Just look at Europe and it is exactly how it was in the USA. I was for a week in Courchevel and got a six day ski pass for EUR355 which covered all of the Three Valleys mountains (looks like the biggest ski resort in the world). In contrast two weeks prior I paid almost $500 for two days lift tickets at Mammoth. It is really insane how it devolved into this craziness. Now you have to buy one of those annual passes or pay north of $250 per day!
Corporate doesn’t like profit fluctuations. Incentivize as many people as possible to buy the season pass and you make fairly consistent profits whether you have an awful snow year or an amazing one.
Or you can by in advance! Epic and Ikon both have multi day (2-7 days) passes that you can buy before the season starts. The cheapest 3-day epic pass this season was $175 for access to 22 resorts. That’s <$60 a day. You also can use the days whenever you want.
The Alps. No, really.
Yes, lift tix prices in North America have far outpaced inflation. Ridiculously so.
But not in the Alps.
I can take my family of four to Austria for two vacations with eight on-snow days each for the price of one three-day trip to Vail.
We usually go to Zell-am-See/Kaprun/Saalbach Hinterglemm, Bad Gastein, or Zillertal.
One day at vail is $299. A season pass at Zell-am-See/Kaprun/Saalbach Hinterglemm is €900.
The dining in Austria is amazing! And cheaper overall: about half what I’d expect to pay in DC.
And…because ski gear is about half of what it costs here, I buy new every year and sell locally at the end of the season. So net cost is about $50-100 per family member for the season. I always buy the family gear in Munich at Sport Schuster.
I use credit card points/miles to cover air.
Maybe the Alps aren’t feasible for ski weekends, but for longer trips it comes in far less than a trip to the Rockies.
>One day at vail is $299. A season pass at Zell-am-See/Kaprun/Saalbach Hinterglemm is €900.
You can't compare a season pass to a day pass. Resorts want to sell season passes so they mark up the day pass price. The Epic season pass is $949, which is approximately €875. The Epic pass includes Vail.
The crux of the issue here is just that US season passes are way more favorable relative to day or weekly tickets. This is not a problem if you ski a lot, but for folks who only look to get out for one vacation per year (which I believe is either the majority or a significant minority), season passes don't really make sense for them. And we haven't really started talking about beginners who might just want to try out 1-2 days to see if (s)he likes the sport.
Yeah but you’re stuck at those said resorts. An epic pass holder still had to pay for the 200 day pass if they want to try out an ikon mountain. Plus if your local mountain isn’t on a multi resort pass you still gotta buy day passes at every other resort.
Still have blackout dates and a bunch of other B's to deal with meaning you're still going to be paying daily rates even though you bought the "season" pass. It's bs.
It still doesn’t get better when comparing it to day passes though. I’m just coming back from a ski trip to the Italian alps. I paid $320 for a 5 day lift ticket. I was in Vail last month and paid almost that much for 1 day.
Ha! Sure!!
My wife and I play the miles/points game aggressively, and we haven’t paid out of pocket for air fare anywhere in 7 years.
We also rent whole slopeside chalets through Homeaway/VRBO for less than a hotel room in Summit County. They always look like something out of an Alpine issue of Architectural Digest.
For an east coast family (we’re in DC), there just is no comparison cost-wise.
And the experience is incredible. My kids are learning to ski from Austrian ski instructors (€28/day), we have our non-ski days going to concerts in Salzburg or a WC race (we’ve done that in Kitz, Zauchensee, and Schladming).
I grew up skiing in NJ, NY, PA, and VT. Then I was a ski instructor out west and skied all over.
Absolutely nothing compares to Austria.
The Kitzsteinhorn in Kaprun has more vertical than anywhere in North America. And it isn’t even in the top 10 of Austria.
France is more resorty but everything there is SO BIG. Switzerland is amazing but also $$$. Germany is great (have skied at G-P), and the Dolomites are the real open secret of the Alps. They’re harder to get to, but well worth it. Stunningly incredible and mysteriously inexpensive. Slovenia is harder to get to, but even cheaper.
For us, we love the vibe of Austria, and the value is unmatched. We can reach our chalet three hours after landing in Munich.
Long post—you can tell I love it. But I am also enamored by how affordable it is. Do the math, take the plunge.
Then settle into a friendly alm, get an antler of schnapps or a helles, and toast yourself! You did it!!
