To not understand the snobbery around skiing?

[Cappuccinowithonesugarplease]

An actual conversation I overheard:

"Virtually anyone can afford to go skiing these days"

Do people really still think like this in 2024? It just seems so classist....

It depends where you live! We are about an hour from Cairngorm and can pop up for a day very easily. We tend to spend a week in Aviemore in February which is obviously more expensive.

What's the snow like and is there any guarantee of a decent number of runs?

But if he'd assumed that you would not have had the opportunity to go skiing because of your background wouldn't that have been classist as well?

Ski-ing is so much more than an all inclusive! I went on an all inclusive in Feb for 2 weeks in Canary Islands for just under 2k for me and three kids (one a baby). Find me somewhere (anywhere - even Eastern Europe) where you can go ski-ing for "only" twice that for a week, including all equipment, insurance, etc. And that is just a week, and as a pp said, almost always not the "main" holiday.

TBF that's obviously not what this thread is about.

@LewishamMumNow i was genuinely curious as we can't afford to go abroad to ski anymore

I didn't realise you were the thread police!

Surely the expense issue is not so much about the cost of a ski holiday compared to say Disney, or an AI package in the Med, but the fact that it is a Winter holiday, and for most people who do it, a second (or more) holiday?
None of the people I know who ski regularly do it instead of a nice summer holiday, it is as well as. Most people I know only have one holiday a year and they prioritise a Summer holiday, especially if they have youngish children. They could probably afford to swap their Summer holiday for a ski break but not do both. Regular skiers are, in my experience anyway, well off enough to do both, which is why skiing is still seenas the preserve of the wealthy.

It doesn't put it into perspective at all. Disney is out of a lot of people's price range and they could only ever dream of going there.

TBF that's obviously not what the thread is about!

Sorry, meant to quote the thing you were responding to

@LewishamMumNow no worries.

I'd say that's a big misconception. I often chose skiing over a summer holiday as a child. It would be our only trip away from home for the year. And I know quite a lot of others who prioritise it over a beach type summer holiday. It's can be much cheaper than a Spanish AI or even a French chalet type stay.

That's the off peak price though isn't it? Canaries in Feb is yhe same as skiing in Scotland or April Alps skiing. You can easily get deal. There's plenty of cheaper locations, bunk type rooms rather than luxury hotels. We used to take sandwiches up the mountain instead of eating out.

When I was younger (in my 20s/30s) I went skiing every year. I wasn't rich and that week it was my main or only holiday every year. I went to cheaper resorts in France and Bulgaria and I can confirm that even back in the 80s, 90s and 00s there were plenty of riff-riff there.

I'm proper riff-raff, and I love skiing. Learned as an adult as never went abroad on family holidays as a kid, and certainly not skiing.

The odd thing about skiing is that it gets cheaper the richer you are. If you have friends with a chalet in the Alps, you have your own kit, and you don't need ski school as you learned as a child, then it's not going to cost you much more than your flights and lift pass - but if you're common like me, you don't have all that privilege baked in and it gets very pricey.

Where on earth are lift passes, ski hire and lessons (even if only for the kids) less than £350 for 4 people?

@FlingThatCarrot Yes and no. It was two weeks, but did include the half term week. (My kids currently all pre-school.)

@FlingThatCarrot Yes and no. It was two weeks, but did include the half term week. (My kids currently all pre-school.)

Exactly!

It might be a second holiday - but most of my friends who took their families skiing when young spent their second summer holiday in gites/euro camping. Ie, they have the same annual budget, but they split it and prioritise it. Now, granted, even with a Eurocamp/ski cmpbo they may have more of a budget than some on here - but then we are not talking about ‘skiing’ are we, that’s become a foil for people to discuss the fact that they simply have less money than other PPs for holidays. ‘Skiing’ holidays is, therefore a red herring because in ten minutes or tomorrow, there will be the OP about AI holidays being expensive, or ‘are Mark Warner holidays the preserved of the monied middle classes’ [other middle class holiday providers also apply].

Frankly, any opportunity to bash people who have a bit of extra cash in their pockets, however they chose to spend it, seems to be a national past time.

Having grown up on the poverty line in a shitty council flat in London, I’m sick of it. I won’t apologise for being able to afford to take my kids on two holidays, skiing, etc., or even being able to feed and clothe them in the way my mother failed to do for my sisters and I.

It wasn’t OP’s intention, but these posts on MN always bring out the middle class bashers and the inverted snobbery.

@coffeesaveslives

The snow is highly variable. Occasionally really good, mostly ok, sometimes none.

The funicular is currently broken for the millionth time which really limits the runs.

But, it's just up the road.

Glencoe and Nevis Range are much more of a journey for us. Glenshee is just as close but I find it rather icy. The Lecht is just a wee hill so really only for beginners.

It is expensive

There are ways you can get a price down though.

We used to:

Book self catering with Pierre et vacance. They have a lot of self catering flats in alpine ski-ing areas. They are set up for French people though so the people who check you in etc often don't speak English.

Drive over to the apartment. Book a hotel overnight on route - the equivalent of a French premier inn. Use Eurotunnel or a ferry.

We pre-made a lot of stews etc as the cooking facilities in the apartments are limited and the food in resort is expensive (also we were veggie and French people have trouble with that concept). We took them with us in a freezer bag.

Children's clothing came from eBay over the year. Kids grow out of ski clothing from one year to the next so it never gets much wear. Sell the old stuff on eBay, buy the new. Adults you only need to buy clothing once.

Ski rental etc we never found a way of getting the price down. If you were happy to use last season's skis that had a new edge on them it was a little bit cheaper but not much.

Pre booking passes in advance can get you up to 10% off and they sometimes did offers early in the season (local language required)

It was still about 4-5k all in with petrol and road passes etc.

I miss ski-ing. I had an accident and now can't really walk much less ski.

@xxSideshowAuntSallyxx TBF people who go to Disney don't do it very often, and I've never heard of anyone doing it every year! It's normally a once in a childhood thing. Although, I'm not sure what the point of this comparison. Clearly the vast vast majority of people could never afford a Disney in Florida holiday.

I remember clearly having a very serious conversation with an ex about whether to take up an invite to go on a skiing holiday with friends. Neither of us had been before but I think we understood this invite in our twenties was a decision as to what kind of adults we wanted to become. We didn't go. Expensive, cold, dangerous and we obviously weren't keen enough to move up the social classes!!!!

I have been skiing for one week as an adult.
I went with a group of friends.
Some of the group did not ski, they went swimming, sight & apres ski seeing in the local lower level towns.
I paid for adult lessons & a ski lift pass.
I wore my normal out door gear, plus I hired boots & skis.
I enjoyed the holiday.

I agree that some people who ski, probably have more than one holiday per year.