Page 3 of 5
Re: As baby boomers leave the ski slopes....
Posted: Oct 13th, '17, 12:30
by spanky
Mister Moose wrote:Comparing discretionary dollars in the 70s to now is interesting. Trust me, money wasn't being handed out on street corners then.
My early childhood was in a house built in the 50's. It had a one car garage and bedrooms barely bigger than a king size bed. My bedroom had no room for dressers, they were built into the eaves under the roof of the cape style second story. My bed was sub-twin, what ever that size was called. Just looked it up on Zillow, and it's 1,380 sq ft, for a family of 5. That's 276 sq ft per person.
From that small house (We didn't think of it as a small house) we skied in the Berkshires, had one Ma Bell phone, and got 3 channels over the air on rabbit ears in black and white. Sure, there was color TV down the street at my friend's house. They didn't ski.
Cars had no stereo, no electric windows, no AC, no nav display, no heated seats, no pollution controls, no back up camera, no nuthin. You got a clock, AM radio, and an ashtray. Cars were far cheaper to build.
Let's ask all the millenials on the board how big is your bed? How big is your house? What's your cable bill? What computer are you reading this on? How much is your internet? Your cell phone bill? Your car payment? Do you subscribe to any streaming services?
All those expenses were either much less for your parents, or didn't even exist.
I just did some baby shopping for a relative. They wanted a crib that later expands to a bed. A full size bed. Not a twin. "What??? A full size bed for a kid?", I asked. It's what people expect these days, I was told.
My parents slept in a full size bed until we moved to a larger house.
That full size bed for a child not only costs more, the sheets cost more. The bigger closet to hold the sheets costs more. The bigger room to hold the bigger bed costs way more. The property taxes and insurance on that bigger house costs more.
I think that with all the other changes our expectations can be added to the list. Look again at all those ski houses built in the 60s and 70s. The rooms are teeny and now undesirable. Go look at the bedrooms in Moon Ridge condos.
Ski in ski out wasn't ever affordable. When we skied Killington it was from a motel in Rutland.
So while I don't know offhand the price of skis, boots and poles, a weekend motel room, and a pizza today compared to adjusted 1975 dollars, I'm guessing the things we spend money on today is considerably different. We live larger, drive farther, and we spend proportionately far more on media and electronics.
And that leaves less money for skiing.
If you feel you have less money to ski, what size bed do you sleep in? How many square feet per person is your house?
And we used to live in caves.
Re: As baby boomers leave the ski slopes....
Posted: Oct 13th, '17, 14:34
by GnarDawg
I'm pretty unfamiliar with the ski clubs and how they operate. How are they for a family with a small kid?
snow4all wrote:Nope, not a millennial, but have two of them. One getting back into it, but is an artist, we happily support. The other bucking the millennial trend with 2 income earners and a new house. We joined a ski club to take the high cost of lodging out of the equation. As a result, we book 30-40 days a year, almost all at The Beast. With the myriad of options on ticket discounts (we go K-tix and Spring Pass) and it works out to about $650/ season. If early pass price stays stable will go pass next year. Ski clubs are not for everyone. You got to like the club set up, their "rules" and the members, but for us it has been great and has afforded us the opportunity to ski pretty much all we want.
Re: As baby boomers leave the ski slopes....
Posted: Oct 13th, '17, 14:47
by madhatter
GnarDawg wrote:I'm pretty unfamiliar with the ski clubs and how they operate. How are they for a family with a small kid?
snow4all wrote:Nope, not a millennial, but have two of them. One getting back into it, but is an artist, we happily support. The other bucking the millennial trend with 2 income earners and a new house. We joined a ski club to take the high cost of lodging out of the equation. As a result, we book 30-40 days a year, almost all at The Beast. With the myriad of options on ticket discounts (we go K-tix and Spring Pass) and it works out to about $650/ season. If early pass price stays stable will go pass next year. Ski clubs are not for everyone. You got to like the club set up, their "rules" and the members, but for us it has been great and has afforded us the opportunity to ski pretty much all we want.
http://skiclub.com/ct-ski-council-welcome/clubs/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
I join this club...
https://www.scribd.com/document/1887575 ... pplication" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Re: As baby boomers leave the ski slopes....
