 Poster: A snowHead
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Some of those comparisons are a bit "apples and oranges".
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Yeah, fruit is getting quite dear as well, @adithorp
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Is 67 Euros a day expensive?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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As least you can see where they have spent the money from the lift passes in the Dolomites. Unlike many other Countries/resorts.
They invested heavily during the Covid lockdown whilst they had the time, and also kept most of the staff in work rather than lay them off.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@blahblahblah, For most people yes. Folk around here are committed to skiing and I suspect would pay whatever the resorts charge for a lift pass. The reality is that skiing is becoming a minority activity indulged in by wealthy people.
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Only if you go to the super big, super connected areas.
That's a big machine to keep running which entails big cost.
Go to more modest sized ski areas/resorts with 30-60km of skiing and the costs drop dramatically.
30-60km is more than enough skiing per day for even the most committed 'box ticker'.
Repeat a number of those runs a couple of times and you can easily spend 1-3 days in a medium sized resort.
And that's just the piste!
Choose an area which has a number of these medium sized resorts close to each other (less than 1hr drive) and you've got the makings of a reasonably priced Winter holiday with bags of variety.
That's my philosophy on being able to get more than one ski holiday per year with each trip coming in under £1000 all in.
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| munich_irish wrote: |
| @blahblahblah, For most people yes. Folk around here are committed to skiing and I suspect would pay whatever the resorts charge for a lift pass. The reality is that skiing is becoming a minority activity indulged in by wealthy people. |
Anecdotally, having spoken to quite a few locals, hereabouts, many families have given up on buying season passes. Just too expensive. Our local area season pass (Dachstein West, which also includes Dachstein Krippenstein, Feuerkogel etc) has almost doubled since we came here 9 years ago. Most of that increase came after COVID and the energy “crisis”. A day ticket is now €65,00. It was, when we came here, €38,00.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Never mind fruit, more having and eating cake.
"In Roccaraso, a popular resort in Abruzzo’s Apennines that became overcrowded last season after being promoted by a TikTok star, the cost of a daily ski pass is expected to rise to €60."
OK, so we have too many skiers.
"He noted a sharp decline in mountain tourism during the 2024-2025 season, with 1 million fewer Italians hitting the slopes compared with the previous year owing to the rising cost."
No, we have too few skiers.
Umm, pick one princess.
And if he thinks €86 is expensive for a lift pass someone should pass him the price list for some of the US resorts! Think I'd take Dolomiti Superski day pass for €86 over an Aspen one for €239 (though quite who's buy a full Superski pass for a single days skiing I don't know as a local area pass would give you more than enough skiing for one day! - saving you €13).
Last edited by You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net. on Tue 28-10-25 11:42; edited 2 times in total
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Don't know where you're getting an Aspen daypass for $154. They like to keep premium parity with Vail and Beaver Creek so most walk ups will be over $300 I suspect.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Will it stop Guardian readers going?
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| Quote: |
The reality is that skiing is becoming a minority activity indulged in by wealthy people.
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Wasn't it always.
But I do remember doing cheeper ski holidays in the past. We travelled by coach overnight, slept 3 or more to the room, ate basic food, didn't drink and enjoyed ourselves. I sort of get the impression from this forum and other discussions that people want to fly to near the resort (short transfers), get a taxi from the airport, stay in large apartments in single rooms or hotels, have 3 course lunches with wine or beer, have several apre ski drinks, then party until the early hours. Yes skiing is getting expensive but you can get it to managable proportions.
I've looked up the prices for a season pass in Les Arcs for next season. The standard price is 737€ but for us over 65 it's 590€. If you want to add the queue jumping facility that goes up to 846 and 677. That IMHO is not a bad price. Last season I managed 22 days skiing in the resort. If I ski the same amount next season that comes in at about 3€ per lift up the mountain. Actually it it will be a lot less expensive for me next year as I hit the 75 age group and qualify for a 50€ season pass. 
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| Quote: |
"He noted a sharp decline in mountain tourism during the 2024-2025 season, with 1 million fewer Italians hitting the slopes compared with the previous year owing to the rising cost."
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Yet some Italian resorts have introduced a limit to the number of lift passes sold per day due to overcrowding.
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You know it makes sense.
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| Dave of the Marmottes wrote: |
| Don't know where you're getting an Aspen daypass for $154. They like to keep premium parity with Vail and Beaver Creek so most walk ups will be over $300 I suspect. |
Either a currency conversion fail or just inability to remember a 3 digit number while switching from one tab to another!
$279 so €239 for an Aspen day pass (peak weeks).
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@johnE, totally. It always felt a bit posh going skiing - my family hadn't even thought about it as a kid, normal people went to Spain or Italy for a sun holiday - so when I went on my first Crystal trip for £129 to La Plagne, staying in a shoebox and eating pasta by the bucketload, I thought I'd cheated the system somehow. £150 for a lifts? Yes please!! 2 euros to the pound? I'll have that...