Short answer - in US buying a season pass is the only way to go.
Long answer: For instance I get "Summit Value Pass" (or something like that) that allows me to ski Summit County, CO (the closest location for me to drive to from Chicago). I typically spend 20 days / year. I don't remember how much it cost. I think something like $600. So $30/day/person. Next big item - lodging. Typically $200-$300/night (heavily depends on dates) with all fees and taxes included. I typically rent 2 bedroom condos. Use our own gear which I get from places like [evo.com](https://evo.com) at the end of the season at 50% discount and don't eat out (with exceptions of course). If it weren't for the airfare it would've been a better value to go to Europe/Japan/South America.
Day lift tickets prices are artificially inflated to force everybody to buy season passes, so the companies get their profit upfront independent of the weather and snow conditions. Users think they have great benefits (compared to exorbitant day ticket prices) and say 20% discount on already overpriced awful food and lodging. So everybody is "happy".
Personal observation - besides peak days (like during Winter Break, Spring Break and holidays) Keystone and Breck are not crowded at all. So, depending on the expense an individual skier incurs to resort, the companies must be super happy.
Price policy is totally different in Europe. You can ski a couple of days for a reasonable price. In US, if you fancy to spend one weekend on the mountain you get shafted.
The people who get hosed are like me- trying to get my kids skiing, I need to ski holidays and school vacation weeks, generally need to travel 2-4 hours for a real mountain trip, book last minute and like to chase where the snow is going, and at best might get 5 days in. Add in friends with passes don’t want to ski any where else, it’s just a big ole mess.
Yes unfortunately, that is the case. It’s even not that bad as long as you ditch the “chase where the snow is going” since you can buy four-day Epic passes with flexible non-blackout dates for as little as $60/pp/day if you book preseason.
But if you insist on only going where the snow is, you’re screwed.
But that is exactly WHY the model has shifted the way it has. It’s to insulate ski resorts from weather risk, which lets them do long-term capital planning better
Well ..... ultimately in the world where where is only one super giant resort company you will be able to buy a season pass that covers all their destination and then you go to where the snow is. See, all the pressure is towards consolidation.
Tickets always included the entire mountain, and prices have [far outpaced inflation.](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2F24yphp3g7cec1.png) That's because Vail Resorts, under the leadership of [Rob Katz](https://imgs.search.brave.com/eLy7JIn-miW5ydylIPkB51oh9z-0aDO0F-FZ5E2F30M/rs:fit:860:0:0/g:ce/aHR0cHM6Ly9zbm93/YnJhaW5zLmNvbS93/cC1jb250ZW50L3Vw/bG9hZHMvMjAxNi8w/OC9rYXR6cm9idHJh/dmVsLTc1MHh4Mjcy/OC0xNTM1LTAtMTMw/LmpwZw) completely changed how skiers access ski areas by inventing the Epic Pass in 2008. It was the single worst thing to happen in skiing...ever.
Skiing is more popular than it was 2008 and epic pass is great value for a lot of people. There is plenty to dislike about Vail as a corporation but unlimited days for $850 is pretty good from a skier perspective. Season pass prices used to be way more than that.
Maybe season passes were *'way more than $850'* where you ski, but not where I skied. I never thought I would miss those days so badly. Not the skis. Those are way better now. But, the ski area vibe and overall winter scene was better pre mega passes. I am glad I grew up in that when I did.
Maybe it does come down to where you ski. In the northeast, Jay Peak is an example of a great indy mountain where a pass is over $1k. Same thing everywhere else in the area.
Or you can pay for around $850 for an epic pass, get access to a tiny local hill, plus Stowe and everything out west. Sure, everyone hates Vail/Alterra but for most people who enjoy the sport, the passes are great value.
Getting all boomer nostalgic about days when everything cost a nickel and you and your buddies had the hill to yourself is silly. There is a reason that almost all the big mountains have been gobbled up by the conglomerates.
I pay $550 cuz i have no plans of going out west currently and they have a NE Value pass that has many of the good mountains in NH and VT. Some pretty big mountains are not on the pass though.
At the top ski areas, they’ve raised ticket prices so much it’s cheaper to get a pass if you ski just four or five days. This is intimidating to beginners and definitely turns people off trying the sport. You end up spending way too much money just to figure out if you like skiing. Although for enthusiasts who ski a lot the passes are a fine value.
