Skiing: A Sport For All?

Hundreds of people sit bumper to bumper cascading down the mountains. The sun sets off in the distance and soon the road carved in between the mountains is illuminated by headlights and sparkles of snowflakes falling from the sky. This is a normal occurrence for Coloradans and tourists who make the haul to the mountains for the weekend.

Colorado’s world-famous mountains have provided winter sports enthusiasts with another season filled with fresh powder, first tracks and full sends. Millions from around the world have descended upon Colorado in the past several months giving people countless hours of enjoyment and millions for local economies.

The skiing and snowboarding industry brings in nearly $4.8 billion annually for the state of Colorado and it is estimated that 12 million people visit Colorado to ski and snowboard each year.

But as the industry thrives, the sport has become increasingly inaccessible for beginners and those who do not have the means to spend lots of money. 

With Vail Mountain’s introduction of the EPIC pass in the 2008-2009 season, skiers were allowed unlimited access to different mountains and motivated thousands of people to try the sport for the first time. The pass, though initially criticized, has been a huge success and eventually inspired the IKON pass in 2019. During the 2021-2022 season nearly 2.1 million people bought the EPIC pass which includes access to Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Crested Butte and Telluride. 

Both passes have expanded to include mountains all around the world and subsequently each pass has had a price increase year after year. Initially the EPIC pass was $579 and eventually peaked in 2020 costing $979 for an adult season pass. 

Since the introduction of the IKON and EPIC passes, ski resorts have had to raise their prices of their day passes in hopes of persuading skiers and snowboarders to purchase a pass instead of a single day lift ticket. In 2013, a season pass for Copper mountain would cost $169. Now a single day weekend ticket costs $199. 

Season passes provide resorts with the knowledge going into the season of the potential number of visitors. This, along with the corporate backing that comes with being on a pass, provides mountains with large amounts of money at the start of the season and a floor of how much they profit in a winter. Often these resources are put back into the mountain to update and renovate aspects of the mountain.

A representative from Winter Park Ski Resort said they are, “focusing on the skier experience through increasing infrastructure.”

In Winter Park's case this upcoming season, they are adding new lifts and renovating the base of the mountain. Improving infrastructure with money from season passes ultimately benefits all patrons. Yet there are negatives that come with the season pass system in place. 

An option for those living in Denver unable to make the trek out to one of the resorts can go to Ruby Hill rail yard. Located in Ruby Hill park, the rail yard provides those in the city to ride down a hill with real snow, do tricks on boxes and rails and provides free rental equipment on Thursdays and Saturdays. 

Ruby Hill attracts all different types of skiers and snowboarders. From those wanting to take advantage of the free equipment rentals without traveling up to the mountains to seasoned snow bunnies wanting to get in a few runs after work.

Brett Zmenkowski, 26, currently lives outside Golden, and has been going to Ruby Hill since he moved out to Colorado two years ago. This season he went to Ruby Hill between 15 and 20 times.

“A benefit is that it has lights on until nine every night, so it's great for even weeknights when you wouldn't be able to make it up to a mountain. After working a nine to five or normal job the fact that you can go there and ski for two hours after work on a weeknight is pretty, pretty awesome,” Zmenskowski said.

Growing up on the East Coast, Zmenskowski was used to skiing on less pristine mountains compared to the extravagant ski resorts that Colorado is known for. 

“We have a lot of smaller resorts, things like Ruby Hill, like little Hyde parks or tow rope terrain parks are kind of more commonplace. That was one thing I was super excited about moving out here was having that as a resource,” Zmenskowski said. 

Zmenskowski still gets up to the mountains most weekends either spending time in the backcountry or utilizing his IKON pass. He spends more time at Ruby Hill during the week to get in extra runs noting that “it's set up really well for progression as a park.”

As a park skier he has been able to have access to rails and jumps which has helped him improve this season. 

“If you are a park skier having that ability, especially if you live in Denver to be able to just get on snow, that many extra days a week. It's set up where there's easy features on one side, and they kind of work their way up to harder features. So, it is really good for people that are either just getting started in the park or looking to progress at any stage,” Zmenskowski said. 

Ruby Hill provides a sense of community that you usually do not find on a typical Colorado resort mountain. The same people return week after week to get more time on the snow, creating unique bonds.

“In Colorado you have so many mountains, different people have different passes, you don't see the same people and it’s not very tight knit,” Zmenskowski said. “You don’t get the same kind of local feel that you do at Ruby Hill.”

Ruby Hill works hand in hand with Winter Park to provide free rentals on Thursdays and Saturdays for those in the community who want to experience and test the waters with skiing without the hassle of buying rentals for a day and driving all the way up to the mountains.