by biffnix » Tue Apr 10, 2012 10:47 am
Sadly, I won't be renewing my MVP. I'm a charter member as well, but I just can't justify the cost any more. I haven't been up enough days to justify it in at least three years. I work in Mammoth (live in Bishop), and used the MVP early on a LOT, as my kids were up a lot for Ski PE class, and I helped them out as an instructor. But the past few years, I just never seem to make it up enough to pay for the pass.
When it was introduced, it was a no-brainer for me. Paid for itself in 5 days, my kids skied a lot, and I went up with the Ski PE folks a lot. I think it's mostly a psychological barrier now. When I first bought it, the low price left me with a positive psychology about it, since it was easy to go MORE than five days. I felt *happy* to tell myself I was actually making money on the pass, since I used it MORE than was necessary.
As the pass price creeps ever closer to a thousand bucks, my brain fights me every time I think about it. That first season at $299, I couldn't wait to whip out the credit card. But now that it's over that "close to a thousand dollars" psychological mark, I just can't bring myself to do it anymore, because now I'm thinking, "I'll get a few days at full ticket price for less than three hundred bucks, just like I did that first MVP season, and still be happy." So when I DON'T make it up enough to justify the cost of the pass, I'm left with a *negative* feeling about spending that money. I think about the fact that I've *wasted* my money, and feel BAD about it, instead of that original feeling of happiness at the incredible value of the MVP.
I keep thinking about what else I can use "almost a thousand dollars" for, and there are now a ton of other things I'd rather do with my disposable income. It's not that I don't make a decent living, but the psychology of spending has changed for me from a positive feeling to a negative one.
Now that I have a kid in high school, I'm wrapped up in soccer (a winter sport), and my daughter's spring soccer, I just don't have the weekends free to take them up for skiing anyway. Bishop High plays on Saturdays and during the week in the early season, and my daughter's spring soccer takes me up to Carson City until the season is over anyway. Now that my kids are older, when they DO ski, they go with school friends anyway, and don't want to hang out with dad, so I'm happy to just drop them off...
I suppose I'll miss the convenience and family time on the hill. What I won't miss is the cost of the pass itself, and the forty-dollar lunches for me and my two kids if I forgot to pack one ahead of time for us...
I'll still enjoy the mountain - just a lot less often, I think. I do feel guilty, as I know the town rises or falls financially as the mountain does. One of my best friends is the owner of Whiskey Creek restaurant (our kids have played soccer together since they were little), and he's gone through his own personal hell staying in business these past couple of years. I know it's been tough. So for the few days I will actually go next year, perhaps I'll actually try to eat in the cafeteria instead of waiting for McDonald's after I'm done...
Cheers.