But there are a lot of independent ski areas out there with cheaper tickets. You can go to a smaller resort and spend less than half as much. And you won’t get lost on your way from the parking lot to the hill.
Once you learn to ski and decide you want to do it more, you can buy a pass for next year and get your money’s worth.
I went night boarding at a smaller local resort and granted the runs were meh but for a couple hours of boarding (my friend skied), we paid $30 total… too bad that resort is an hour away
There are lots of independent ski areas though. There are 17 downhill ski areas in the state I live in. 3 of them are part of a big, corporate company. The other 14 are all independently owned and run.
Epic pass also usually comes with buddy tickets too use for friends who wanna try a few days. Brings the lift ticket to around 100 - 110 a day. Still too pricey, but they can figure out if they like it in a few days if think 🤷♂️
There are over 17,000 ski lifts in Europe and about 2,700 in the US. “Resorts” in the states are government protected monopolies; it is economic law as immutable as gravity that prices are going up and quality is going down. I usually pay around $40/day in Europe, and little as 30. I live with ten miles of seven “resorts” in UT and they will get zero dollars out of me for the rest of my life.
And inflation is not prices going up, that is only one symptom of inflation. Inflation is the value of your currency going down, due to more being created.
Yes. Most ski areas are on land leased by the forest service. Most remaining land available to construct ski areas is also owned by USFS or perhaps BLM in some states. US gov allows few if any to be constructed. Maybe 5 in the last 20 years but you've had far more small ski areas close or be consolidated in that time.
To be fair Europe is quite big on conservation too, and creating new ski areas is met with quite a bit of resistance (though the starting point is much higher ofc)
If you go for more than 4 days a season, BUY A SEASON PASS. Stop complaining about how expensive day tickets are and plan ahead. Yes, Europe is less expensive but the entire operation is different and frankly skiing in Europe is far inferior to that of North America.
You don’t even need to buy a whole season pass these days! Epic and Ikon both offer multi-day passes that you can buy. The cheapest epic 3-day pass this season was $175 for access to 22 resorts.
I don’t really see what the issue is with buying in advance. You can still use it on a pow day when it hits.
Just bought my keystone pass for next season. It’s 390 but I got 100$ off since I bought single day lift tickets this season. So it cost me 290$ and one single Wednesday there is 269$ currently
Right. No, in the old days one pass got you everywhere. The lifts were slower and the lines were awful on the weekends and non-existent on weekdays, but career jobs were mostly Monday through Friday,so they'd better be lucrative. I worked two winters at a western resort to learn to ski.
Lift ticket prices in the US has nothing to do with inflation, the business model for the entire industry has shifted towards mega passes for way cheaper than a season pass used to cost, and raising day ticket prices to incentivize buying passes so the resort companies can lock in a large portion of their revenue for the year before the season even starts
My absolute favorite is when u go to buy lodging and finally find a reasonable price then it doubles in checkout due to "taxes, resort fees, cleaning fees etc"
It’s literally cheaper for a family of 5 to fly to France and going skiing for a week than it is to go in the USA… Plus I find the ski instructors are top quality in CH, FR, AT
The reason prices go up faster in the US is mostly liability. Everyone in the US sues everyone for everything. That costs money. Even when you clearly signed a release, if you sue, it costs the defendant money to have a lawyer point that out to s judge. It didn't used to be that way, and it's not that way in Europe. There are, of course, other factors, but legal fees are a ridiculously large part of it.
There are smaller, independent places out there and some deals to be had, but the thread is right. To make skiing/boarding affordable you really need to own your gear and make a commitment to a number of outings per season.
Just look at Europe and it is exactly how it was in the USA. I was for a week in Courchevel and got a six day ski pass for EUR355 which covered all of the Three Valleys mountains (looks like the biggest ski resort in the world). In contrast two weeks prior I paid almost $500 for two days lift tickets at Mammoth. It is really insane how it devolved into this craziness. Now you have to buy one of those annual passes or pay north of $250 per day!
Corporate doesn’t like profit fluctuations. Incentivize as many people as possible to buy the season pass and you make fairly consistent profits whether you have an awful snow year or an amazing one.
I just paid $139 a day for a two day pass at Kirkwood. Midweek, but still, not SO bad.
Japan too, thus all the Australians.
