“Epic Fail: How a Corporate Duopoly Ruined Skiing”: http://tinyurl.com/2xxrfkub
Skiing hasn’t been this cheap in decades!
But that doesn’t stop old-schooler Gordon LaForge trashing the new model in a nostalgic play for days that in fact were much worse. Kinda like MAGA if you think about it (and if you castigate me for mentioning politics, if you accuse me of “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” the joke is on you…or, as women said back in the seventies, “sex is a feminist issue”…in other words, EVERYTHING is politics).
Why does everybody hate change, which is inevitable?
Closer to home we can talk about streaming music. First and foremost, Spotify is not ripping you off, absolutely not. The Swedish streaming company pays so much of its income to rightsholders that it has trouble staying profitable. Furthermore, unlike almost all lauded tech companies, the service does not scale. In other words, as volume goes up, so do costs, proportionately. But you’re still angry. Well, let me just say the paradigm switched, from sales to consumption. If your song is being listened to, you’re being paid. And if it’s not, you’re not. But you lament the old days of physical sales… Back when you couldn’t participate at all, because the costs of recording, manufacturing and distribution were prohibitively high. Now you can do all that on your laptop, for a de minimis price, but people like to forget that.
So skiing was losing customers. It’s a mature business. Yes, something is the new new thing and then it is not. Did you see that article the other day about social media participation going down? Oh, people are still on the platforms, they’re just not posting anymore. They see it as fruitless. And as a matter of fact, most of the famous influencers are paid to be on the platform, to post, either directly or through revenue sharing. You don’t post because you don’t think it’s worth it. So much effort for so few views. But when it comes to music you think everybody should listen to your production.
In any event, according to the nostalgic wankers ski resorts shouldn’t have done a thing. There should have been no change. Pirate outlets like lockers, the last new thing prior to Spotify, should have been the standard. Let the people steal, or buy singles at the iTunes Store. Yes, that was what was going on prior to Spotify, which changed the entire game, music revenues have now gone up. Sure, you might have a lousy deal with the label, which is taking the lion’s share. Sure, no one may be listening. But if you’re being listened to you’re making bank, prodigiously. So, you complain about this income inequality. But I don’t believe artists deserve to be paid, supported. You can choose to be one, but that doesn’t mean you’re owed a living. Furthermore, there are so many more ways to make money in music than ever before. If you’re really that good and have a dedicated fan base go on Patreon… But no, rather than take action you’d rather bitch, like this guy writing this skiing article.
So how to save the ski industry, which was perceived as being too expensive. Rob Katz of Vail Resorts came up with a new paradigm, lower the price.
Now if you go back in history, every improvement at Vail has been met with local resistance. You can’t replace the old slow chairlift in the Back Bowls because that will ruin the powder, it will get tracked out sooner. But you don’t get more runs, you just wait in line longer. You’ve seen those pictures of the Back Bowls, with the prodigious line during a powder day… So what did Vail do, build another lift!
Everywhere this is happening. Any change is met with resistance.
And sure, like the article says, local lodging is a problem. But to blame Vail? Vail was planning on building employee housing and then the town rose up against it in a NIMBY effort. But it’s easier to blame Vail. Not that housing isn’t a problem. But Vail made the minimum wage $20 at its resorts. There isn’t a state in the country with a rate that high.
So today it’s not even ten degrees. In the old days, I’d be debating whether to buy a lift ticket. Because on a day like this, one makes so few runs. But since I have an Epic Pass, I’ll go out. And prior to the Epic Pass, days were cheaper, but fifteen years ago a season’s pass was nearly $3000, and today an Epic Pass, which is good at a slew of resorts around the world, is under $1000. But that’s a horrible deal, don’t you think? Let’s keep prices high so the newbies can’t participate.
And sure, the daily rate during holidays is nearly $300. But you can buy day tickets in advance for a much lower price. Yes, as many days as you want, one or more. You’ve just got to buy them before the beginning of December.
