The last time we went skiing was almost exactly nine years ago at Colorado's Winter Park Resort. We had a great time then, with almost perfect powder conditions.
And the time before that was eleven years prior. So this was only our third time skiing in the last twenty years or so!
But, it's just like riding a bicycle.
We got up right away and drove up to the parking lot at 7:00am and had our breakfast there. Just after 9:00am, we were inside getting fitted for our gear.
The guy helping us spoke pretty good English, and there was another couple getting gear as well who were from Istanbul and they also spoke good English so they were helpful in explaining how things work with regards to buying lift tickets.
Ruth, trying to put her boots on!
I had read that Turkiye is one of the cheapest places in the world to go skiing. But I had a hard time finding accurate information about pricing. So we really didn't know what to expect.
When it came time to pay for the rentals, the bill came to 150 lira ($12.80 CAD, $10.25 USD) each for skis, boots, poles, and helmet. We had sufficient clothing, although that is available for rent as well.
Then we went to get our lift tickets. In Canada, you buy either a full day pass or a half day pass depending that allows unlimited use of the lifts. They have a much more logical system here.... you buy as many one time lift passes as you feel you need. And of course the "per use" cost goes down the more tickets you buy.
The problem with the Canadian system is that if it's busy, you spend a lot of time in line waiting to get on the lifts. And you feel that you want to get your money's worth, so rush down in order to get another run in.
But this way, you can take your time and only pay for what you think you will use. And if you don't use all the runs, you can come back another day. Of course for us, we would have to guess how many runs we want to do.
We each bought a pass valid for 14 runs. It cost 140 lira ($12 CAD, $9.50 USD) and we figured that would do us for the day. It turned out to be three too many... we only used 11 of the 14 available. So in hindsight, we should have bought a 14 and a 7.
So, including equipment, it cost 290 lira ($24.80 CAD, $19.75 USD) each to ski for the day.
For comparison, I checked out Mt. Ste. Marie near our hometown of Ottawa. We used to ski there a lot when our kids were growing up. They charge $35 CAD for the rental package, and $64 for a full day lift pass... for a total of $99 CAD ($79 USD) to ski for the day. Oh, plus 15% tax! So, $114 CAD ($91 USD) each.
So it is less than 1/4 the price to ski in Turkiye!
Getting ready to go!
Me, ready for the mountain.
We have our brain buckets on, and ready to go.
The first lift is an enclosed gondola.
Skiing route map.
Ready to go!
The ski queen!
Ski lift selfie.
Even when we skied a lot, we were only ever intermediate level skiers. I'm a little more confident than Ruth, but even then I wouldn't have wanted to do too many of the more difficult slopes. The slopes were labeled Blue (easy), Red (medium) and Black (difficult) and we only tried one Black one. Ruth was having a difficult time so we didn't do another run, but I was doing okay.
Here's a quick video of me skiing...
And here's Ruth...
Back on the gondola.
And then the chairlift.
Heading down for another run.
Erciyes Mountain.
The temperature was about 9C (48F) but it was quite windy. Conditions were overall really good though. We had a blast! Ruth didn't fall at all, and I only fell once because I was trying to pass a girl on a snowboard on a narrow section and she turned just as I was coming up to pass her. It was either run into her, or fall down! I hurt my shoulder and wrist a bit, but not enough to quit skiing. They are a little sore today, but I'll survive.
But other than that, we feel pretty good today!
This morning we did the drive to Cappadocia, but you can read all about that tomorrow!
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Decent price drop on Apple Airpods Pro.And in Canada...
It's been over 30 years since I last went skiing. I still remember how, sadly my knees don't. :c(
ReplyDeleteKnees definitely seem to be a big problem when we age. Kevin said his were fine until near the end of the day and then he said they were starting to bother him, he was surpised that it took that long before he noticed them though, I am sure that all the hiking we do helped in that department.
DeleteWhat a great day on the mountain. Those smiles on your faces say a lot!!!
ReplyDeleteIt was an excellent day, and you are right our smiles prove it. :-)
DeleteAt those prices, it just might be worth it for beginners to fly to Turkey & spend time there getting the hang of things & seeing if you like it. Then it'd be not quite so painful (tho still very irritating) shelling out big bucks later at N. American resorts closer to home since you'll not be spending most of your time on your rear end & can take fuller advantage of the exorbitantly expensive infrastructure there.
ReplyDeleteLol, we love your way of thinking and you are probably totally right. It actually could end up cheaper coming to Turkiye for a week and learning how to ski rather than trying to do it back home in either Canada or the US, plus you would get a holiday out of it. :-)
DeleteI haven't skied for over 30 years myself cuz no snow in AZ. Have to travel to get to ski slope which is expensive with lodging, food, lift tickets, rentals and fuel. The price of skiing in Turkey is amazing.
ReplyDeleteThat's not true, there are both snow and skiing in Arizona and from what we have heard the skiing is great there. Humphreys Peak and Mt. Lemmon are just two great examples. We agree though that it is definitely expensive to ski there but it is expensive to ski here in Turkiye too for many of the Turkish people and they too would have to travel to the slope, get lodging, food, lift tickets and rentals.
DeleteMakes you wonder how they do it! The lift mechanisms, skis, clothing all have a cost and I doubt that the country produces all those things so most if not all is imported. I could be wrong. You guys looked great on the slopes!
ReplyDeleteIt certainly does, I said the same thing to Kevin as we were riding one of the lifts up. The problem is, if they make it too expensive then they wouldn't have the clients. As it is, the prices would be a lot of money for many of the Turkish people. I am sure that they get international travelers but I expect that the majority of the business is domestic.
DeleteWe had a great time out on the slopes. :-)
I think i see a couple of future olympic hopefuls in those videos. My memories of skiing include looking up at the sky a lot
ReplyDeleteLol, I doubt that, I don't think we could even compete in the Senior Olympics but thanks for the kind compliment. -)
DeleteDon't worry, I have done my fair share of picking myself up off the snow many times. :-P
Oh wow even did some skiing! Looks like a decent ski resort. I once went to Breckenridge, Colorado to go skiing. It was 165 us for one day...I was shocked when I heared the price.
ReplyDelete2,5 days was the same as a full week in Austria. But hey you only live once.
Oh and from 26th of May to 20th of June we will be in Canada. Flying to Montreal.
It was a great resort, not the most picturesque scenery wise because there are no trees growing up there but the the hill itself was great with lots of ski runs that offer a good variety of abilities from easy to difficult. You definitely couldn't beat the price, we were totally amazed at how inexpensive it was. Yikes, that is a lot of money for one day of skiing. One of our "bucket list" items is to go skiing in the Austrian/Switzerland/German Alps, any one of those would do.
DeleteI can't remember if you said you were going to rent a motorhome or not when you visit Canada?