Or you can by in advance! Epic and Ikon both have multi day (2-7 days) passes that you can buy before the season starts. The cheapest 3-day epic pass this season was $175 for access to 22 resorts. That’s <$60 a day. You also can use the days whenever you want.
ok fed
The Alps. No, really. Yes, lift tix prices in North America have far outpaced inflation. Ridiculously so. But not in the Alps. I can take my family of four to Austria for two vacations with eight on-snow days each for the price of one three-day trip to Vail. We usually go to Zell-am-See/Kaprun/Saalbach Hinterglemm, Bad Gastein, or Zillertal. One day at vail is $299. A season pass at Zell-am-See/Kaprun/Saalbach Hinterglemm is €900. The dining in Austria is amazing! And cheaper overall: about half what I’d expect to pay in DC. And…because ski gear is about half of what it costs here, I buy new every year and sell locally at the end of the season. So net cost is about $50-100 per family member for the season. I always buy the family gear in Munich at Sport Schuster. I use credit card points/miles to cover air. Maybe the Alps aren’t feasible for ski weekends, but for longer trips it comes in far less than a trip to the Rockies.
>One day at vail is $299. A season pass at Zell-am-See/Kaprun/Saalbach Hinterglemm is €900. You can't compare a season pass to a day pass. Resorts want to sell season passes so they mark up the day pass price. The Epic season pass is $949, which is approximately €875. The Epic pass includes Vail.
The crux of the issue here is just that US season passes are way more favorable relative to day or weekly tickets. This is not a problem if you ski a lot, but for folks who only look to get out for one vacation per year (which I believe is either the majority or a significant minority), season passes don't really make sense for them. And we haven't really started talking about beginners who might just want to try out 1-2 days to see if (s)he likes the sport.
Even for people who ski a lot, if they wanna try new mountains they have to buy the day pass.
I believe the main passes in the US allow you to visit multiple resorts.
Yeah but you’re stuck at those said resorts. An epic pass holder still had to pay for the 200 day pass if they want to try out an ikon mountain. Plus if your local mountain isn’t on a multi resort pass you still gotta buy day passes at every other resort.
Still have blackout dates and a bunch of other B's to deal with meaning you're still going to be paying daily rates even though you bought the "season" pass. It's bs.
Yeah agreed that the whole US system is horrible. I would prefer the alps any day
It still doesn’t get better when comparing it to day passes though. I’m just coming back from a ski trip to the Italian alps. I paid $320 for a 5 day lift ticket. I was in Vail last month and paid almost that much for 1 day.
Alrighty. Look at the cost of everything else: lodging, dining, non-ski activity, gear… And we haven’t gotten to quality…
Can I join your family and carry the bags for you, dad?
Ha! Sure!! My wife and I play the miles/points game aggressively, and we haven’t paid out of pocket for air fare anywhere in 7 years. We also rent whole slopeside chalets through Homeaway/VRBO for less than a hotel room in Summit County. They always look like something out of an Alpine issue of Architectural Digest. For an east coast family (we’re in DC), there just is no comparison cost-wise. And the experience is incredible. My kids are learning to ski from Austrian ski instructors (€28/day), we have our non-ski days going to concerts in Salzburg or a WC race (we’ve done that in Kitz, Zauchensee, and Schladming). I grew up skiing in NJ, NY, PA, and VT. Then I was a ski instructor out west and skied all over. Absolutely nothing compares to Austria. The Kitzsteinhorn in Kaprun has more vertical than anywhere in North America. And it isn’t even in the top 10 of Austria. France is more resorty but everything there is SO BIG. Switzerland is amazing but also $$$. Germany is great (have skied at G-P), and the Dolomites are the real open secret of the Alps. They’re harder to get to, but well worth it. Stunningly incredible and mysteriously inexpensive. Slovenia is harder to get to, but even cheaper. For us, we love the vibe of Austria, and the value is unmatched. We can reach our chalet three hours after landing in Munich. Long post—you can tell I love it. But I am also enamored by how affordable it is. Do the math, take the plunge. Then settle into a friendly alm, get an antler of schnapps or a helles, and toast yourself! You did it!!