And the reason Vail does this, and its competitor Alterra, with its IKON pass, is to guarantee revenue. In fact, this December has been one of the worst snowfall years in a long time. Under the old model, the ski areas would have been empty. Because no one is going to show up to pay so much for so little. But since people purchased their season passes in advance, for a low price, they’ll still come, and it’s a long season, there’s always snow eventually.
And yes, Vail makes it up on food, rentals, lessons and they even own the branded stores, like Burton, Salomon and Patagonia. I haven’t eaten lunch, not a bite, at Vail and I’ve skied every day since December 10th. It’s not like I’m being forced to buy. And the last thing I purchased at Patagonia was 40% off, and that has to be at least seven or eight years ago.
But you don’t ski much and you’re being ripped-off and…
You’re not. Turns out most people, or many part time skiers, now rent their equipment. Which is top-notch, and they get the benefit of new stuff every year. This is hurting the ski manufacturers, volume is down, but it’s great for the customer. Furthermore, you don’t need to pay airline baggage fees.
But then there are the crowds. They’re almost always less of a factor than proclaimed. The truth is there are lifts at Vail that never have a line. You just have to avoid Mid-Vail. Which requires you to read a map, but that’s in an app on your phone. And you don’t have to show your pass, because it’s RFID and Bluetooth to boot.
But Vail has made all the resorts the same. Well, they’ve got similar websites, that’s for sure. And America is riddled with chain restaurants, but you can’t do something similar and cut costs in skiing? Not to mention that every single mountain is different, literally, which is one of the appeals of skiing.
More ski areas would be nice, but in truth environmentalists won’t let anybody build one. That isn’t Vail or Alterra’s fault. Furthermore, so many days are nearly empty. Yes, it’s crowded over Christmas and MLK and Presidents’ Day, but isn’t every resort area?
And the writer’s point that A-Basin removed itself from the Epic Pass and still makes money… One still gets days there with the IKON pass, and right, that’s the future of business, making less money. You can choose to do this, like Patagonia, but most corporations do not.
Ain’t that America. The last one in wants to shut the door and keep the rest of the people out. Screw ’em.
But progress is inevitable. And nature abhors a vacuum. Sure, skiing can fade, but the people are not going to stay home, they’re just going to do something else.
As for this “Slate” article… The internet is riddled with articles like this, ones that feel good but are inaccurate, or completely false. Want traction? Write an anti-Spotify article. My inbox is full of them, e-mailed to me by people who found some nobody or even a musician pontificating. It’s just like the Israel/Hamas war, the oppressor versus the little guy. Only it’s not. But that’s a problem with college campuses, everything is now viewed through the lens of oppressor vs. oppressed, screw nuance.
Oh, we can go deeper. But you won’t like that either. Yes, we need free speech, but that doesn’t apply to corporations. Don’t like it, start your own platform. Having said that, trigger warnings are ridiculous. You can’t handle the truth? But the internet is now full of fully false statements which are protected under the rubric of free speech, which doesn’t even apply.
But freedom for all! Do what you want to, ignore the statistics! Make up your own rules, your own reality.
The reality is skiing has turned around, as a result of these multi-resort passes. Which have obvious benefits like you can ski for free with the Epic Pass at Whistler, which I’ve done. And Park City… I could go on and on, how the Epic and IKON passes have saved me money, but that doesn’t feel right.
But once again, don’t let the truth get in the way of a good story.
As for the past… Every lift at Vail is now detachable and high speed, other than a few beginner lifts, which are intentionally kept slow. The lifts run two and a half times faster. They’re very expensive, but they eat up lines and allow one to ski…nobody skis bell to bell anymore, it’s just too much. Having said that, I remember waiting an hour to get on the lift at Stowe. Yes, literally, an hour. Those days are through.
You probably don’t care about skiing, although I must say you’re missing out by not participating, but it’s this thinking, that progress is ruining our lifestyle, that oldsters can’t stop proffering. While they’re texting their friends on their smartphones. No, you can’t be selective. You either take all of progress or none of it. You don’t hear the young people complaining, do you? And when you were young you didn’t complain either.
Sure, something is always lost in the march forward, like vent windows when all cars got air-conditioning, but on the whole the future is better. Embrace it.