Even sun holidays are now expensive, but skiing is another level.... I reckon as a family of 4 we'll be lucky to get change from £5000 by the time we've totted everything up from our Christmas trip - a huge, huge portion of our annual income - but we scrimp, save and forego other things to enjoy this very luxurious indulgence. Obvs, it can be done miles cheaper at different times of the year, but the add-ons like lift pass, kit rental or ski carriage don't help to 'sell' skiing to normal people who probably just think that it all seems like an expensive faff to be cold and fleeced €10 for a beer.
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Poster: A snowHead
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I guess no one except few paying for one day passes, most getting Epic/Ikon?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| munich_irish wrote: |
| @blahblahblah, For most people yes. Folk around here are committed to skiing and I suspect would pay whatever the resorts charge for a lift pass. The reality is that skiing is becoming a minority activity indulged in by wealthy people. |
Has it not always been?
67 Euros would not get you a theatre ticket.
Given the cost of the infra structure and staff costs 67 Euro for a day seems cheap.
Euro Disney is over £100 for a day ticket.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| blahblahblah wrote: |
| Euro Disney is over £100 for a day ticket. |
But unless you're some absolute freak of nature, one day at Disney is enough for a lifetime 
Only one day on the slopes feels like punishment LOL
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Doing a bit of research on student ski trips and I see that Brum Medski are doing a trip this new year to Risoul (a nice resort BTW) for £500 including lift pass. I think all other university ski trips are sold out already.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| Specialman wrote: |
| Yes please!! 2 euros to the pound? I'll have that.... |
If you got 2 euros to the pound you did very well, according to this site the highest Pound to Euro rate ever was €1.752 on 3rd May 2000: https://share.google/DXXQIdxz6V9hZkbxu
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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@Alastair Pink, it wasn't £150 for the lift pass either but regardless, it's a lighthearted device to carry the story along....
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| Mjit wrote: |
"In Roccaraso, a popular resort in Abruzzo’s Apennines that became overcrowded last season after being promoted by a TikTok star, . |
I imagine its fundamental issue is being the only reasonable sized resort very close to Rome so a magnet for the weekend skier.
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| munich_irish wrote: |
| ... The reality is that skiing is becoming a minority activity indulged in by wealthy people. |
Except there's a Bruce Springsteen documentary on BBC R4 at the moment, and in the last episode The Boss, a working class hero, comments:
"I was the guy. I got the girl. I got the guitar. I got the car. I got to ski."
I'll try to find the actual quote, but it was pretty much that. Do I need to explain what he meant?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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This is a poorly written click bait article <shock>!
worth noting is that it's the Italian Consumer association saying that skiing has become too expensive for many (1m) Italians. There is a debate in Italy over what in the UK we call the cost of living crisis.
original in Italian here on the associations web page
https://www.assoutenti.it/indagine-antitrust-skipass-dolomiti-superski/
FYI, there is also an anti-trust case against Dolomiti superski. The original article mentions the season pass price increases and interestingly the early purchase price for a Dolomiti Superski season pass is 5eur cheaper than last year, no coincidence.
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| Specialman wrote: |
| blahblahblah wrote: |
| Euro Disney is over £100 for a day ticket. |
But unless you're some absolute freak of nature, one day at Disney is enough for a lifetime
Only one day on the slopes feels like punishment LOL |
Very true.
But everything costs loads, £500+ to Watch Kylie (for 2, worth it) £500+ to watch Coldplay ( for 3 not worth it), looking at Abba "Voyage" £105 per head. Such is life.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| Jäger wrote: |
| munich_irish wrote: |
| @blahblahblah, For most people yes. Folk around here are committed to skiing and I suspect would pay whatever the resorts charge for a lift pass. The reality is that skiing is becoming a minority activity indulged in by wealthy people. |
Anecdotally, having spoken to quite a few locals, hereabouts, many families have given up on buying season passes. Just too expensive. Our local area season pass (Dachstein West, which also includes Dachstein Krippenstein, Feuerkogel etc) has almost doubled since we came here 9 years ago. Most of that increase came after COVID and the energy “crisis”. A day ticket is now €65,00. It was, when we came here, €38,00. |
Gentrification right there 
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| Jäger wrote: |
| munich_irish wrote: |
| @blahblahblah, For most people yes. Folk around here are committed to skiing and I suspect would pay whatever the resorts charge for a lift pass. The reality is that skiing is becoming a minority activity indulged in by wealthy people. |
Anecdotally, having spoken to quite a few locals, hereabouts, many families have given up on buying season passes. Just too expensive. Our local area season pass (Dachstein West, which also includes Dachstein Krippenstein, Feuerkogel etc) has almost doubled since we came here 9 years ago. Most of that increase came after COVID and the energy “crisis”. A day ticket is now €65,00. It was, when we came here, €38,00. |
That is the point. When I first came to Munich 25 years ago, most families went skiing for a week. Now practically no one goes, too expensive. I live in a wealthy village in the wealthiest part of Germany less than an hour's drive from the mountains. Plenty of folk around here go to the opera at a couple of hundred Euros a ticket or went to see Adele (which you could hear from the village) which was €100+ a ticket but skiing is a lot more. Not only skiing, plenty of complaints on how expensive Südtirol has become (overcrowded too) for short trips.
