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10-30-2007, 01:02 PM
Skiing costs continue to climb.
Is the sport destined to be elitist?
CRAIG HILL
The News Tribune
Published: October 28th, 2007 01:00 AM
Without some creative thinking, Christine Barnhart probably never could have introduced her 16-year-old daughter to snowboarding.
The price of equipment and lift tickets would have kept them away.
But eager to pass her passion on to her daughter, the single mom from Enumclaw took a second job making $9 per hour in the Crystal Mountain ski shop. And she encouraged her daughter, Natasha, to bus tables in the resort’s cafeteria.
As part-time employees, they get free gear rentals and two $950 season passes for $109.
“I don’t know if I would be able to give her fun like this with a single income,” said Barnhart, a 44-year-old Federal Aviation Administration receptionist.
Barnhart isn’t alone.
Terry Barbera of Federal Way hit this weekend’s SkiFever and Snowboard Show at the Qwest Field Event Center in Seattle looking for a deal on skis for her preschool daughters. Her husband works at Crystal Mountain and gets a steep discount on season passes for the family.
“It makes the sport a little more affordable,” Barbera said.
With nearly 1.7 million skier and snowboarder visits per season since 1997-98, Washington’s ski industry is as healthy as ever. But as rising energy and labor costs drive up lift ticket prices, skiers and snowboarders also are getting older, making some in the industry wonder if the sport’s next generation is being priced out.
The average age of a skier and boarder was 33.2 in 1998, but that climbed to 36.6 last season, according to the National Ski Areas Association. In 1998, a lift ticket at Crystal was $35. This year one costs $58.
“Are we pricing people out? It’s a good question,” said John Kircher, owner of Crystal Mountain and the Summit at Snoqualmie.
“We need to be careful not to get to the point where this is an elitist sport,” said John Gifford, general manager at Stevens Pass Ski Area.
Resort managers around the nation are asking the same question with every price hike.
“Every time we raise prices even $1, we are afraid we are cutting out a small portion of people,” said Paul Senft, general manager of Nevada’s Mount Rose, which raised lift-ticket prices $4 this season, to $62. “It pains us to raise prices, but right now we can’t raise them fast enough to cover our costs.”
THE COST OF DOING BUSINESS
Even though the average lift ticket at a Cascade ski resort has climbed from $42 in 2004-05 to $48 this year, Washington is a bargain.
The national average was $64.17 last season. Most destination resorts will charge more than $70 this season, and Colorado’s Aspen Snowmass leads the way at $87.
“We’re talking about a $30 difference in a lot of cases,” said Scott Kaden of the Pacific Northwest Ski Area Association. “Northwest operators have done a great job of keeping the cost down.”
Northwest resorts spend less money on snowmaking than most resorts, according to the NSAA. And because they are located on Forest Service land, local resorts can’t add costly base-area amenities.
The biggest costs are energy and labor. Higher fuel costs in recent years are leading to higher operating costs and higher wages to offset employees’ transportation costs.
“Nobody is getting rich,” said White Pass spokeswoman Kathleen Goyette. “We’re paying the power company.”
Power costs forced White Pass to implement its biggest ever midweek lift-ticket price hike. The price will go from $31 to $38, still the least expensive in the state. A Saturday or Sunday pass is $45.
Price hikes are likely to continue as five Cascade ski areas try to expand. Crystal Mountain becomes the first Western Washington ski area in 20 years to expand this season. Opening that new terrain also is helping drive prices from $53 to $58 because it will take more energy and staff to operate the new Northway lift.
“You feel better about raising prices when you add legitimate value,” Kircher said.
But what bothers Kircher about rising costs is that even ski areas with less to offer have to charge more.
Mission Ridge, the smallest of Washington’s top six ski areas, is less than half the size of the Summit at Snoqualmie, but energy costs force both to charge the same – $48.
“There is not a direct price-to-quality relation any more,” Kircher said.
MORE THAN LIFT TICKETS
“Skiing is expensive,” said Chris Rudolph, Stevens Pass’ marketing director. “Nothing about it is cheap.”
But resort managers say they get tired of shouldering the majority of the blame for the cost of the sport.
The average skier spends $751 for skis, boots, bindings and poles according to the 2006-07 SnowSports Industries America retail audit. The average boarder pays $538 for a board, boots and bindings. Advanced level equipment can set a skier back $2,000 and can cost a snowboarder $1,500.
“That’s why we’ve offered a $299 entry-level ski for at least the last 10 years,” said Barry Zamzow, the Northwest sales representative for outdoor-sports equipment company Atomic. “We are trying to reach out to the entry-level skier to help them keep the sport affordable. I think it costs us more than $299 to make the skis but it’s good for the sport.”
