Casual skiers getting priced off the slopes at Okanagan ski resorts

Avid skiers and snowboarders know that if they plan on hitting the mountain a lot over the winter they get the best deal by getting a season pass long before snow starts to fall, but casual skiers in the Okanagan and around B.C. seem to be getting priced out of the sport.

The era of casually driving up to the mountain and getting a lift ticket at the chalet may be coming to an end. Day tickets are getting more and more expensive, while early bird or pre-season deals on a season pass aren’t increasing at the same rate. 

Big White Ski Club president Amir Khatami said that casual skiers are getting priced out of the sport, but the Okanagan is doing far better than other parts of B.C. and the U.S.

“Okanagan, compared to everybody else, I think the resorts and all of the local mountains are trying to keep it as cheap as possible. Compared to the U.S. by far, we are cheaper than everybody else,” Khatami said. 

Back in the winter of 2022-2023, a full-price season pass at Big White Ski Resort near Kelowna was $1,350, now it’s $2,119. Pre-season deals a few years ago priced season passes at $999 and now they’re up to $1,119. That’s a $769 increase for full price passes, and a $120 increase for pre-season passes. 

A full price lift ticket for one day during the peak season at Big White, between Dec. 20 and Jan. 4, is $239.

In 2022, a lift ticket for an adult at SilverStar Mountain Resort was $119 and now it’s $175 if you buy it in person between Dec. 19 and Jan. 4.

Sun Peaks Resort has day lift tickets for $199 and a season pass is $1,863. Apex Mountain Resort has day tickets for $128 and $1,755 full price season passes, but the early bird season passes were $1,055.

Those tickets are a steal compared to the peak price for a lift ticket at Whistler Blackcomb — owned by the American conglomerate Vail Resorts — at $351.

Kicking Horse Mountain Resort and Banff Sunshine Village have some of the most expensive season passes in Western Canada at around $2,400.

Khatami recently returned from Copper Mountain in the U.S., where a peak season day ticket is more than $320. 

Khatami said even though the Okanagan skiing is cheaper than other regions there are still a lot of families who are having a harder time keeping their kids in the sport. 

“It’s very tough for us to manage to keep the cost as low as possible so we can get as many young athletes into the program because we know that a lot of people and families are struggling right now,” he said. “The sport itself is becoming very expensive but that’s the same as everything else.”

Big White has a beginner lift ticket for $29 that gives skiers access to the Plaza Chair and Magic Carpets to help give people an opportunity to get into the sport without spending hundreds or thousands of dollars. 

“There’s no resort our size anywhere in North America that sells a ticket for $29 every day of the year,” Big White’s vice president Michael J. Ballingall said.

Apex Mountain Resort also has $29 beginner tickets, but they are only for their Magic Carpets.

Khatami said it’s no secret that the cost of running a mountain resort has gone up over the years. 

There have been operating cost increases in the past few years that have eaten into ski resort profits, but those profits are still up over the past 15 years. 

Statistics Canada found that ski resort revenue doubled between 2012 and 2022. Salaries, wages and commissions at ski facilities went up 18.9 per cent between 2022 and 2023. But, operating expenses increased by 21 per cent from 2022 to 2023. 

Profit margins at ski facilities, on average around Canada, were down from 19 per cent to 16 per cent. But, those margins are still around three times higher than they were in the early 2010s.

Khatami said that skiers and snowboarders in the Okanagan are better off than those in other places, and people might start to realize that this is the place to be for good skiing at a relatively reasonable price. 

“It’s a no brainer if you want to ski you have to come here and we have some of the best conditions,” Khatami said. 

Ballingall said Okanagan locals are taking advantage of the opportunities to hit the slopes. 

“In Canada, about 5.8 per cent of the population ski and snowboard. In B.C., it’s more like nine per cent to 10 per cent. In the Okanagan Valley, it can be as high as 15 per cent,” he said.