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....

I don't think its about hating or resenting people who can afford nice things. Some people will have been brought up in a position of privilege, other people will have worked at jobs that enable them the income to do those things, or saved for a period of time to afford it.

I think the issue is the apparent surprise that they are seen as luxurious, rather than an "ordinary" holiday. Of course ordinary or normal will have different meanings, and for some the norm will be that they dont go on holiday, but I think it's disingenuous to pretend that skiing, AI, or Disney are within the reach of most people. (In the same way, on other threads, a cleaner is classed as an essential rather than a nice to have...which I feel the same about!)

That is true. I do consider ourselves lucky that we can afford our "cheap" ski holiday (which is our main holiday... its just camping otherwise). Actually learning to ski is the most expensive bit!

Its like the Private School threads. You get some claiming anyone can afford it, while others say you can't unless you earn £200k+. People se their income as normal.

How can anyone "know no different".

When I was poor as a child , I knew that rich children existed.

I never understand when rich people say "oh we know no different"

You don't have to be poor to know that there are poor people.

It's more that they don't want to even think about poor people

I was once with someone (fairly wealthy) who said, in all seriousness, they considered horse riding, a life skill.
I'm 46 and I've never yet had a situation where I thought being able to ride a horse would be an advantage!

I know a man who complains about his summer house, and he complains about it in a group that I go to, where I know some of the people are quite poor.

I think it's a way of feeling extra rich

• to complain about something of luxury, when you know other people barely have enough food

The thing about ski holidays is that you can pay a LOT, or pay much less…
when we used to go (had our own boots and skis) we’d pack up the car with essentials, including a menu for the week and foods not generally available in France, and drive to an apartment we had rented privately. Our main costs were the ferry, the apartment hire and the ski passes, but these were far less than a normal holiday was costing.

My parents used to think it was a posh holiday, but we actually lived for the skiing - up the mountain on the first lift of the day, then a short break for lunch, then back up the mountain for the rest of the afternoon, trying out all the trails.

IME, the people who went because they thought it was posh, didn’t roll out of bed until 11, did a couple or three runs per day, and partied all night! We, on the other hand, came back 2 weeks later, physically tired, but in great shape and having lost quite a few lbs! Those were the days😁

If you have £6/£7k/£8k for a family holiday sure, it's super affordable!

We were going to go with friends for the 1st time, budget, 'unsexy' country & resort, self catering absolute bare bones and it was going to be £5.5k for 4 of us. And that was before we bought/hired clothing or ate or drank though it did include lesson. We didn't in the end for various reasons...

Most of our MC ski-ing friends at least have the good grace to admit it's expensive!!

@HollyKnight

We ski every year in the UK. There are 5 ski areas:

Cairngorm
Glenshee
Glencoe
Nevis
The Lecht

'I was once with someone (fairly wealthy) who said, in all seriousness, they considered horse riding, a life skill.'

My old boss told me he thought ski-ing was a life-skill like swimming and didn't understand why parents didn't prioritise it more for their children! With NO sense of irony. He did go to Rugby school though, so I think his idea of what was and wasn't a life skill was skewed. He couldn't cook, for example! Boarding school, a housekeeper at home, and eating out meant he'd never really cooked much for himself...

I work in an industry with a lot of posh & public school educated people, and some of the stuff they come out with had genuinely left me open mouthed at times.

I no longer ski but did for the best part of 50 years.

Like Golf, there is now a mixture of people from all walks of life where there never used to be.

'Austria, at Christmas. No ski school needed (kids now 11&13), own equipment (except the kids ski boots) but ski passes for whole valley. Self catering apartment.
Does that include:

• flights
• other travel if not flying- ferries, petrol & tolls to drive there
• Food? If you are self catered thats a lot of meals to sort when out skiing all day

Is it for a full week & is it within the state school holiday period? ' Also - WHEN did the kid learn to ski with no ski school needed. And - owning skis and gear? That's also pretty privileged. Maybe it is cheaper once the whole family have their own gear and have learned to ski...

'I'd be interested to know how it compares, cost wise, with a trip to Disney in Florida. Or even Paris.'

Disney in Florida - went with family - cost about £12k for 4 of us and we didn't stay in Disney itself either. For a week in Disney and a week elsewhere. BUT - that is still an immense amount of money for any family, and I wouldn't be claiming that 'anyone' could go anymore that I would claim ski-ing is affordable!
It also would not have been my choice of holiday - US based family special birthday meant we all went.

Paris - cost about £1600 for a week - own car, ferry, airbnb, self catering. mostly timed museums for 'free' times. Had a lovely time.

Mumsnet is for everyone. There’s a skiing holidays section, a property section and a style and beauty section, despite many people in the UK being unable to afford a skiing holiday, a house or fashionable clothing. Yet I have also seen huge amounts of support and compassion being offered to people in need, so much so that Mumsnet actually has a pre-made warning statement to discourage people from offering too much to strangers who may or may not be genuine.

Going on a camping holiday does not stop someone from being a generous, socially aware or compassionate person.

Going on a skiing holiday does not stop someone from being a generous, socially aware or compassionate person.

Even ordained religious ministers, priests and nuns - some of whose entire vocations are to support the poor and needy - are allowed annual leave and to take time away from their work and travel or relax. This costs money which could be given to the poor. Yet it is still permissible.

Or should everyone sell all they have to give to the poor?

