Crazy Lift ticket Prices!!!!

[randoskier]

it's not just the big resorts with ridiculously high day-pass prices. The rinky-dink hill 10 minutes from my house is getting $58 a day. On the other hand, season passes are somewhat reasonable.

Why is this so in America?

At a small ski area in Europe like Vogel in Slovenia (1,800 foot vertical drop, 8 lifts) a lift ticket for an adult is $39. Actually one of my favorite places and a launching pad for ski touring from the top of the single-chair. Amazing views too.

[randoskier]

it's not just the big resorts with ridiculously high day-pass prices. The rinky-dink hill 10 minutes from my house is getting $58 a day. On the other hand, season passes are somewhat reasonable.

Why is this so in America?

I bet insurance expenses are higher. Do European resorts make a lot of snow?

At Alta Badia which is just one of the Ten ski areas (450 lifts for $61)) you can ski with the same lift ticket here in Italy they make this much snow:

Alta Badia has one of the biggest artificial snow-making networks in the Dolomiti Superski region: a total of 620 snow cannons covering over 100 km of slopes, more than 90% of the slopes in the area. In winter 2016/17, more than 2,000,000 square meters of snow were produced.

[randoskier]

Why is this so in America?

I bet insurance expenses are higher. Do European resorts make a lot of snow?

At Alta Badia which is just one of the Ten ski areas (450 lifts for $61)) you can ski with the same lift ticket here in Italy they make this much snow:

Alta Badia has one of the biggest artificial snow-making networks in the Dolomiti Superski region: a total of 620 snow cannons covering over 100 km of slopes, more than 90% of the slopes in the area. In winter 2016/17, more than 2,000,000 square meters of snow were produced.

I bet it is is mostly gouging and excessive profit and lack of competition, over concentration, and maybe price-fixing.

[randoskier]

Why is this so in America?

I bet insurance expenses are higher. Do European resorts make a lot of snow?

At Alta Badia which is just one of the Ten ski areas (450 lifts for $61)) you can ski with the same lift ticket here in Italy they make this much snow:

Alta Badia has one of the biggest artificial snow-making networks in the Dolomiti Superski region: a total of 620 snow cannons covering over 100 km of slopes, more than 90% of the slopes in the area. In winter 2016/17, more than 2,000,000 square meters of snow were produced.

https://www.moviment.it/en/artificial-s ... 20produced.

[spopepro]

Why do lift tickets cost so much in the USA?

I do not know the answer.

Maybe there are too many attorneys here.
The U.S. is litigious, so maybe some of the cost is resort insurance and legal costs.
It's also possible that too much money is chasing an industry that has become monopolized by Vail and Altera, which is scary because they are gobbling up Canadian resorts as well.

They may be driving people to buy season passes as well. An Ikon pass, or an Epic pass can be had at a fairly reasonable price.

But the bottom line is, I'm a bit perplexed by it as well.
I don't understand how families can afford to go on ski vacations anymore.

This is often cited, but probably isn't really a factor. One cool thing about publicly owned entities is that they have to report! Diamond Peak in Tahoe is owned and operated by the Incline Village General Improvement District. They have all their financials available on the opengov portal. The tl;dr is that insurance and legal is very, very little of their budget. Salaries, benefits, and capitalized equipment is tops.

Diamond Peak is also a great example of what I'm talking about. It's $120 for a day pass, but $620 for a season pass. No way the day pass is worth it, it's a nice but small area. The season pass is pretty reasonable.

[Montana St Alum]

Well, scratch insurance.
Yeah, I'll average about $25 a day at Deer Valley, but I live here, and I'm unemployable, so it's easy

[randoskier]

Why do lift tickets cost so much in the USA?

I do not know the answer.

Maybe there are too many attorneys here.
The U.S. is litigious, so maybe some of the cost is resort insurance and legal costs.
It's also possible that too much money is chasing an industry that has become monopolized by Vail and Altera, which is scary because they are gobbling up Canadian resorts as well.

They may be driving people to buy season passes as well. An Ikon pass, or an Epic pass can be had at a fairly reasonable price.

But the bottom line is, I'm a bit perplexed by it as well.
I don't understand how families can afford to go on ski vacations anymore.

This is often cited, but probably isn't really a factor. One cool thing about publicly owned entities is that they have to report! Diamond Peak in Tahoe is owned and operated by the Incline Village General Improvement District. They have all their financials available on the opengov portal. The tl;dr is that insurance and legal is very, very little of their budget. Salaries, benefits, and capitalized equipment is tops.

Diamond Peak is also a great example of what I'm talking about. It's $120 for a day pass, but $620 for a season pass. No way the day pass is worth it, it's a nice but small area. The season pass is pretty reasonable.

At Cortina (28 lifts-several being cable cars, 4,100 ft vertical drop, a seasons pass is $790.
If you take the Dolomiti Superski option it is $1000 total and covers ten ski resorts inthe Dolomites and 450 lifts including Cortina, Alta Badia, Val Gardena, etc.

About the same at Soelden in Austria and most other large resorts.

[connyro]

it's not just the big resorts with ridiculously high day-pass prices. The rinky-dink hill 10 minutes from my house is getting $58 a day. On the other hand, season passes are somewhat reasonable.

Why is this so in America?

Because they can. There's no sense of being a community resource anymore, just greed and self-serving.

[randoskier]

it's not just the big resorts with ridiculously high day-pass prices. The rinky-dink hill 10 minutes from my house is getting $58 a day. On the other hand, season passes are somewhat reasonable.

Why is this so in America?

Because they can. There's no sense of being a community resource anymore, just greed and self-serving.

Europe is greedy too, these are big world renowned resorts too. I don't understand it- I think it is price fixing, and monopolistic practices and I think the Forest Service and Feds should impose price controls on the organizations who are letting public land. The idea of National Forests is not to build country clubs on them.

[mca80]

it's not just the big resorts with ridiculously high day-pass prices. The rinky-dink hill 10 minutes from my house is getting $58 a day. On the other hand, season passes are somewhat reasonable.

Why is this so in America?

Because they can. There's no sense of being a community resource anymore, just greed and self-serving.

Season pass at Mt. Bohemia is $99. Day pass during the week at Indianhead is $30 for local residents. Season pass at the Porkies is 200 something (and includes one day at Marquette and two at Bohemia... might buy one of those next year, perhaps). Granted these are midwest ski hills with 700ft vertical drop but seems reasonably priced and community oriented. Marquette may be a different story, but Marquette itself is pretty different from the rest of the UP.