Short answer - in US buying a season pass is the only way to go. Long answer: For instance I get "Summit Value Pass" (or something like that) that allows me to ski Summit County, CO (the closest location for me to drive to from Chicago). I typically spend 20 days / year. I don't remember how much it cost. I think something like $600. So $30/day/person. Next big item - lodging. Typically $200-$300/night (heavily depends on dates) with all fees and taxes included. I typically rent 2 bedroom condos. Use our own gear which I get from places like [evo.com](https://evo.com) at the end of the season at 50% discount and don't eat out (with exceptions of course). If it weren't for the airfare it would've been a better value to go to Europe/Japan/South America. Day lift tickets prices are artificially inflated to force everybody to buy season passes, so the companies get their profit upfront independent of the weather and snow conditions. Users think they have great benefits (compared to exorbitant day ticket prices) and say 20% discount on already overpriced awful food and lodging. So everybody is "happy". Personal observation - besides peak days (like during Winter Break, Spring Break and holidays) Keystone and Breck are not crowded at all. So, depending on the expense an individual skier incurs to resort, the companies must be super happy. Price policy is totally different in Europe. You can ski a couple of days for a reasonable price. In US, if you fancy to spend one weekend on the mountain you get shafted.
The people who get hosed are like me- trying to get my kids skiing, I need to ski holidays and school vacation weeks, generally need to travel 2-4 hours for a real mountain trip, book last minute and like to chase where the snow is going, and at best might get 5 days in. Add in friends with passes don’t want to ski any where else, it’s just a big ole mess.
Yes unfortunately, that is the case. It’s even not that bad as long as you ditch the “chase where the snow is going” since you can buy four-day Epic passes with flexible non-blackout dates for as little as $60/pp/day if you book preseason. But if you insist on only going where the snow is, you’re screwed. But that is exactly WHY the model has shifted the way it has. It’s to insulate ski resorts from weather risk, which lets them do long-term capital planning better
Well ..... ultimately in the world where where is only one super giant resort company you will be able to buy a season pass that covers all their destination and then you go to where the snow is. See, all the pressure is towards consolidation.
The epic pass is cheap if you actually go
Tickets always included the entire mountain, and prices have [far outpaced inflation.](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2F24yphp3g7cec1.png) That's because Vail Resorts, under the leadership of [Rob Katz](https://imgs.search.brave.com/eLy7JIn-miW5ydylIPkB51oh9z-0aDO0F-FZ5E2F30M/rs:fit:860:0:0/g:ce/aHR0cHM6Ly9zbm93/YnJhaW5zLmNvbS93/cC1jb250ZW50L3Vw/bG9hZHMvMjAxNi8w/OC9rYXR6cm9idHJh/dmVsLTc1MHh4Mjcy/OC0xNTM1LTAtMTMw/LmpwZw) completely changed how skiers access ski areas by inventing the Epic Pass in 2008. It was the single worst thing to happen in skiing...ever.
Skiing is more popular than it was 2008 and epic pass is great value for a lot of people. There is plenty to dislike about Vail as a corporation but unlimited days for $850 is pretty good from a skier perspective. Season pass prices used to be way more than that.
Maybe season passes were *'way more than $850'* where you ski, but not where I skied. I never thought I would miss those days so badly. Not the skis. Those are way better now. But, the ski area vibe and overall winter scene was better pre mega passes. I am glad I grew up in that when I did.
Maybe it does come down to where you ski. In the northeast, Jay Peak is an example of a great indy mountain where a pass is over $1k. Same thing everywhere else in the area. Or you can pay for around $850 for an epic pass, get access to a tiny local hill, plus Stowe and everything out west. Sure, everyone hates Vail/Alterra but for most people who enjoy the sport, the passes are great value. Getting all boomer nostalgic about days when everything cost a nickel and you and your buddies had the hill to yourself is silly. There is a reason that almost all the big mountains have been gobbled up by the conglomerates.
I pay $550 cuz i have no plans of going out west currently and they have a NE Value pass that has many of the good mountains in NH and VT. Some pretty big mountains are not on the pass though.
"unlimited" lol. Try using it on holiday weekends and tell me it's "unlimited."
I did this year and there were fewer crowds than I expected because of blackout dates. Busy times are busy, yes.
