i have a question

joegm

joegm

New member
i have a co worker who asked me about bringing his family up north to ski for the first time...this guy has his wife , and 4 kids....twins who are 5, an 8 year old and a 12 year old....none have ever stepped foot into a binding before....when he hinted at it , i told him he could go to my place in lincoln for free ( so essentially he would have no expenditure for the lodging....he asked me what he would be looking at for cost....
loon charges for a kids package which consists of rentals-lesson-lunch----around 140 per child - then the adult package which is the same thing except it's a 2 hour lesson and no lunch for around the same....ok , so lets call it 140 times 6... 840 dollars....now , again, he is not going to be paying for lodging....call it another 40 bucks for pizzas and drinks for dinner and another 40 for gas up and from boston....just under $1000 dollars for 1 night and one day of bringing his young family to intro them to skiing....
keep in mind, this guy is not like most of us here....guys like j spin and patrick and crocker are who i am thinking of specifically....established skiers who pretty much raise the kids from time they can walk to learn to ski....he is just a regular guy who is interested in trying out this thing we do and love so much..
q1=is this reasonable? this is a guy who works hard... he makes probably 100 grand and has a 2000 a month mortgage....i only throw that in for perspective....he's not rich and he's not poor....he's very middle class in a high cost of living area.... q2= does the ski industry care about this guy?... q3= do they need to?
 
The old ASC Mobil Oil coupons got you a free learn-to-ski deal. I always thought that was great for promoting the sport. Killington now gets $130/day for their adult learn to ski program. In the long term, I think this is corporate suicide and never-nevers should be given the steepest possible discount. I think the big resorts should price first-timer and kid programs so they break even.

I imagine most people learning to ski are better off at the small feeder hills. For example, Gunstock has a deal where you get 3 days of lessons for $180.00. If you sign up for the program, you get 50% off rentals and subsequent lessons for the rest of the winter. $60.00/day is reasonable. $130/day is not. Loon's $155 is absolutely insane.

You should probably send them up to Cannon from your Lincoln place. They have a $60/day first time adult package and the kid program is $162 for two days. That at least is more rational pricing.
 
When i first learned to ski about 4 years back, i did Hunters 100 bucks for 3 days learning package. That included a lower mountain pass, rentals, and a lesson each day for 3 days. I did two of these that year, and the classes did take you on the full mountain. They seem to still do something so: http://www.huntermtn.com/huntermtn/tick ... y-pak.aspx.

I've never found a deal so good since, but i suspect you could get close at some of the smaller resorts.
 
What about a day at say, Blue Hills (if it's opened) or Wachusett. I'm sure they have a beginners package.
 
How about Cannon rather than Loon? The have a decent, separate beginners area and it looks like the pricing is significantly cheaper than Loon. (http://www.cannonmt.com/skischool.html) Looks like you can outfit 4 kids (full day/meal) and 2 adults for $520. Added value - they've got some kind of special family program going on as well Saturday nights. (http://www.cannonmt.com/saturday_nights.html)

Besides - if the kids grow up skiing Cannon as their home mountain they'll be ready for most of what skiing can throw at them.
 
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