Powder Mt Utah Guided Skiing Jan 24 & 25 2020

Z wrote

I bought food during the day at pit stops, lunch and beers after we were done plus cash
About $50 a day I think it worked out to
One of them was like I just got paid to ski pow all day I don’t need a tip but I insisted

This seems appropriate. Anybody have an idea what the base pay for these guys is? The closest I ever came was being a trail guide/horse wrangler in the mid 90s. Most tips for 1-2 hour rides were 5-10 and if somebody came up with a 20 we were pretty happy. Plenty of people didn’t tip at all. Best I did was $50 for guiding overnighters and once from a dad after dealing with his whole family for a half day. I doubt it’s a direct equivalent though- long time ago.

Looks like a great trip by the way

I would think a 50 on top of the other amenities he dolled out would have been appropriate. Especially from someone else has given privates for a day and makes a decent buck now.

Nice report Z - last time I was at Pow Mow was around 12 years ago. A buddy has a time share there. We found lots of untracked a week after the last snowfall.

Nepa - hope the surgery goes well, a bad back can ruin your life.

tjf1967 wrote

I would think a 50 on top of the other amenities he dolled out would have been appropriate. Especially from someone else has given privates for a day and makes a decent buck now.

Thanks for calling me cheap TJF.  I’m shelling out around $50 grand a yr in ski racing costs so my wallets a bit light lately.  When I teach privates sometimes I get no tip at all despite giving a good lesson.  If a client buys me lunch I would expect a smaller tip.  
The typical tip for a ski lesson is around 10% of the cost of the lesson in my long experience in the industry.  I tipped over 25% of the cost of the guiding  and also threw 20 bucks into the beer kitty for the demo shop guys who seldom see any love.

I don’t hate the act of tipping, because the service/experience warrants it and the tips are always appreciated, but it does always stink having to lay out additional cash, on top of an already expensive day.  But, if you wanna play, as they say....

That said, if the guided full day experience runs $194 a day, a tip of $30 (~15% of the cost of the guide) plus lunch and beers seems appropriate.  $194 for a full day private guide with a couple of cat rides is a really good deal.

Tipping is the money I enjoy spending the most. You get the most bang for the buck too.

In my experience on a multi-day hut trip with a guide, I was getting all day semi-private ski lessons, life saving guidance and terrain trap avoidance, even cooking and cleaning. What's the value for all that?  Twenty years ago, I dropped 12% on a $3000 bill.

I see your point. I take it back sorta.

WSJ article from September.

If I can’t tip the waitress I don’t go out to eat and I’m extremely poor financially.

That being said it doesn’t need to be huge either.

bumps wrote

WSJ article from September.

The first featured house had a white couch. That amazes me.

Great report Z. Looks like a blast!!

Harvey wrote

Tipping is the money I enjoy spending the most. You get the most bang for the buck too.

Agree Harv
It's amazing that you can make somebody's day for 20 bucks.

NEPA..... wishing you a speedy recovery. I had a similar experience 30 years ago after a ski crash. Took me out of work for 3 months and still dealing with perminant damage from it.

Nice one Z...looks like you had quite the trip there.  Working skiing into biz trips is extra fun.

I was out in UT on business as well the week following this.   Skied PowMow on the 27th after they reported 4" (real depth 9").  Met up with a dude from TGR forums who was a local and we had a great day.  I checked and they sold 211 lift tix that day of their 1500 max.  8500 acres and we were skiing fresh lines every run until 3:30pm.  Second time skiing here, first was back in 2016.  This place is now a requirement for any future UT trip.  Also had great two days at Snowbird 1/31 and 2/1, although in more spring like weather.  Maybe i'll post some pics in a TR

Z wrote

Every track in this photo is ours

Good picture.  Kick ass description.