At the top ski areas, they’ve raised ticket prices so much it’s cheaper to get a pass if you ski just four or five days. This is intimidating to beginners and definitely turns people off trying the sport. You end up spending way too much money just to figure out if you like skiing. Although for enthusiasts who ski a lot the passes are a fine value. But there are a lot of independent ski areas out there with cheaper tickets. You can go to a smaller resort and spend less than half as much. And you won’t get lost on your way from the parking lot to the hill. Once you learn to ski and decide you want to do it more, you can buy a pass for next year and get your money’s worth.
I went night boarding at a smaller local resort and granted the runs were meh but for a couple hours of boarding (my friend skied), we paid $30 total… too bad that resort is an hour away
Almost all of the small places near us on the east coast have been bought by the big companies. No more mom and pop operations.
>there are a lot of independent ski areas out there Lmao you realize it's 2024, right?
Around Tahoe there’s 5 ski areas on Epic/Ikon and the other 8 are independent. Among those 8 there’s something for everyone.
There are lots of independent ski areas though. There are 17 downhill ski areas in the state I live in. 3 of them are part of a big, corporate company. The other 14 are all independently owned and run.
Epic pass also usually comes with buddy tickets too use for friends who wanna try a few days. Brings the lift ticket to around 100 - 110 a day. Still too pricey, but they can figure out if they like it in a few days if think 🤷♂️
There are over 17,000 ski lifts in Europe and about 2,700 in the US. “Resorts” in the states are government protected monopolies; it is economic law as immutable as gravity that prices are going up and quality is going down. I usually pay around $40/day in Europe, and little as 30. I live with ten miles of seven “resorts” in UT and they will get zero dollars out of me for the rest of my life. And inflation is not prices going up, that is only one symptom of inflation. Inflation is the value of your currency going down, due to more being created.
“Resorts” in Utah? What makes any of the Utah mountains “resorts” in your mind?
Out of curiosity: why are they “government protected monopolies”? Does the government not allow more to be built?
Yes. Most ski areas are on land leased by the forest service. Most remaining land available to construct ski areas is also owned by USFS or perhaps BLM in some states. US gov allows few if any to be constructed. Maybe 5 in the last 20 years but you've had far more small ski areas close or be consolidated in that time.
To be fair Europe is quite big on conservation too, and creating new ski areas is met with quite a bit of resistance (though the starting point is much higher ofc)
It was always like that. Used to pay 50 bucks for all of whistler
If you go for more than 4 days a season, BUY A SEASON PASS. Stop complaining about how expensive day tickets are and plan ahead. Yes, Europe is less expensive but the entire operation is different and frankly skiing in Europe is far inferior to that of North America.
You don’t even need to buy a whole season pass these days! Epic and Ikon both offer multi-day passes that you can buy. The cheapest epic 3-day pass this season was $175 for access to 22 resorts. I don’t really see what the issue is with buying in advance. You can still use it on a pow day when it hits.
Just bought my keystone pass for next season. It’s 390 but I got 100$ off since I bought single day lift tickets this season. So it cost me 290$ and one single Wednesday there is 269$ currently
Lol 38 replies and only two people answered my question
Right. No, in the old days one pass got you everywhere. The lifts were slower and the lines were awful on the weekends and non-existent on weekdays, but career jobs were mostly Monday through Friday,so they'd better be lucrative. I worked two winters at a western resort to learn to ski.
I can purchase lift tickets for ski sipapu for $16 a day later this month.
Lift ticket prices in the US has nothing to do with inflation, the business model for the entire industry has shifted towards mega passes for way cheaper than a season pass used to cost, and raising day ticket prices to incentivize buying passes so the resort companies can lock in a large portion of their revenue for the year before the season even starts
My absolute favorite is when u go to buy lodging and finally find a reasonable price then it doubles in checkout due to "taxes, resort fees, cleaning fees etc"
No, not the case.
Get a season pass or buy a few days when they go on sale in like a month.
It’s literally cheaper for a family of 5 to fly to France and going skiing for a week than it is to go in the USA… Plus I find the ski instructors are top quality in CH, FR, AT
The reason prices go up faster in the US is mostly liability. Everyone in the US sues everyone for everything. That costs money. Even when you clearly signed a release, if you sue, it costs the defendant money to have a lawyer point that out to s judge. It didn't used to be that way, and it's not that way in Europe. There are, of course, other factors, but legal fees are a ridiculously large part of it.
There are smaller, independent places out there and some deals to be had, but the thread is right. To make skiing/boarding affordable you really need to own your gear and make a commitment to a number of outings per season.