I saw an article on the SnowBrains website that listed the most expensive day ticket rates for U.S. ski resorts. It listed the top nine, sort of an odd number, but Vail and Beaver Creek were the same price and combined as one, so I guess that gets to the more typical top 10.
My gut instinct was that surely Aspen, glitzy as it is, would be the most expensive. It came in at No. 9 on this list, at $264 for a walk-up day pass, peak season. It’s hard to admit it, but that seems almost cheap. Jackson was No. 8, at $269.
Big Sky was No. 7 at $272. That one surprised me. It’s been years since I’ve skied there, and the place has obviously changed a whole lot in that time, but I still think of it as sort of struggling to get into the big league — a pre-Olympic Park City. It’s hard to get to, very cold, and far enough north that it’s kind of dark in January. It’s a wonderful mountain, was uncrowded, and good skiing. I guess it’s been discovered and is priced accordingly. No need to discount if you are running at capacity.
Deer Valley was only the third most expensive walk-up price in the country. SnowBrains reported it as $299, not breaking that psychological $300 barrier, “plus fees.” Deer Valley and Park City quote their prices before applying sales tax. So when you actually buy your $299 ticket, the price is really $326. That is, if you bought it in the Park City limits. If you bought your walk-up pass at the doublewide trailer at East Village, which is in Wasatch County, the price would be $3 less because of a lower sales tax rate. I guess that’s why they don’t include the tax in the ticket price like other places.
Vail and Beaver Creek tie at $329, putting them in the No. 2 spot, a whopping $3 more than Deer Valley.
In the No 1 spot as the most expensive walk-up day ticket of any U.S. ski resort we have Park City, which rings the register at $328, then adds sales tax to get you to $357. There is a slight difference in tax rate between the ticket window in town and at the Canyons, for a $2 savings. That won’t buy a cookie crumb.
For some reason, that surprised me. I think of Deer Valley as a premium sort of place, and expected it to top the list if Aspen didn’t. They certainly market it that way. Beaver Creek took the Deer Valley formula and took it up a few notches.
Park City has never seemed like that kind of market. It’s always seemed more mass market, especially on the Canyons side, to the extent anything having to do with skiing is mass market.
None of the price comparisons represents the full cost of a ski vacation. There’s no mention of parking costs. Those are kind of optional, and kind of necessary depending on where a guest is staying.
We all know that only a moron would walk up to the window at peak season and pay the rack rate for a day pass. Both mega-resort companies Alterra and Vail Resorts are pushing everything to their Ikon or Epic passes, and even at peak times, advance, on-line purchases of single days save a lot.
It’s almost like the airlines, and I wonder if any two skiers on the mountain paid the same price. There’s no tracking other expenses like lodging, on-mountain food, ski rentals, and ski lessons, all of which make that $350 lift ticket seem like the least of the concerns.
More surprising than $350/day tickets is that the high prices don’t seem to be deterring skiers. The national trade group for the ski industry reported 61.5 million skier days this past winter, with some resorts still operating. That is the second highest ever. So business is apparently doing fine.
Everything is expensive. I had my car in for some pretty routine maintenance work — oil change, new brakes, a little of this and a little of that. The bill was more than I paid for my first new car (or rather, what my parents paid for my first car). There’s no tariff weirdness in that total. The parts were in a warehouse already. It’s a 9-year-old Subaru, so nothing exotic. Other than putting in a very expensive battery that will outlast my ownership of the car, there was really nothing that stood out.
The mechanic has been servicing my cars and farm vehicles for 45 or 50 years, and does what’s needed and nothing more. His son is involved now, too, and I feel comfortable dropping the car off and saying “fix what needs fixing while it’s here.” I know it will be done right, and also is well beyond my mechanical abilities.
I’m completely comfortable with an 80-year-old tractor with nothing electronic on it. I can barely find the dipstick on a modern car. Stuff just costs what it costs. Wait until the tariffs start showing up.
Are functioning brakes worth six days of walk-up rate skiing with the Christmas crowds? Probably. And as far as I know, there isn’t an Epic Pass equivalent for car maintenance.
Tom Clyde practiced law in Park City for many years. He lives on a working ranch in Woodland and has been writing this column since 1986.
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