Even with inexpensive skis, it’s still a 70-mile drive from Tacoma to the nearest ski area.
“With the price of gas, it’s expensive just to get to the mountain,” Kaden said. “And more than money, for a lot of people, it’s a big time commitment.”
ONE AND DONE
Kircher says about 85 percent of first-time skiers and snowboarders don’t return for a second day.
“It’s the torture of learning, the parking and waiting in line,” Kircher said. “They typically don’t complain. They just don’t come back.”
Regulars on the slope often talk about how painful their first day was before something finally clicked the second or third day.
“But when the sport is so expensive, it’s hard to justify spending all that money to torture yourself again,” Zamzow said.
Washington ski areas are trying to combat this problem with the EZ Ski and Ride 1-2-3 program.
For as little as $109, visitors can get three lessons, lift tickets and gear rentals. Seven Washington ski areas offer a version of the programs.
“We’re basically charging enough to pay the instructor,” said Tiana Enger, Crystal’s marketing director. “But we are hoping to bring in new skiers and boarders and bring back lapsed skiers.”
IS SKIING ALREADY ELITIST?
While some ski area operators don’t want their sport perceived to be elitist, it might be too late.
According to an NSAA survey, 46 percent of skiers and boarders have a household income of $100,000 or more. Just 17 percent of all U.S. households fall into that same category.
Some people would rather see lift ticket prices increase rather than drop.
“I hear people telling me they want tickets over $60 because it will keep the crowds down,” Kircher said.
At Tahoe’s Squaw Valley USA, a season pass is $1,770. When the resort considered a $299 season pass for those who purchase it a season in advance, regular customers shot down the idea.
“They’re afraid we’d be jammed all season and the mountain would get trashed,” said Squaw Valley spokeswoman Savannah Cowley.
Rachel McClure of Zumiez, a chain of action-sports stores, argued in her master’s thesis at Arizona’s Prescott College that not only is skiing an elitist sport, but also so is hiking.
The subject of her thesis was the need for youth to spend more time in the outdoors.
“A lot of people in urban environments can’t even get to the mountains to ski or mountain bike, let alone ski,” said McClure, who helps run the University of Washington winter sports program.
Each Cascade resort hosts outreach programs.
“Programs like Burton Chill help with the growth of new skiers and snowboarders,” Stevens Pass’ Rudolph said of a program that takes underprivileged youth to the slopes. “It brings in people who might never get a chance to try the sport.”
However, that’s not the point of the program, said Jake Darro of Burton.
“Most of these kids are in foster homes,” Darro said. “We’re just trying to help the youth with our toy – snowboarding.”
THE BOGUS WAY
Bogus Basin near Boise has been concerned about pricing out customers for many years.
In 1998, Bogus made a move many resorts now copy. Bogus dropped the price of their $500 season pass to $199 for those who bought it the previous Presidents Day weekend. To sweeten the deal, the pass is good for the current spring, too.
That year, season pass holders at Bogus jumped from 2,800 to 25,000. They’ve averaged 25,000 season pass holders ever since.
“It’s definitely about volume,” said Bogus marketing director Jenifer Johnson.
Bogus also dropped the word resort from its name.
“Resort is an ugly word,” Johnson said. “We want to be more about community. … And we want to make this sport as accessible as we possibly can.”
Resorts following Bogus’ lead include White Pass and the Summit at Snoqualmie.
“We reward loyalty,” Goyette said. “A huge percentage of our customers come here because they can get a season pass for $289.”
$100 LIFT TICKETS
From his office at Mount Rose, Senft sighed as he pondered the likelihood of a $100 lift ticket.
“I’d say three, maybe four years and somebody in Tahoe will be charging $100,” Senft said. “And there is a market where people will be happy to buy one.”
He figures that thought is scarier to some customers than his resort’s super-steep slopes.
“Look, if you are paying full price for lift tickets, you’re from Texas,” said Senft, referring to entry-level speciqals, discounted season tickets purchased a season in advance and other promotions. “There are so many ways to save, but that full-price lift ticket is what we advertise, and some people look at that and think it’s too much.”
Washington skiers and boarders can take solace in the fact that they’ll likely be last to the $100 level. But along the way, general managers are hoping to hook enough young people on the sport to make the future as healthy as the present.
“If you can’t buy a ticket, there is always the option of working or volunteering,” Rudolph said. “That free season pass is the Number 1 benefit. That’s why I got started in this business – so I can afford to ski 200 days a year.
“That’s the thing about skiing and snowboarding. People are passionate about it, and when they are passionate there is always a way to make it happen.”
from: http://www.thenewstribune.com/adventure/story/189659.html
Is the sport destined to be elitist?