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@blahblahblah, unfortunately yes - one of the reasons why I don't see bands these days, it's just too prohibitive.
Just an observation, I get delivered a lot of snow sports content from the US through my social media, where it appears owning a season lift pass is just part of the lifestyle - day trips to ski and snowboard with friends, maybe weekends away. It's a bit like people who spend £1200 on a syndicate ticket for carp fishing, or buy golf club membership; if it's on your doorstep or a short drive then it feel less like an expense/luxury and more like an investment in lifestyle. Main thing in the UK is we have to initiate 'holiday mode' to go skiing and either drive or get on a plane, which means it ends up becoming less of a hobby and just another holiday - which for a large portion of us, that then makes it super expensive and not a lifestyle choice, but a luxury - but for those who are monied then it matters not.
Always been that way I suppose, but does feel like snow holidays now need to be even more considered than just "where is good to go skiing"
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You know it makes sense.
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@blahblahblah, do the abba thing - it’s worth it 
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Questions:
1) Is skiing relatively more expensive than it was 10/20/30 years ago? Quite possibly/probably although
2) Is it intrinsically expensive? Because maybe it was just (too) cheap previously? Or because infrastructure, etc. has been upgraded or they are paying people decent wages, making things safer, etc.
3) Can it still be done cheaply? Either by changing how/what you book or where you go.
4) Is everything about skiing expensive? Flights for example can be pretty cheap but transfers have gone up.
5) Like a stopped clock, is stanton finally right?
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Poster: A snowHead
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Perhaps they should compare the day rate for skiing with 90 minutes at a top footie game or 2 hrs at a top concert or even eating out at a decent restaurant etc , while its painful to lay out for a day pass the fun per pound is good value in relation to those other activities imvho
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| v1cky24 wrote: |
| @blahblahblah, do the abba thing - it’s worth it |
One wife and two daughters, so a cheap night out, but thank you for confirming its good.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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When I was young, 70 years ago, it really was only the wealthy who skied. Since then we have had a golden age of mass skiing, perhaps now approaching its end.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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If things have got restrictively expensive why are there also complaints of overcrowding?
Like others we have noticed there has been a noticeable jump since covid and the energy issues.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Population and living standards have both increased.
Whilst the utilisation of extra ski areas has increased there are no new ones* and many of the lower/smaller ones have shut.
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Good points raised by many.
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If things have got restrictively expensive why are there also complaints of overcrowding?
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People have more money to spent! At least enough people do to result in overcrowding.
| Specialman wrote: |
@blahblahblah, unfortunately yes - one of the reasons why I don't see bands these days, it's just too prohibitive.
Just an observation, I get delivered a lot of snow sports content from the US through my social media, where it appears owning a season lift pass is just part of the lifestyle - day trips to ski and snowboard with friends, maybe weekends away. It's a bit like people who spend £1200 on a syndicate ticket for carp fishing, or buy golf club membership; if it's on your doorstep or a short drive then it feel less like an expense/luxury and more like an investment in lifestyle. Main thing in the UK is we have to initiate 'holiday mode' to go skiing and either drive or get on a plane, which means it ends up becoming less of a hobby and just another holiday - which for a large portion of us, that then makes it super expensive and not a lifestyle choice, but a luxury - but for those who are monied then it matters not.
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Excellent observation of north American skiing!
Or at least fits a good portion of US skiers. Skiing was never a "holiday" for most Americans. Vast majority of Americans do "holidays" to the beach just like most Brits. When Americans want a luxury holiday, they go to Europe! 
| snowball wrote: |
| When I was young, 70 years ago, it really was only the wealthy who skied. Since then we have had a golden age of mass skiing, perhaps now approaching its end. |
Interesting point.
Last edited by Then you can post your own questions or snow reports... on Tue 28-10-25 16:28; edited 1 time in total
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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This article is about locals, not sure what they are talking about bth, most of them ski couple of days on weekends and never stay overnight as it cheaper just to drive back home. So price concerning is only ski passes, this should not break the bank for couple of days skiing per season.
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| Quote: |
The reality is that skiing is becoming a minority activity indulged in by wealthy people
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It always has been the case for Brits. Maybe for euros living close to resorts opportunities were different.
Personally I do think skiing in Europe has generally became poor value for money, with lift passes becoming increasingly unaffordable. Although there are options like magic pass.
Last spring I did a pretty cheapish trip to Chamonix (single person happy to stay in a hostel and cook my own food, not needing kit rental or lessons etc.). For families with children or people new to the sport that need to add on the cost of rentals and lessons it's a huge cost.
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FAQ
