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Pyrites Member


Joined: 16 Sep 2014 Posts: 1466 | TRs Location: South Sound
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I remember thinking my Svea 123 was an expensive buy.
A couple gallons of gas, and for two of us spending the night at Maple Flats was as cheap as a movie. |
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Brian R Member


Joined: 10 Feb 2018 Posts: 421 | TRs
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RodF wrote: |
Brian R wrote: |
One final insult before we depart this state forever, Crystal Mountain's new owners/lease-holders have raised day prices to $139/$149 this season. |
Same as the entrance and permit fees for a weekend family camping hike in any of our National Parks, alas also an "elite/elistist sport"  |
True, and this has been a complaint since national parks were created. One that Yard and Leopold and Marshall railed against too. But you're comparing for an entire family--for at least a couple of days--to a single lift ticket valid for 6-1/2 hours. Here we're talking per-person, per day at Crystal Mountain. Hence, a family of four would spend over $600 per day in lift tickets alone. |
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treeswarper Alleged Sockpuppet!


Joined: 25 Dec 2006 Posts: 10091 | TRs Location: Don't move here
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Jinx's Boy needs to chime in here.
I'm thinking that the leases are for a fairly long number of years. I also think a percentage, but not much, of their profits goes back to the Treasury.
The way to ski, if you can't afford it, is to work at the ski hill. Even the Loup has a program where you can volunteer to work and after a certain number of hours, get a season pass.
I worked at White Pass for a winter, back in the "hippy" days and that's where I really started learning to ski. Funny, Dave Mahre AKA Spike, used to call us hippies.
Then, I worked at the Loup as a ski instructor and got "free" skiing in. We don't have so many little hills for kidlets now. Squilchuck, just out of Wenatchee used to have a few rope tows going and was an alternative to the high lift ticket prices at Mission Ridge. It doesn't operate anymore. There also was a rope tow area up the Entiat Valley. We now have Loup Loup, which has a slow chair, Badger Mountain, Sitzmark and (not sure on this one) Echo Valley? These are non profit hills run by local organizations. I cannot think of any on the west side of the state, unless Hurricane Ridge runs.
The Loup is on Forest Service land. Badger Mtn? May be on state land. Sitzmark is on private land.
-------------- What's especially fun about sock puppets is that you can make each one unique and individual, so that they each have special characters. And they don't have to be human––animals and aliens are great possibilities |
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cascadeclimber Member


Joined: 04 Sep 2006 Posts: 1354 | TRs
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Brian R wrote: |
One final insult before we depart this state forever, Crystal Mountain's new owners/lease-holders have raised day prices to $139/$149 this season. |
Yep. Lift skiing is for the rich now. No way I could afford to teach my kids (now in their 20s) if they were learning now.
This and the yet-another restriction on parking at Snoqualmie Pass (they have repeatedly tried to curtail public access north of I-90, going back over a decade) is just frustrating as hell to me.
Pay to play is not healthy for public land.
-------------- If not now, when? |
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RichP here and there


Joined: 13 Jul 2006 Posts: 5044 | TRs
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RodF wrote: |
Same as the entrance and permit fees for a weekend family camping hike in any of our National Parks, alas also an "elite/elistist sport"  |
I was shocked this summer in eastern Washington where some FS campgrounds are now managed by private (for profit) outfits and charge more than double or triple what they used to. Not a good trend for making public lands accessible for all. |
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Olympic Hiker Member


Joined: 19 Oct 2009 Posts: 274 | TRs
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RichP wrote: |
I was shocked this summer in eastern Washington where some FS campgrounds are now managed by private (for profit) outfits and charge more than double or triple what they used to. Not a good trend for making public lands accessible for all. |
I spent the night at a FS campground in Gifford Pinchot NF a few years back that was managed by one of these companies. I was surprised that the FS contracted this out, but found it nice since there was no litter in the campsites, the bathrooms were spotless and there was garbage service. And there were campground hosts too, who helped with the upkeep of the campground. I did not mind paying the extra money to have clean bathrooms and campsites.
-------------- If you once forfeit the confidence of your fellow citizens, you can never regain their respect and esteem. - Lincoln |
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Malachai Constant Member


