Millenials aren’t skiing enough?

Ethan Snow wrote

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

You do realize that the boomer era goes until 1964, right? That puts the youngest of them at 53. And, with the 50's being the new 30's, they'll be skiing for another 20-30 years, hopefully.  

I haven't read every word in this thread, but there is a general theme is: times are not what they use to be, whine..whine. That's always been the case, before boomers and, before time immemorial. Look, we all live on the shoulders of all those generations that came before us; we inherit the good with the bad. Unless you want to build your own shelter, live off the land, hunt for you own food, make your own clothes, cut your own firewood, live off the grid, you're living off the largesse of all those that came before you since the dawn of man. If you drive on a road, use electricity, use the internet, computer, iphone, etc.. you're riding on the shoulders of each generation before you.  

Look, the planet is minting new billionaires every year, most of them, right now, are gen Xers, or millenials. Yes the middle class is shrinking, no question and this will effect skiing. Most ski resorts are now offering cheap season passes to young adults in an attempt to drive that market.

A lot of talk about middle class jobs going away; greed did that, not any one generation. My advice to anyone trying to make their way now is to learn a profession, trade, or craft that can't easily be outsourced and go into business for yourself--make your own way, control you own destiny. Don't rely on working for any company; they will cut you like a wort as soon as they can, no matter who is at the helm, a boomer, a genXer, or a Millenial.

I just looked it up. I'm a boomer. I honestly didn't know.

Scruffy wrote

A lot of talk about middle class jobs going away; greed did that, not any one generation. My advice to anyone trying to make their way now is to learn a profession, trade, or craft that can't easily be outsourced and go into business for yourself--make your own way, control you own destiny. Don't rely on working for any company; they will cut you like a wort as soon as they can, no matter who is at the helm, a boomer, a genXer, or a Millenial.

I second that statement. Not saying it's easy though. It can actually be a lot of work. But if you really love what you do you'll never work a day in your life.

marznc wrote

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.

I guess I was teasing. To some extent, even if all the lifts went away, there would still be skiing.

Ethan Snow wrote

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.

The idea that skiing was more accessible to people before chairlifts and snow making is laughable.

You obviously have no idea what skiing used to be.

Without snow making, there would be very little investment in the ski business in the East and skiing would mostly be available to the wealthy.

Z wrote

Don’t get a worthless degree in Econ like someone did a few pages back.

Ehhh, It wasn't going to be worthless if I decided I wanted to stay in a major metro area. I had a pretty good gig at BNY Mellon and felt confident I could do well there in the longer term. That being said I also felt after 8 months that living in a urban environment would ruin my life. So I changed my life.

I own a small business and do well enough, 7 years left on my mortgage for a very modest house and I have a boat to burn gas on.

So in relation to skiing, pick a degree that could function better near wildness environments.

My degree was in Econ. I can't say it ever got me a job, but I felt it was helpful my whole career.

Scruffy 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.

You do realize that the boomer era goes until 1964, right? That puts the youngest of them at 53. And, with the 50's being the new 30's, they'll be skiing for another 20-30 years, hopefully.  

I haven't read every word in this thread, but there is a general theme is: times are not what they use to be, whine..whine. That's always been the case, before boomers and, before time immemorial. Look, we all live on the shoulders of all those generations that came before us; we inherit the good with the bad. Unless you want to build your own shelter, live off the land, hunt for you own food, make your own clothes, cut your own firewood, live off the grid, you're living off the largesse of all those that came before you since the dawn of man. If you drive on a road, use electricity, use the internet, computer, iphone, etc.. you're riding on the shoulders of each generation before you.  

Look, the planet is minting new billionaires every year, most of them, right now, are gen Xers, or millenials. Yes the middle class is shrinking, no question and this will effect skiing. Most ski resorts are now offering cheap season passes to young adults in an attempt to drive that market.

A lot of talk about middle class jobs going away; greed did that, not any one generation. My advice to anyone trying to make their way now is to learn a profession, trade, or craft that can't easily be outsourced and go into business for yourself--make your own way, control you own destiny. Don't rely on working for any company; they will cut you like a wort as soon as they can, no matter who is at the helm, a boomer, a genXer, or a Millenial.

Yeah, well, if you're running your own business, chances are you don't have the time or energy to ski. Well, maybe a little, like 6-9 days a year, but, those numbers aren't going to support the industry.
I never would have learned to ski well if it wasn't for a three day a week gig I had with, effectively, seven to eight weeks vacation for a long time. When I finally worked a normal, 9-5, M-F gig at the end of my career, it was pretty awful for skiing. Like, I HAD to ski Saturday, when before I would avoid it like the flu.

Who was that weirdo that kept proposing to line every trail with fencing?

Was that real?

A fencing salesman he was, another damn Millennial too I bet

x10003q wrote

The idea that skiing was more accessible to people before chairlifts and snow making is laughable.

You obviously have no idea what skiing used to be.

Without snow making, there would be very little investment in the ski business in the East and skiing would mostly be available to the wealthy.

I'm not saying that Snowmaking and Chairlifts is a bad idea. It's necessary to run a ski Business anymore. We just need more small hills that are less commercialized like Plattekill.

One hell of a read this thread is. I, a Millenial, would like to weigh in.

