Submitted by nba123490 t3_10f7r3a in massachusetts
nixiedust t1_j4vkfo7 wrote
Reply to comment by binocular_gems in This winter is a repeat of the winter of 2019-2020 by nba123490
Ski slopes are panicking. I do marketing for a few and there is a real sense the industry will die if temps keep going up.
I know it's hard to care about a sport for primarily rich people ending, but tons of people make their living on the mountains, plus all the wildlife.
keymonkey t1_j4vpsnb wrote
It's a shame that skiing has attracted an image that it is primarily a rich persons sport. Local small mountains are affordable and have a laidback vibe, gear can be picked up at tag sales and swaps for next to nothing, and getting outside and having some fun should not be tied to Chad and Buffy at Vail. I blame the 80s lifestyle of excess for this. I grew up in a lower middle class house and my folks always found a way to get us out skiing with our cousins once/twice a season on hand-me-downs and tag sale gear. Long underwear under jeans and your older cousins coat from 3 years ago has given way to 1000s of dollars in stupid crap that does nothing to improve your fun. If this image has kept you from trying the sport, hit a swap, ask a family member to dig out those boxes in the attic, and head over to a small local hill. Take it back.
ohmyashleyy t1_j4vxygu wrote
Interestingly, the “local small mountains” like Nashoba and Bradford are more expensive than many of the Southern NH ones, and even Wachusett, at least on the beginner side of things
We’re looking into getting my 4yo on skis and we took him to Nashoba thinking it would 1) be close and 2) be cheap because of how small it is, but I could save a lot of money by driving the extra 30 minutes to Wachusett or Pats Peak or Macintyre.
(Though I assume you’re including all of those in small and local as compared to, say, Loon or Killington)
I agree with you on everything else though - I need gear since it’s been 10 years since I skied, but I got a cheap pair of snow pants on Amazon and will (hopefully) by some cheap used skis and boots at the end of the season.
keymonkey t1_j4vz2nc wrote
Yeah...Nashoba is basically in my backyard and I was always confused by the pricing there. Growing up it was Powder Ridge and Mt. Tom, or Brodie. Pat's is decent, but rentals anywhere are ridiculous. Local Lyons had a swap this past Nov and I picked up larger gear for my rapidly growing 12yrold. Boots $5, skis $10, ski pants $4.
[deleted] t1_j4w3t61 wrote
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OkAddendum2684 t1_j4wd5ns wrote
80 bucks !!!!
HorrorLine7886 t1_j4ymsel wrote
Lol you’re all like SKIING SO EXPENSIVE but really it’s just that you get paid dogshit because capitalism fucked you so the wealthy guy could milk you for all you’re worth just so his yacht could get a tank of gas
Oh and the world is melting / it’s not 1981 and things cost more
chochy t1_j4y67k7 wrote
What grind my gears now is they split the day into two sessions to pull in more money.
keymonkey t1_j4wge98 wrote
You are correct. $50 is about the bottom for a full day ticket. Whaleback or Bradford, even Jiminy has a lower mountain pass for $49. Not sure what type of deal you are looking for. Movies are $20 for 2 hours! Perhaps it is me, but it seems 50 for 8 hours of ski time is still decent.
[deleted] t1_j4wgt64 wrote
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keymonkey t1_j4whogd wrote
Weekday, Non-holiday $35 https://skibutternut.com/tickets-passes/tickets-passes/lift-tickets?hold_site_alert=1
OkAddendum2684 t1_j4wd0dc wrote
I agree I wanted to ski Wachucett until I looked up a day pass was..
NewAccountNumber101 t1_j4wpo3q wrote
What is affordable? Places here in MA? Might as well not go. I paid $130 for a day pass at Loon, they had 10 trails open. Total waste of money. I go once a year for New Years, way too expensive and you get no value.
AboyNamedBort t1_j4vo2jo wrote
They should have been planning for this for at least a couple decades now. Its been common knowledge forever.
birdman829 t1_j4vszwi wrote
I mean sure, and they have. Most places have increased snowmaking capacity and coverage to supplement natural snow and extend the season.
There's really only so much they can do though beyond that. Effective snowmaking still requires prolonged periods of below freezing temps, preferably below about 27-28.
Cersad t1_j4xfeci wrote
I wonder how much of those profits were reinvested into efforts to mitigate global warming, though? We have "energy" (oil) billionaires transparently pushing anti-environmentalism but the response from businesses that stand to lose from global warming has been remarkably muted.
birdman829 t1_j4xjlkk wrote
I'm not here to promote or defend ski areas, some of them are run by greedy assholes. Others ownership groups are better just like any industry though. I have been an avid skier since I was 4 and I do often think about the environmental impact of resort skiing. Running a ski resort is very energy intensive - grooming equipment, chair lifts, compressors and pumps for snowmaking, etc.
That said, many of them do invest in green initiatives. Maybe some of the more "corporate" owned ones just want to boost their image (or protect their bottom line) but there is actually advocacy and investment from ski resorts in climate intervention, as well as efforts to reduce their own carbon footprints.
nixiedust t1_j4xl7gt wrote
This is true. It is to protect the bottom line but a lot of people who work for even the corporate resorts love the sport and mountains.