Joined: 13 Jan 2002 Posts: 14986 | TRs Location: Back Again Like A Bad Penny
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We used to take the family to Crystal for Christmas week leaving on Christmas Day as it was before the rates when up. They kept raising housing and lift rates. After the Whistler Olympics it became cheaper to go there and the skiing was much better, the invisible hand made housing substantially cheaper and much newer. Crystal is a near monopoly with only the No. 2 lift at Alpy being somewhat competitive but overcrowded.
-------------- "You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn |
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altasnob Member


Joined: 29 Aug 2007 Posts: 472 | TRs Location: Tacoma
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Crystal season pass this season is $600, including tax. If my memory is correct, it was over $1,000 back in the 2000s. Factor in inflation and cost of living adjustment, and a season pass is an absolute bargain compared to what it was. On top of that, a season pass gives you 5 free ski days at Alpental/Snoqualmie, Mt. Bachelor, Red Mountain, BC, and dozens of other resorts worldwide. So the Crystal acquisition by Alterra and monopolization of the ski resort industry has not been all bad. It has been way more crowded up at Crystal since Alterra took over though.
The bean counters working for big ski resorts have decided the way to maximize profits is to charge outrageous day ticket prices for the casual skier, but make season passes very cheap comparatively. Crystal's day tickets are expensive, but so are tickets at every other major ski area in North America.
If you want to ski Crystal for a day find someone who has a season pass as each season pass holder has eight 25% off vouchers to give out. Also, night skiing is a pretty good deal at Crystal. It starts at 2 pm and if you start skiing at 2 pm sharp you can get a couple hours on the upper mountain before the upper lifts close around 3:30 to 4:00, then ski Gold Hills and Quicksilver under the lights until 8 pm. An no reservations required for night skiing this year, unlike day tickets. They use flex pricing like Mariners games and airline tickets so pay less to ski on random days. |
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jinx'sboy Member


Joined: 30 Jul 2008 Posts: 642 | TRs Location: on a great circle route
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Brian R wrote: |
...Back to my point, does anyone here know what the USFS/Alterra "arrangement" looks like? Does the FS get a percentage of the revenue? or just a flat lease payment?... |
I spent time with these permits when I worked for the FS.
The ‘arrangement’ is called a Special Use Permit. It looks, smells and walks and talks like a Lease, and anyone else would call it a Lease, rather than a Permit - except Government lawyers. I don’t know exact details about Crystals Permit, but like the Permits for all ski areas on National Forest - they all have the same boilerplate.
It probably has a tenure of 20-30 years, maybe 40. Most Ski Area Permits in this area were re-newed about 2000.
The way the fee paid to the US Treasury is figured can be complicated, but in essence it USUALLY amounts to about 3 to 4% of the gross receipts +/-. Or, it did, and I doubt the amount has changed substantially. I believe that today, the FS retains some or all of those $$, and may use them for certain purposes. This under the authority of various Rec Fee Acts.
Up until the late 1980’s the FS actually approved each and a every price at a ski area....including the cost of a snickers bar or a bag of potato chips. That went away....and the FS quit being in the odd and awkward position of determining and balancing ‘fair’ and ‘competitive’.
The Permit is further modified/bolstered by accompanying EIS’s, EA’s and Master Development Plans. And, most importantly an Annual Operating Plan - which specifies the operational nuts and bolts.
Importantly, ALL of these documents are public. They are available for the asking, although some FS offices may require that you file a FOIA for them. But you will get them - minus, maybe, some proprietary info. like some financial information that might damage the permit holder. |
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Owler Member


Joined: 09 Jul 2020 Posts: 21 | TRs
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jinx'sboy wrote: |
but in essence it USUALLY amounts to about 3 to 4% of the gross receipts +/-. |
Based on Vail resort 10K filing for 2019 this is correct.
" For use of the land authorized by the SUPs, we pay a fee to the Forest Service ranging from 1.5% to 4.0% of adjusted gross revenue for activities authorized by the SUPs. Included in the calculation are sales from, among other things, lift tickets, season passes, ski school lessons, food and beverage, certain summer activities, equipment rentals and retail merchandise."
http://investors.vailresorts.com/static-files/1e93a8f9-2451-40d6-942f-b2c1411470c6 |
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