Where are these places where you can get lift passes and ski hire for a family for under 350 quid? 35 years ago maybe.

I live in a small family ski resort in Austria. It has about 10 lifts.
Cost for a 2 adults and 2 children family ski pass for a week is €923 for 7 days.
Ski hire here costs for 2 adults and 2 children around €650 for 7 days.

A nearby, large and famous resort doesn't do a family ticket. The costs are €437 per adult for 7 days and €218 per child so €1310 for family of 4.

I don't know what planet people are living on if they think that "anybody" can afford to go skiing. These are just the costs for the actual skiing in the resort and you have to pay for flights, accommodation and food on top of that.

I think skiing has become much less affordable than say 25 years ago when I first went to Andorra where it was cheap and cheerful. Now every resort has to be equipped with top quality lifts, heated chair-lifts with bubble covers so you don't get cold on the way up and snow making because the natural snow isn't adequate any more. The costs of snow making are astronomical.
There is no future in skiing in the Alps with less and less snow every year but these places are clinging on desperately and investing heavily to keep it going a bit longer because it's a massive contribution to the economy.
And to do all of this the costs have to be passed on to the customer.

I have zero interest in skiing, fox hunting or golf! Which I think of all as rather private school types activities to do! I often wonder if the posh types invented these very dull, cold, outdoor pursuits to keep as their own because they new the masses would have no interest in them! And so they could keep these boring hobbies for themselves and their elite buddies without infiltration from us peasants!!

As an adult, I can well afford any of the above but fox hunting just seems cruel (IMO), golf is vvv boring (tried it once and was like...eh? What is meant to be fun about this?) and skiing just does not appeal to me in any way. I'd rather hike the mountain or run in the mountains. Just not bothered by the thought of skiing.

You know that's not the skiing people are talking about.

@HollyKnight

You literally said the UK doesn't have the weather for it - did you mean England?

Just done a quick search on Crystal Ski, 2 adults and 2 children skiing in February All Inclusive from £744 per person total £2976. Adding on all the extras like Ski hire, lift pass, lessons £3300.

I can't understand how ski hire, lift pass and lessons can only be another £300 total for 4 people - lift passes would be over 1k for 4 people in a decent resort, lessons you'd be looking at £200 per person. I'd reckon you'd be looking at another 2.5 k each, not £300.

In fact I just priced up a half term holiday with Crystal for 2 adults and 2 kids, with lift passes, half day ski school and ski hire it was £8796 total. That's half board so you need to pay for lunches still. If you want full days ski school it's more. If your kids are too young to ski it's £600 a week for childcare but obviously they would have no ski lessons or ski hire or lift pass so would be slightly cheaper for a non skiier kid.

I don't think you can lump fox hunting with skiing. One is very illegal for a start!

Those stating that a ski holiday will cost over £10k are as wrong as those saying ‘anyone can afford skiing these days.’ Skiing will always be an expensive sport. It can be done on the cheap though - cheap relative to £10k, that is!

I’ve costed up where we are going this year, and for a family of 4 with all travel, car hire, accommodation, lift passes, ski school, equipment hire, and petrol it would come in at just under £3k. We are paying less than this, as we have our own skis, don’t need lessons, and I get cheap flights through work. The only things not included in that cost are food (but self catering - you’d be buying food at home, so you could live on spag bol every night and cornflakes for breakfast and it wouldn’t cost much more than home, or you could go out for dinner every night you don’t get takeaway in - personal choice and budget dictates here!) also non-ski outings not included, if your family suddenly decided they need to go the swimming baths or snowmobiling. It’s not in the Alps or Pyrenees, and not Eastern Europe either. Northern Europe, harder to get to, less mountainy, but cheap and different. Still skiing!

For the posters saying at the start of the thread that skiing is something people don’t take up as adults - I did, as did everyone in my family except for one sibling who went on the school ski trip. He became so obsessed he went to work in a resort, and we all went to visit him as grown ups and took up skiing then. Me and my other sibling in our mid 20s, our parents in their early 50s. From a very working class background!

The above prices are Feb half term btw. Cheaper if you go in Jan.

you are joking right 😂 maybe stick to Switzerland…

Like many things you can have the budget version of ski-ing - self drive, self cater, 2nd hand kit or an all in coach trip and youth hostel style or a last minute deal. You need to be very motivated so understandable that people may not choose it as a random holiday.
I went as a teen (budget church trip - coach and basic accomadation) and got the bug. I met my DH ski-ing!
I see it as the more fun version of hiking in beautiful mountains - thrill seeking with a dollap of hygge christmas cosyness.

Some places in Scandinavia are good value for money these days compared to the Alps. It used to be very expensive to go to Norway for example but there's not much difference these days.
In fact the Norwegian lift passes are often cheaper, as is ski hire, because the ski resorts are more basic with older lifts but you can still have a great time.

Hats off to anyone who skis in Scotland. The Scots I’ve met who grew up skiing are generally pretty phenomenal skiers because of variable conditions and regular practice. As I understand it, any day could be a truly great day or you might get no skiing at all.
My husband and I both learned as adults, he was young and I rather older. Never thought it would appeal but I love it. I agree it has a bit of a label attached to it (I’ve certainly met plenty of types who perpetuate that so we DIY to avoid them).
i also know people who love skiing from rather more ordinary backgrounds. Snowheads bashes and the like do a great job at making skiing more accessible to people from a wider variety of backgrounds.