How To Snowboard For Free

Posted by Parke Ladd on Dec 4, 2008 in Business As Usual, Featured {Article}, Greatness | 2 comments

While living in the mountains of Western North Carolina, we used to snowboard for FREE at Beech Mountain every Thursday night throughout the ski and boarding season.  It was an incredible deal!  They were willing to dish out FREE passes for the entire day to any guy on Thursday night and any girl on Tuesday night.  We believed that we were truly living the life.

That is, until our eyes were opened to the truth of the matter.  The reality was, that due to the FREE ticket advertising, every single male within an hours drive showed up every Thursday night.  What’s the problem you ask?  First: Extremely crowded slopes, almost to the point of not being able to move comfortably down the mountain.  Second: The overcrowding caused the lift lines to back up so far that the wait to get up the mountain was longer then the time it took to actually board down the mountain.  Third: We were surrounded by hundreds of dudes!

Still, we believed for quite some time that the FREE ticket made it all worth while.  However, one afternoon we decided to venture out to another mountain (Sugar), one that wasn’t FREE, but a great mountain none the less.  I paid $17 for my ticket and went on the same day (Thursday) that the FREE event was being held at Beech.  What was the comparison you ask? First: We had the mountain practically to ourselves (everyone else was boarding for FREE!).  Second: We made 5 times as many runs at the place that made us PAY as compared to the one that was FREE.  Third, the place that made us PAY was actually closer in distance, saving us even more time and more money.  We had nearly unlimited space, and we never dealt with the lines, crowds or the uneasiness of  being surrounded by hundreds of dudes.

What is the lesson?

• Just because it’s FREE doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the best deal.
• Don’t settle for the FREE average…being average is almost always FREE.  Instead, pay for VALUE.
• Your time is not FREE.  If you could pay a little to have a lot more time (and fun!) wouldn’t you?