Hugh Reynolds, from NSAA Journal, tried to shed light to our elders, proclaiming millennials “aren’t all lazy, over-entitled, jobless college dropouts.” No, quite the opposite: “many millennials do in fact hold down fulltime jobs or careers.” Congratulations guys, we aren’t shitheads after all. So, what’s our problem with spending money to ski?

Maybe it has something to do with way we’re being paid. Half of all minimum wage jobs are held by those 25 and under (i.e. Millennials) and the minimum wage does not match inflation growth. Our purchasing power has been significantly diminished – in fact, a study by the Center for Economic and Policy Research estimated that minimum wage should be $10.52 across the country instead of the current $7.25. In the 1960s through the early 1980s (i.e. the Baby Boomers’ golden age), minimum wage exceeded our current wage when adjusted to the 2016 dollar.

Not only are we being paid less against rising prices, but we are also being paid less for our productivity: The Center for Economic and Policy Research claimed that $21.72 would be a fair increase in minimum wage in 2012 to keep up with worker productivity.

“Millennials face decreased purchasing power, unfairly paid productivity, and enough student debt to pay for 32.6 season passes to Squaw (before the deadine, of course)”

And more Millennials are getting college degrees than any previous generation. About 40% of Millennials, roughly 42 million, have a Bachelor’s degree or higher versus the 26% of Baby Boomers. College must be more accessible, right? Wrong. The cost of tuition is 500% higher than the cost Baby Boomers paid, according to Bloomberg. As of March 2017, $1.3 TRILLION was the amount owed on student loans. This roughly translates to $30,952.38 per degree.

Millennials face decreased purchasing power, unfairly paid productivity, and enough student debt to pay for 32.6 season passes to Squaw (before the deadine, of course).

Squaw’s ultimatum devastates me because after working almost 65 hours every week, the money I bring in covers rent, utilities, and food. Not much else. In four months of this same routine, I’ve only saved one hundred bucks or less each month. And two of those months, I was living out of my car. In sharp contrast, Mr. Robert A. Katz, Vail Corps CEO, makes a pretty $1.57 million every year selling lift tickets.

Ski resorts are looking at different ways they can attract our generation. The boys making the big bucks are resorting to increased attraction of nightlife and other activates within the resort towns.  “Each individual area has (its) own strategy,” Powell said. “What kind of activities can you create that will draw (millennials) out in a way that will be beneficial and remind them what a wonderful sport and activity it really is?”

“After I ring up my credit card with almost $800, no way in hell am I going to stick around to buy a $13 beer or rent a fat tire bike… No fucking way”

Park City will now try to breach the gap by making the town, not just the resorts, look attractive for a vacation. After I ring up my credit card with almost $800, no way in hell am I going to stick around to buy a $13 beer or rent a fat tire bike, both activities Powell suggests. No fucking way.

Resorts haven’t yet looked at the very thing that is on the millennial’s mind: money. Money that we don’t have, money that society keeps demanding of us, money that allows us to do the things we love.

The Squaw clock now reads 12 hours, 54 minutes, and 23 seconds and I know that it will read something like 6 minutes, 17 seconds when I finally ignore the screaming panic in my head and buy a season pass.

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