CRAIG HILL
The News Tribune
Published: October 28th, 2007 01:00 AM
Without some creative thinking, Christine Barnhart probably never could have introduced her 16-year-old daughter to snowboarding.
The price of equipment and lift tickets would have kept them away.
But eager to pass her passion on to her daughter, the single mom from Enumclaw took a second job making $9 per hour in the Crystal Mountain ski shop. And she encouraged her daughter, Natasha, to bus tables in the resort’s cafeteria.
As part-time employees, they get free gear rentals and two $950 season passes for $109.
“I don’t know if I would be able to give her fun like this with a single income,” said Barnhart, a 44-year-old Federal Aviation Administration receptionist.
Barnhart isn’t alone.
Terry Barbera of Federal Way hit this weekend’s SkiFever and Snowboard Show at the Qwest Field Event Center in Seattle looking for a deal on skis for her preschool daughters. Her husband works at Crystal Mountain and gets a steep discount on season passes for the family.
“It makes the sport a little more affordable,” Barbera said.
With nearly 1.7 million skier and snowboarder visits per season since 1997-98, Washington’s ski industry is as healthy as ever. But as rising energy and labor costs drive up lift ticket prices, skiers and snowboarders also are getting older, making some in the industry wonder if the sport’s next generation is being priced out.
The average age of a skier and boarder was 33.2 in 1998, but that climbed to 36.6 last season, according to the National Ski Areas Association. In 1998, a lift ticket at Crystal was $35. This year one costs $58.
“Are we pricing people out? It’s a good question,” said John Kircher, owner of Crystal Mountain and the Summit at Snoqualmie.
“We need to be careful not to get to the point where this is an elitist sport,” said John Gifford, general manager at Stevens Pass Ski Area.
Resort managers around the nation are asking the same question with every price hike.
“Every time we raise prices even $1, we are afraid we are cutting out a small portion of people,” said Paul Senft, general manager of Nevada’s Mount Rose, which raised lift-ticket prices $4 this season, to $62. “It pains us to raise prices, but right now we can’t raise them fast enough to cover our costs.”
THE COST OF DOING BUSINESS
Even though the average lift ticket at a Cascade ski resort has climbed from $42 in 2004-05 to $48 this year, Washington is a bargain.
The national average was $64.17 last season. Most destination resorts will charge more than $70 this season, and Colorado’s Aspen Snowmass leads the way at $87.
“We’re talking about a $30 difference in a lot of cases,” said Scott Kaden of the Pacific Northwest Ski Area Association. “Northwest operators have done a great job of keeping the cost down.”
Northwest resorts spend less money on snowmaking than most resorts, according to the NSAA. And because they are located on Forest Service land, local resorts can’t add costly base-area amenities.
The biggest costs are energy and labor. Higher fuel costs in recent years are leading to higher operating costs and higher wages to offset employees’ transportation costs.
“Nobody is getting rich,” said White Pass spokeswoman Kathleen Goyette. “We’re paying the power company.”
Power costs forced White Pass to implement its biggest ever midweek lift-ticket price hike. The price will go from $31 to $38, still the least expensive in the state. A Saturday or Sunday pass is $45.
Price hikes are likely to continue as five Cascade ski areas try to expand. Crystal Mountain becomes the first Western Washington ski area in 20 years to expand this season. Opening that new terrain also is helping drive prices from $53 to $58 because it will take more energy and staff to operate the new Northway lift.
“You feel better about raising prices when you add legitimate value,” Kircher said.
But what bothers Kircher about rising costs is that even ski areas with less to offer have to charge more.
Mission Ridge, the smallest of Washington’s top six ski areas, is less than half the size of the Summit at Snoqualmie, but energy costs force both to charge the same – $48.
“There is not a direct price-to-quality relation any more,” Kircher said.
MORE THAN LIFT TICKETS
“Skiing is expensive,” said Chris Rudolph, Stevens Pass’ marketing director. “Nothing about it is cheap.”
But resort managers say they get tired of shouldering the majority of the blame for the cost of the sport.
The average skier spends $751 for skis, boots, bindings and poles according to the 2006-07 SnowSports Industries America retail audit. The average boarder pays $538 for a board, boots and bindings. Advanced level equipment can set a skier back $2,000 and can cost a snowboarder $1,500.
“That’s why we’ve offered a $299 entry-level ski for at least the last 10 years,” said Barry Zamzow, the Northwest sales representative for outdoor-sports equipment company Atomic. “We are trying to reach out to the entry-level skier to help them keep the sport affordable. I think it costs us more than $299 to make the skis but it’s good for the sport.”
