The operators of Colorado’s Powerhorn Ski Resort used to offer older skiers (those over 70) a season pass for $75, which was ridiculously cheap. For the coming season, the price was bumped up…if 400 percent constitutes a bump. The new price will be $329 (although 75-year-olds can still get the rock-bottom $75 deal). This has unleashed a hellfire of controversy! No, it hasn’t. But it did gin up some news coverage and the occasional letter to the editor. And now the 70-year-olds say they’re casting their bespectacled eyes toward Copper Mountain (which still offers a $209 pass) or some even less expensive, non-destination mountain ski areas.
We would love to couch this in terms of a war on seniors, a fleecing of the silver-haired, but it’s probably a part of operators’ gradual realization (something we covered earlier this month) that the olds have been getting too good a deal for too long. In the past, ski hills would throw aged skiers a bone—call it an attaboy for all the years of support—knowing that their feeble quads and knees wouldn’t last more than a couple of shambling green runs. And these pensioners needed a price break, living on their fixed incomes and all. But lately operators have figured out that their older skiers are coming often, staying longer, clogging the blues and blacks. Their limbs haven’t turned to brittle twigs, their knees aren’t wobbly (in some cases, because they’ve been replaced) and a lot of them are doing quite well, financially, thank you very much.
Photo of Powerhorn Resort from its web site
