I’m also hearing of further up-country places charging for parking (sorry, charging for VIP parking. If you want free, youi have to get in line behind the people paying for the better parking spots) – as well as charging $150 for a single day pass.
At my age, I can’t hustle crap around the mountain just so I can get a coupld good runs in. I’m losing the excitement and joy of the sport, as it’s being monetized within an inch of it’s life.
Is it the end of the golden age? Should I just give up on this sport and move on to something that doesn’t have a major corporation buying up everything in sight and hiking the rates through the roof?