Even with inexpensive skis, it’s still a 70-mile drive from Tacoma to the nearest ski area.
“With the price of gas, it’s expensive just to get to the mountain,” Kaden said. “And more than money, for a lot of people, it’s a big time commitment.”
ONE AND DONE
Kircher says about 85 percent of first-time skiers and snowboarders don’t return for a second day.
“It’s the torture of learning, the parking and waiting in line,” Kircher said. “They typically don’t complain. They just don’t come back.”
Regulars on the slope often talk about how painful their first day was before something finally clicked the second or third day.
“But when the sport is so expensive, it’s hard to justify spending all that money to torture yourself again,” Zamzow said.
Washington ski areas are trying to combat this problem with the EZ Ski and Ride 1-2-3 program.
For as little as $109, visitors can get three lessons, lift tickets and gear rentals. Seven Washington ski areas offer a version of the programs.
“We’re basically charging enough to pay the instructor,” said Tiana Enger, Crystal’s marketing director. “But we are hoping to bring in new skiers and boarders and bring back lapsed skiers.”
IS SKIING ALREADY ELITIST?
While some ski area operators don’t want their sport perceived to be elitist, it might be too late.
According to an NSAA survey, 46 percent of skiers and boarders have a household income of $100,000 or more. Just 17 percent of all U.S. households fall into that same category.
Some people would rather see lift ticket prices increase rather than drop.
“I hear people telling me they want tickets over $60 because it will keep the crowds down,” Kircher said.
At Tahoe’s Squaw Valley USA, a season pass is $1,770. When the resort considered a $299 season pass for those who purchase it a season in advance, regular customers shot down the idea.
“They’re afraid we’d be jammed all season and the mountain would get trashed,” said Squaw Valley spokeswoman Savannah Cowley.
Rachel McClure of Zumiez, a chain of action-sports stores, argued in her master’s thesis at Arizona’s Prescott College that not only is skiing an elitist sport, but also so is hiking.
The subject of her thesis was the need for youth to spend more time in the outdoors.
“A lot of people in urban environments can’t even get to the mountains to ski or mountain bike, let alone ski,” said McClure, who helps run the University of Washington winter sports program.
Each Cascade resort hosts outreach programs.
“Programs like Burton Chill help with the growth of new skiers and snowboarders,” Stevens Pass’ Rudolph said of a program that takes underprivileged youth to the slopes. “It brings in people who might never get a chance to try the sport.”
However, that’s not the point of the program, said Jake Darro of Burton.
“Most of these kids are in foster homes,” Darro said. “We’re just trying to help the youth with our toy – snowboarding.”
THE BOGUS WAY
Bogus Basin near Boise has been concerned about pricing out customers for many years.
In 1998, Bogus made a move many resorts now copy. Bogus dropped the price of their $500 season pass to $199 for those who bought it the previous Presidents Day weekend. To sweeten the deal, the pass is good for the current spring, too.
That year, season pass holders at Bogus jumped from 2,800 to 25,000. They’ve averaged 25,000 season pass holders ever since.
“It’s definitely about volume,” said Bogus marketing director Jenifer Johnson.
Bogus also dropped the word resort from its name.
“Resort is an ugly word,” Johnson said. “We want to be more about community. … And we want to make this sport as accessible as we possibly can.”
Resorts following Bogus’ lead include White Pass and the Summit at Snoqualmie.
“We reward loyalty,” Goyette said. “A huge percentage of our customers come here because they can get a season pass for $289.”
$100 LIFT TICKETS
From his office at Mount Rose, Senft sighed as he pondered the likelihood of a $100 lift ticket.
“I’d say three, maybe four years and somebody in Tahoe will be charging $100,” Senft said. “And there is a market where people will be happy to buy one.”
He figures that thought is scarier to some customers than his resort’s super-steep slopes.
“Look, if you are paying full price for lift tickets, you’re from Texas,” said Senft, referring to entry-level speciqals, discounted season tickets purchased a season in advance and other promotions. “There are so many ways to save, but that full-price lift ticket is what we advertise, and some people look at that and think it’s too much.”
Washington skiers and boarders can take solace in the fact that they’ll likely be last to the $100 level. But along the way, general managers are hoping to hook enough young people on the sport to make the future as healthy as the present.
“If you can’t buy a ticket, there is always the option of working or volunteering,” Rudolph said. “That free season pass is the Number 1 benefit. That’s why I got started in this business – so I can afford to ski 200 days a year.
“That’s the thing about skiing and snowboarding. People are passionate about it, and when they are passionate there is always a way to make it happen.”
from: http://www.thenewstribune.com/adventure/story/189659.html