http://www.highlyobsessed.com/2006/04/24/the-affordable-housing-issue/ Thu, 02 Feb 2012 04:35:53 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.highlyobsessed.com/2006/04/24/the-affordable-housing-issue/comment-page-1/#comment-76 Anonymous Mon, 24 Apr 2006 22:57:00 +0000 http://www.highlyobsessed.com/2006/04/24/the-affordable-housing-issue/#comment-76 Sounds very much like Whistler. It seems to me like many folks simply work for the pass. It's like you have to make a conscious lifestyle choice (work to ride) in order to survive a season out there. Interesting about the "Richie Riches" you mention, I totally agree. I am by no means loaded, but now I have lots of people saying "snowboarder, eh? You must be rich." Sooo not true!! But that's the stigma attached to skiing/snowboard, and I'm not so sure I disagree. There *are* lots of Richie Riches at these places. Thanks for the comment. --adam --adam Sounds very much like Whistler. It seems to me like many folks simply work for the pass. It’s like you have to make a conscious lifestyle choice (work to ride) in order to survive a season out there.
Interesting about the “Richie Riches” you mention, I totally agree. I am by no means loaded, but now I have lots of people saying “snowboarder, eh? You must be rich.” Sooo not true!! But that’s the stigma attached to skiing/snowboard, and I’m not so sure I disagree. There *are* lots of Richie Riches at these places.
Thanks for the comment.
–adam
–adam

]]> http://www.highlyobsessed.com/2006/04/24/the-affordable-housing-issue/comment-page-1/#comment-75 Anonymous Mon, 24 Apr 2006 20:31:00 +0000 http://www.highlyobsessed.com/2006/04/24/the-affordable-housing-issue/#comment-75 Huge industry problem. The Salt Lake area resorts have less of a problem because they are right near the city, but Park City is damned near unaffordable. Wages that most resorts pay are peanuts. They pay lift line operators $6-7 per hour, but that person gets a free season pass. So we end up with most folks that work at resorts living like Illegal Aliens in the US. 20 single dudes in a 2 bedroom condo all paying $150 a month in rent to afford to live there. Sleeping bags and beer cans. And all so that some rich guy from Cali or NYC can come in and drop $1000 on a jacket at the ski shop, $2000 on skis, $5000 on a condo rental, and spend the time on the green runs all day. There are a lot of things that really bother me about the industry and the economics of it. Slowly, the middle class has been priced out of the industry, and furthermore, with $75 lift tickets, most locals cannot even afford a day on the mountain. At $75 per lift ticket day, an average resort worker making $10 an hour has to work an entire eight hour day to be able to afford a lift ticket. The guy working at McDonalds in the resort town cannot afford to ski. No one can. Cuts down on crowds, but makes the sport impossible for anyone but the upper middle class to enjoy. Huge industry problem. The Salt Lake area resorts have less of a problem because they are right near the city, but Park City is damned near unaffordable.
Wages that most resorts pay are peanuts. They pay lift line operators $6-7 per hour, but that person gets a free season pass. So we end up with most folks that work at resorts living like Illegal Aliens in the US. 20 single dudes in a 2 bedroom condo all paying $150 a month in rent to afford to live there. Sleeping bags and beer cans.
And all so that some rich guy from Cali or NYC can come in and drop $1000 on a jacket at the ski shop, $2000 on skis, $5000 on a condo rental, and spend the time on the green runs all day.
There are a lot of things that really bother me about the industry and the economics of it. Slowly, the middle class has been priced out of the industry, and furthermore, with $75 lift tickets, most locals cannot even afford a day on the mountain. At $75 per lift ticket day, an average resort worker making $10 an hour has to work an entire eight hour day to be able to afford a lift ticket. The guy working at McDonalds in the resort town cannot afford to ski. No one can. Cuts down on crowds, but makes the sport impossible for anyone but the upper middle class to enjoy.

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