How Are Current Economic Conditions Affecting Your Skiing?

[icelanticskier]

i just bought a rental property on the cape and it is fully rented (both houses), so with the monthly profit i can now just work for gas and food. no more rent or utilities for me. i pay an average of 10 bux to ski at various resorts up north and have a couch to crash on in almost every town in me/nh/vt where i ski. i've always prided myself on not so much having to make more money to live well, but to rather dial $hit in to pay less. i may be picking up another rental property in feb march, and if i buy a 3rd, i may not work anymore, or, at least never again in winter. lifty at 50? $hit, lifty at 40 sounds better to me.

Confucius say, "self praise, no praise."

icelantic say, "confucius is dead."

rog

[Tony Crocker]

doesn't owning a timeshare go against your philosophy of waiting to the last possible moment before making plans..

1) It's at my favorite mountain anywhere
2) Nice group of friends, both in my generation and Adam's
3) Probability of inadequate snow 2nd week of March is essentially zero; even in 1977 there was enough by then.
4) Skiing in LCC does not suck even if it hasn't snowed in awhile, contrary to the impression you might get from the jaded locals.

When I'm retired Utah will be within striking distance of short notice trips as well.

My other annual trip to Canada has also been booked well in advance. And the Chatter Creek reservation has been made nearly a year ahead. Depending on how this year's trip goes, I may change the latter. This will be my 4th year at Chatter and my favorable impression has not diminished in any way. But the combination of competition among cat/heli operators and the economy may have made the "reserve-a-year-ahead" requirement no longer necessary. Our subgroup at Chatter lost 3/4 of its repeat customers this year.

[Geoff]

I doubt I'll ski as much this year as last and my midweek days are going to be limited to an hour or two. I doubt I'll get 125 days. This job thing really cramps my style.

[EMSC]

This job thing really cramps my style.

Or re-stated: This job thing ends up becoming my style. You'll still ski more than ~98% of industry insiders; based on feedback over the years from ski industry folks.

[Tony Crocker]

You'll still ski more than ~98% of industry insiders; based on feedback over the years from ski industry folks.

Any ballpark estimates of how much that is? I'm sure there's a wide distribution, depending upon the nature of one's job.

[EMSC]

You'll still ski more than ~98% of industry insiders; based on feedback over the years from ski industry folks.

Any ballpark estimates of how much that is? I'm sure there's a wide distribution, depending upon the nature of one's job.

True. Ski patrollers and on-hill types may get a lot of time on snow, but certainly not make much money to do very much else in life in the process. And a lot of that time on snow is not really even what you and I would consider 'skiing'. More like traversing around the mtn dealing with various annoyances and getting the occasional fun run. Great view from the office, though I'm not much interested in top ramen noodles for dinner anymore myself.

I'm speaking more to those doing higher end portions of the salary range - such as they are in skiing - that us work-a-day types would think about using our current skills in: marketing, Ops management, finance, maybe owning a ski shop/related biz, etc... Those folks lives are all about skiing and they do usually make OK/decent salaries, yet vast majority spend maybe 20 days on the snow actually skiing. And yes there are a small handful that I've run into that make it a point to get in some decent time on the hill, but surprisingly to me that it is quite few of the senior management of ski resorts and related Biz that do make such time to make it happen.

Non-scientific of course, but I do ask when I bump into various industry folks and the answer is almost always way lower than you'd think or expect.

[Marc_C]

Non-scientific of course, but I do ask when I bump into various industry folks and the answer is almost always way lower than you'd think or expect.

I know a VP at one of the local resorts. Last season he was able to get in 15 or so days. One empirical caveat to keep in mind though, is that while many of these folks in the industry are able to squeeze in a couple or three runs almost every day, they don't consider that a ski day.