I used to snowboard back in the day when I was 12 and it was feasible for my parents to pay for me to go skiing weekly with a club. I started to play hockey even more and then it soon became me having to pay for it and me not being able to afford it working as much as I did from the age of 14 throughout high school. I didn't have the passion either but I still skateboarded and did downhill skateboarding which kept me in the extreme sports and the passion for adrenaline. I had many friends that snowboarded, even though they were from very well off families it wasn't something they were able to do a bunch and just didn't have passion for it either. Living 50 minutes from a shitty ski mound in Michigan definitely did not help with it. Being from well off families they had visited Colorado and Utah multiple times and weren't interested in "wasting" time at our local place with a 300' elevation.

Next came my college years, I never had enough money to buy gear in order to even get out to the shitty ski mound, I had money in other areas and passions I still have. Working two jobs throughout college and paying for it at the same time definitely did not allow much time for skiing either. My college career path is what kept me motivated to keep doing it, I was studying something I was passionate about and jobs are promising through the program as well. I'm lucky enough that packaging engineering will take me anywhere there are products being created it's now about building my resume.

Coming into post college, I landed my job almost immediately and had to move to Wisconsin. This job put me in a relatively populated city (Oshkosh) and I decided to get a place less than a mile to work so I wouldn't have to commute like many of my coworkers do. This shortened distance to work allows me to bike to work during the nicer weather and save a considerable amount of time and money I can put towards gas to go skiing. The only reason I picked skiing and boarding back up is because I actually had the money for it. I am lucky enough to make a decent living and the cost of living isn't ridiculous around me (750 for a 2br 1 ba apt). I am roughly an hour and 30 minutes to a good ski hill and 40 minutes to a decent one. These options as well as my work schedule of 6-3 allow for me to go skiing after work when I'm not at pool, cribbage or cornhole league. I'm about 6 hours to some really gnarly terrain in the UP of Michigan and I'll go to that on the weekends pretty occasionally.

I may not live a glamorous life in a big city or in the mountains but I can definitely have an absolutely great time where I am and get a solid year of skiing in. A big thing I have noticed is picking a career path in which you will actually have opportunities after your schooling. I purposefully chose my path because of this. My time here in Wisconsin is used to build my resume up and make myself a marketable candidate so I can move jobs hopefully where I can get some skiing in. When I do move jobs I plan on taking a 2 month break for moving and being a ski bum in a resort town in Montana or Wyoming as well.

Plan on teaching my kids someday how to tele ski at an early age and hopefully they grow up smelling of patchouli.

I guess not much insight in this, just wanted to say I'm a Millenial and I love to ski and make it work out.

Ethan Snow wrote

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.

 

I agree with you, Ethan --- bring back the surface lifts and cheap passes/tickets

Ethan Snow wrote

 
That's my other POS 1/2 ton chev I'm driving now in the background, but this things going to be sweet this spring. If I have the time and money this winter I'll put A new intake and headers on it and that 454 will rip ass! Maybe bigger wheels and tires someday too, but no lift.

Common man!!! You have to lift that thing  ---- just put a rough country body lift in ---- they're cheap and easy to install

You can't have a big block Chev with big wheels and tires and NO lift! That's like kissing thru a screen door

campgottagopee wrote

Common man!!! You have to lift that thing  ---- just put a rough country body lift in ---- they're cheap and easy to install

You can't have a big block Chev with big wheels and tires and NO lift! That's like kissing thru a screen door

You got a good point. Although there's a fair share of haters out there who will accuse me of adding inches to my truck to compensate for inches elsewhere.  At stock height I can fit 33" tires on. It's got 31's right now.  If I put a 3" body lift in I should theoretically be able to fit 35s.

But then again, a body lift is kind of like kissing through a screen door as well. Doesn't give your truck any more clearance from the ground. Just makes it look higher. That truck has torsion bars on the front so it requires a sub-frame under the front end to lift it.  Either that or weld in two leaf springs and go solid axle!

Could you just crank the torsion bars up? Or wont they go high enough to level it out

It's leveled out right now. Well, as close as it gets anyway.  A 3" body lift may be in the works. I guess you can get these torsion keys that allow you to turn the torsion bars beyond the factory limits, and a lot of guys use them, but I'd be concerned about the offset on my CV axles at that point.

Ethan Snow wrote

 

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.

I agree that skiing has become too mainstream, and commercialized, but don't put that on an entire generation dude. That same generation, and the generation before it, brought you MRG and Plattekill, and Hickory, just to name a few; how to you reconcile that?  The mega resorts of which you speak, was more a dream of a few money makers; it's a "if you build it they will come" sort of thing, as opposed to an entire generation screaming for it. Last time I was at Killington, Sunday River, or SnowBird, for example,  there just as many GenXers and Mills there and boomers. You gotta let got of your chip, dude. Every generation feels they've missed out on the "good ol'days".

I look at big lifted trucks and think to myself “man it would suck to climb in and out and of that thing all day long”. Then I laugh at myself and realize I’m getting old.

Ethan Snow wrote

It's leveled out right now. Well, as close as it gets anyway.  A 3" body lift may be in the works. I guess you can get these torsion keys that allow you to turn the torsion bars beyond the factory limits, and a lot of guys use them, but I'd be concerned about the offset on my CV axles at that point.

Certainly a valid concern but I haven't heard of too many issues with them. Besides, we all know you have to pay to play.  Unless this truck would be your daily driver I say go for it!