MiloMinderbinder-22 t1_j4vufnm wrote
"Adapt or die" seems to apply to a lot of forthcoming issues these days.
AchillesDev t1_j4xvgt5 wrote
There will just be a lot more dying than anyone anticipated.
MiloMinderbinder-22 t1_j4xxi7q wrote
Some of us are r/collapse aware. You're right though; not enough of us unfortunatley.
RMR6789 t1_j4zbgwh wrote
I’m not rich but I love to ski. The price tag kills me but it’s the only thing that makes me feel alive during the winter lol
TerryPistachio t1_j4zw7hz wrote
In my perspective it's a bit of a divide. There are people like me who buy a <500$ pass, sleep in their car, eat pb&j, and only really pay for gas to ski 30+ days a year.
And then there are people spending my yearly total for their family to ski two days.
There really isn't much in between.
somegridplayer t1_j4wljry wrote
They'll just raise prices and cut staff again.
>but tons of people make their living on the mountains
an insecure job that they will fire you for any reason they can find. or do you mean the shoestring operations group they keep on year round?
>plus all the wildlife.
The wildlife will be better off without the resort.
nixiedust t1_j4xko8p wrote
>The wildlife will be better off without the resort.
Of course, except even a temp change of a few degrees changes ecosystems enough to make them extinct.
As for staff, I'm talking about anyone who works for the slope/resort. Quality of the jobs aside, people do rely on that income. A handful of companies own most of the resorts so this includes staff that work remote.
somegridplayer t1_j4zq80b wrote
"Please be grateful for the minimum wage overworked slave labor jobs we give you." You sound like you work for Vail Resorts.
What's the average tenure of a resort employee? Where are the majority of seasonal workers from again?
Given the locals who traditionally have worked the resort jobs have been priced out from ever living anywhere near the resorts and more each day are moving on to greener pastures, I'm not sure you understand who needs who.
nixiedust t1_j500agm wrote
I don't work for Vail, or even ski. I've done some marketing as a contractor. As shitty as the jobs may be, until there are better options, people rely on those wages. Knowing we need better alternatives doesn't mean we can wrench away what people have now.
Anyway, fuck every corporate ski slope owner if...I care about saving the land and the using it wisely to help the people who love and need it. I'm not sure how anyone got supporting Vail out of supporting their workers.
somegridplayer t1_j500o17 wrote
If you compare what the big resort towns rely on from the mountain twenty years ago to what they rely on now, you'd find everything you claim to be patently false. Every single town has diversified well in advance of the resorts slowly becoming less of a thing.
Lets also address that those jobs were never guaranteed and the resorts outsource as many of them as they can to seasonal foreign workers that don't "need" them. Those jobs are rapidly becoming obsolete for the towns and the people to survive. And towns that solely exist due to the mountains will move on like many others have.
Those locals will be fine, their resume is longer than you can ever imagine.
nixiedust t1_j50a5ji wrote
'kay, good luck with that. Guess what I've heard from industry leaders is meaningless and all. Great if you know resourceful people, but your thinking is still narrow and unsustainable. No job is guaranteed and whatever toilet your folks are cleaning now will pay less and less as the ski money dries up.
Do you really think the $2billion colorado lost in ski revenue last year hasn't affected anyone? I guess they're all cleaning my weed for big bucks now? lol...yes, I'm sure someone who grooms snow for a living has many, many lucrative career options.
somegridplayer t1_j50babz wrote
Are those the same "industry leaders" that continually gut operations and make the customer experience worse every year while jacking prices through the roof?
Oh wait, those are the "operational improvements" and price of a "world class experience" that you're paid to shill. You don't have to show your hand so hard. Or do you actually believe them?
Those towns will be fine without the "industry leaders" and you. Not that you've ever been to any of them by your own admission.
WanderingOnTheWay t1_j4vtedo wrote
Skiing isn’t a rich person’s sport. I grew up in the 80s going with my elementary school, and still spend most winters skiing places like Mad River, where the folks like Vail haven’t changed the place in favor of profits.
Skiing is a New England tradition and cuts across class lines!
essmargot t1_j4y0t4j wrote
We weren’t rich either and I did ski club at school in Southern New Hampshire. We would go to Gunstock on a school bus every Friday night. My parents got very cheap skis and boots at ski swaps, and I would bring food.
The_eldritch_bitch t1_j4w3ncr wrote
Yeah, dropping $500 on a family of four for one day activity isn’t a rich persons sport. More if lessons and rentals are needed.
WanderingOnTheWay t1_j4w934a wrote
Four single-session tickets at Wachusett costs around $240. If you ski more than once or twice a year, you buy used skis in the summer, you don't need lessons, and you bring food from home. If only one parent skis, it's under $200 with two kids.
It's not nothing, but it isn't restricted to "rich people", and it doesn't cost $500. If you really love skiing, you buy a season pass, and you save significantly. My point isn't that it's free, or that it isn't a luxury -- it absolutely is -- but rather that it isn't reserved for folks in the 1%. Stuff like Vail buying out our local slopes (ugh, Okemo) sucks, and supporting smaller mountains helps to keep it from becoming something akin to what you see in CO or CA.
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