Posted: Oct 13th, '17, 15:54
by Dr. NO
GnarDawg wrote:I'm pretty unfamiliar with the ski clubs and how they operate. How are they for a family with a small kid?
snow4all wrote:Nope, not a millennial, but have two of them. One getting back into it, but is an artist, we happily support. The other bucking the millennial trend with 2 income earners and a new house. We joined a ski club to take the high cost of lodging out of the equation. As a result, we book 30-40 days a year, almost all at The Beast. With the myriad of options on ticket discounts (we go K-tix and Spring Pass) and it works out to about $650/ season. If early pass price stays stable will go pass next year. Ski clubs are not for everyone. You got to like the club set up, their "rules" and the members, but for us it has been great and has afforded us the opportunity to ski pretty much all we want.
Depends on what you are looking for. Most "Councils" get in on discounted lift tickets early buy. They also help each other for Council days with mid week and weekend reduced prices. Check out the skiclub.com in CT as they post up what the discounts are at each mountain and dates. Many of the clubs have discounted day prices for their lodges. I know some are at Killington many are down South at Ludlow and Mt. Snow. Have to ensure they are family oriented if you have kids. Great way to save and enjoy those who ski with you.
Re: As baby boomers leave the ski slopes....
Posted: Oct 13th, '17, 17:54
by Kpdemello
Let me preface this by saying that I am not a millenial, I own my own home, and a ski condo. That said...
Mister Moose wrote:Let's ask all the millenials on the board how big is your bed? How big is your house?
...If you feel you have less money to ski, what size bed do you sleep in? How many square feet per person is your house?
I believe many millenials would answer that they don't own a house and can't afford one. Another sizeable chunk would say that they own a condo with under 1300 square feet. A quick google search will back that up.
Re: As baby boomers leave the ski slopes....
Posted: Oct 13th, '17, 18:20
by hillbangin
My 2 millennials are killing it - that said - I don't see their primary hobby being skiing because their father dragged them to Vermont every weekend.....Their friends want to come up once a year to ski half a day and have fun Friday and Saturday night.
If you notice - the resturants are more crowded on busy weekends than the slopes.
The millenials either seem to be very well off - or not so well off. Not alot in the middle - that's the sad part. There is no more middle.
Re: As baby boomers leave the ski slopes....
Posted: Oct 14th, '17, 07:23
by PinnacleJim
To me, the interesting take-home of that Steamboat article was that the age group with the highest average skier days per person was those over 72. Second highest was the older Boomers (that's me). Gotta love retirement.
Re: As baby boomers leave the ski slopes....
Posted: Oct 14th, '17, 10:53
by Guy in Shorts
As a member of Generation Jones with a launch year of 1959 we grew up just like the picture Moose painted. My house now is 3500 sq ft or 1750 per person. When the man that owned this house back in the 60’s stopped by 10 years ago he said their 4 kids would be shocked at how big the house had become. The basic 3 bedroom one bath ranch with kitchen and living room that his family of six lived in for years had evolved into a 4 bedroom 3 bath sprawling layout. Plenty of room for when family and friends of all generations come visit.
Re: As baby boomers leave the ski slopes....
Posted: Oct 16th, '17, 08:46
by GnarDawg
I'm a millennial I'll answer your questions!
Queen Bed, I own a 1800 sq foot house in a Boston burb, Cable/Internet $100 (VZ cable w/Playstation Vue Cable via Amazon Firestick), Work Comp, Cell Phone $180 for 2 phones, Car Payment $300 for a used 2014 Outback, Streaming Service - No
Mister Moose wrote:
Let's ask all the millenials on the board how big is your bed? How big is your house? What's your cable bill? What computer are you reading this on? How much is your internet? Your cell phone bill? Your car payment? Do you subscribe to any streaming services?
