I hate waiting in lift lines. You probably do too. It’s no surprise that the backcountry segment of the ski industry continues to explode. Peace and quiet, untouched snow, what’s not to like?
Well, the backcountry does have a few downsides. Why slog all day for a couple runs when you can knock out hot laps on a powder day at the resort? Then there’s that whole avalanches thing to worry about too.
So how much would you pay to have the resort all to yourself? Turns out, there’s quite a few options out there for all price points.
When you’ve got a few million bucks to spend on skiing you can do just about whatever you want. Join the Yellowstone Club and basically have 2,700 acres to yourself. Maybe you’ll bump into Tom Brady and Bill Gates, but that’d be OK. Tom is mostly a park rat anyways. Or you could grab one of 15 exclusive memberships at the Cimarron Mountain Club near Telluride for a cool $3.2 Million. That gets you a 35 acre property (you still have to build the house) and all the cat skiing you want on 2,000 acres. You could even just buy your own ski area.
If you’re not a billionaire, you can still join a private ski club and send the kids to college. The Hermitage Club in Wilmington, Vt is only $85,000 to join and Plymouth Notch, another private Vermont ski club, will set you back $12,500 (plus annual fees, of course). That’s still a lot of money for east coast ice.
What about private skiing for the average joe?  Silverton Mountain, Colorado can become your private playground for a day. Just round up the whole gang, $14,000, and then get first tracks on 1,819 acres from bell to bell. An extra $900 gets you access to 29,000 more backcountry acres via helicopter.
Eagle Point, Utah can be all yours for a cool 10 grand. That price includes everything the resort has to offer, including lodging, for up to 200 people. For the more budget conscious ski area renter out there, there’s Turner Mountain, Montana ($3,750 per day), Plattekill, New York ($2500 per day) and Pico, Vermont ($6,500 per day) to choose from. Split those between a big group, and the price per person could be pretty cheap.
If you’re flat broke it’s time to save up. In the meantime, the backcountry is still free.
Just get rich like me and you can get your own heli and afford to pay the fines.
Levary, you sound massholie. Ugh.
Buy a snowmobile and support your friends at Sierra Snowmobile Foundation who fight to keep riding in the Sierra’s open to all.
You’ll have hundreds of thousands of acres to ride so long as groups like the Sierra Club, Winter Wildlands and Tahoe Backcountry Alliance don’t successfully lobby/sue the government to exclude you!