Millenials aren’t skiing enough?

Here's a question... If Millenials aren't skiing (or sailing, among other things) anymore. What sort of activities are they engaging in? Or are they simply engaging in nothing?

Being a college student it does seem like there's a lack of motivation do do adventurous things among a large portion of the students. But there is a few. I think a lot of people may get into these sort of things later in life when they get bored of binge drinking, video games, and vaping.

I also have a lot of friends who are into Motocross. I never got into that personally. Many of them are also into skiing and snowboarding in the winter. I think some people are just into extreme sports, and a lot of people are just not interested. Especially kids who grew up far away from the Mountains (and racetracks) and it never even occurred to them that such exciting activities could exist.

I also think Skiing has become way too mainstream, and commercialized. Wide trails covered with manmade snow, fast lifts, fancy lodges, expensive food, and expensive lift tickets. The preceding generation is responsible for this. Just because that's what they wanted and could afford, I think if skiing was more like it used to be, it would be a lot more accessible to more people.

That's kind of why I built my ski slope. I wanted small-scale and free skiing to be available to my friends so they could share my passion without spending a ton of money.

I have a good friend who lives in Roxbury like 5 mins from Plattekill. He grew up skiing there in High school when season Passes were 150 bucks through the local school district. He likes skiing a lot but he's just bored of Plattekill and really can't afford to ski much at this stage of his life. Now He will go Belleayre a couple times, and he'll even drive an hour to Woodstream to ski with me when he lives 5 Mins from Plattekill. I really hope to drag hm to Platty once this year.

I work in the booze business so I can help a little with this one. As a group, millenials drink a lot. From the brand builders’ perspective they are very problematic because they’re fickle and move from one brand to another more then other generations did (whipped cream flavored vodka anyon?) but they spend a lot of money. Spending $60 on a bottle of tequila, for instance, is no problem.

I agree that there is a set of people into more extreme sports. Kite boarding is fairly popular and if you can do that, sailing a "normal" boat is probably boring.Not sure how that affects skiing though.

tom

My son did a week long sailing camp at the Chelsea Yacht Club, just down the road from us.  He had fun, but most days there wasn’t enough wind on the Hudson for them to actually sail.  He’ll probably do it again next summer.

Brownski wrote

I work in the booze business so I can help a little with this one. As a group, millenials drink a lot. From the brand builders’ perspective they are very problematic because they’re fickle and move from one brand to another more then other generations did (whipped cream flavored vodka anyon?) but they spend a lot of money. Spending $60 on a bottle of tequila, for instance, is no problem.

Yeah this is very true. 60 bucks can get you a most of the way to a full price ticket at Hunter. if it were me I'd just spend 20 bucks on a 12 pack of at a gas station. Thank God for America!

Ethan Snow wrote

The preceding generation is responsible for this.

You blaming X or Y for the homoginization of skiing?  The Berkshire and Amador are perhaps clouding my judgement, so I want to be clear on your position before I react/respond!

Well we're talking about Millenials here, and AFAIK that's the same thing as Gen Y. So therefore I Suppose I'm blaming Gen X

Not referring to anyone on this forum specifically, but more specifically to those who homogenized skiing as you said. There's no argument that the sport has changes a lot in the last 50 years. My grandfather remembers skiing at Plattekill when it was basically two trails and a long ass T-bar.

Ethan Snow wrote

Well we're talking about Millenials here, and AFAIK that's the same thing as Gen Y. So therefore I Suppose I'm blaming Gen X

Gen X is a tiny group compared to boomers or millenials. I don’t think anybody really markets to us except where we overlap with other groups. The boomers were definitely the target for the big buildout in the ski business over the last couple decades.

I guess I always thought of boomers being more on the elderly side at this point. Meaning not really skiing anymore.

Z wrote

If he wasn’t a ski racer he would be going to the public HS but the education is a better for sure at NW.

So you decided to spend more, to do what you thought was right for your kid. Like any parent would.

Sorry all, I'll try to limit my comments to Millenials.

I have a question: does it matter if they ski?

Can we agree on when the true (negative) homogenization of skiing happened/peaked?  I mean yeah, skiing has evolved “over the last 50 years”, but that will be true of any 50 years.  But the wide cut boulevards of groomed screamers and such......that was mid 90s earliest, more like 2000?

At Gore we are hanging on to Lower Steilhang (among others). When they straighten it, we are toast.

Harvey wrote

Sorry all, I'll try to limit my comments to Millenials.

I have a question: does it matter if they ski?

The point of the article in Post #1 is that Boomers are an important subgroup for ski resorts at the moment.  The question from a business standpoint is who will replace them in the future.  As a Boomer, I don't think that time is right around the corner but it's coming eventually.  I expect to spend more time and money on skiing in the next decade compared to the last, but I'm an older parent who still has a kid in high school so not quite the typical Boomer.  Not planning on slowing down for a while given that I'm in better shape now than five years ago.

If Millenials as a "generation" don't ski/board much, that would cause a drop in revenue that could make a few more ski areas go out of business forever.  Also means their children are less likely to become life-long skiers/boarders.  Then again, if Millenials are into mountain biking and other non-ski season activities at the resorts, that could help make up the difference in winter revenue.

Ethan Snow wrote

I guess I always thought of boomers being more on the elderly side at this point. Meaning not really skiing anymore.

Ethan wins the thread!
Thanks bro! I’m not sure if you know why this post is so awesome but trust me- it’s awesome.

JTG4eva! wrote

Can we agree on when the true (negative) homogenization of skiing happened/peaked?  I mean yeah, skiing has evolved “over the last 50 years”, but that will be true of any 50 years.  But the wide cut boulevards of groomed screamers and such......that was mid 90s earliest, more like 2000?

I’m not sure it didn’t start earlier then that. What year was the plastic yellow/orange fencing introduced?

Brownski wrote

What year was the plastic yellow/orange fencing introduced?

ID F’ing K.....what year was Sno born!?!?

Brownski wrote

Ethan Snow wrote

I guess I always thought of boomers being more on the elderly side at this point. Meaning not really skiing anymore.

Ethan wins the thread!
Thanks bro! I’m not sure if you know why this post is so awesome but trust me- it’s awesome.

Nah, I have no idea why that's Awesome. All I can say is my grandparents don't ski no more.