Re: As baby boomers leave the ski slopes....
Posted: Oct 16th, '17, 10:38
by snow4all
GnarDawg wrote:I'm pretty unfamiliar with the ski clubs and how they operate. How are they for a family with a small kid?
snow4all wrote:Nope, not a millennial, but have two of them. One getting back into it, but is an artist, we happily support. The other bucking the millennial trend with 2 income earners and a new house. We joined a ski club to take the high cost of lodging out of the equation. As a result, we book 30-40 days a year, almost all at The Beast. With the myriad of options on ticket discounts (we go K-tix and Spring Pass) and it works out to about $650/ season. If early pass price stays stable will go pass next year. Ski clubs are not for everyone. You got to like the club set up, their "rules" and the members, but for us it has been great and has afforded us the opportunity to ski pretty much all we want.
The one we joined is particularly family friendly and we look to cater to families with young(er) children. If you seriously want to learn more, PM me and we can figure out a way to have this conversation on the side.
Re: As baby boomers leave the ski slopes....
Posted: Oct 16th, '17, 11:00
by TreeRunner
Let's ask all the millenials on the board how big is your bed? How big is your house? What's your cable bill? What computer are you reading this on? How much is your internet? Your cell phone bill? Your car payment? Do you subscribe to any streaming services?
Born in 85 so I guess I'm a millenial.
- Cali King (barely fits the master bedroom but makes wifey happy)
- 1,700 sqft (built in 1960), 1 bathroom, 3ish bedrooms
- No cable bill, cut the cord 2 years ago.
- I build my own computers (cost ~$1200 in 2014), usually last me 5-7yrs.
- Internet is $55/mo
- Cell is $110/mo for 2 plans.
- My car is paid off, but wife has an outback that we split the cost on (~250/mo each for 4 year finance).
- I have Amazon Prime, no other service.
We try to keep our costs down but it's hard in CT, especially since we now have a newborn. When day care starts it will cost close to $1,500/mo. That's a big cost most baby boomers did not have to deal with. For reasons above I won't be skiing much this year(I'm thinking 5-6 times) so I bought a few K tickets, I usually just buy the beast pass though. I mostly ski alone so I prefer to sleep in my car when it's not bone chilling cold but I'll also stay in Rutland mid winter.
Re: As baby boomers leave the ski slopes....
Posted: Oct 16th, '17, 12:45
by skiadikt
as a "leading edge" baby boomer, the one thing i notice is the difference in connectivity costs. when i bought my first house in 1979, used rabbit ears or roof antenna for my 7 channels of tv, paid ny telephone about $30/mth and there were no cell phones or internet. now most folks are paying upwards of $300 between their phones, internet & tv. i've cut corners and keep that cost at a still unreasonable $140 as one of the last flip phone hold outs.
Re: As baby boomers leave the ski slopes....
Posted: Oct 16th, '17, 14:10
by boston_e
I'm just thinking back to when I was in that age range that Millennials are now (mid 20's to early 30's). At that point in my life (especially the first few years after college) my skiing was mostly day trips with a friend or two. That is pretty much what everyone in my skiing group would do. We would leave Boston area at 5:30ish am and drive to Killington / Wildcat / Sunday River / Gunstock / Cannon etc, and just buy a day ticket. Went maybe a half a dozen times a year. If we were lucky we would save up and go in on a condo for a weekend once a season.
I wish I had a record of what a day ticket was at that point, but I have a memory of it usually in the $50 to $60 range. That is a big difference from a window rate of $115.
I wonder if the price of a walk up day ticket is affecting this market? I do think the pricing models that all of the mountains seem to be going to makes it tougher for the "small handful of times a year" skier.
Re: As baby boomers leave the ski slopes....
Posted: Oct 16th, '17, 14:16
by madhatter
I was 28 the first time I skied....
Re: As baby boomers leave the ski slopes....
Posted: Oct 16th, '17, 14:23
by Stormchaser
madhatter wrote:I was 28 the first time I skied....
26...