- Skiing and snowboarding are expensive sports to participate in from gear to lift tickets to food.
- Rocky Mountain Ski Swaps aims to make the sport affordable for families.
- Nordic Valley Ski Resort will give out free day passes at a ski swap in Ogden.
From boots to lift tickets and everything in between, skiing and snowboarding are expensive sports to get into and to maintain. Some people can be priced out before even getting on the mountain.
Dale Roberts has been on a mission to change that for 14 years. The founder and CEO of Ogden-based Rocky Mountain Ski Swaps wants to make skiing and snowboarding more accessible for families.
“There’s a lot of people out there who love to ski that just can’t drop a couple grand at the ski stores,” he said.
This year, Roberts scheduled ski swaps in seven cities — five in Utah, two in Colorado — from October to December, offering gently used and discounted new ski and snowboarding gear.
The next swap will be at the Weber County Fairgrounds Exhibit Hall in Ogden on Friday, Nov. 7 from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 8 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $7 on Friday and free on Saturday. In the past, hundreds of people have lined up before the doors open on the first day.
A portion of every sale goes to the Utah Food Bank to help families in need fill their pantries this winter.
Roberts said the swap caters to Utahns and helps people get the right gear at the right price without blowing their budgets.
“Ski Utah is doing a great job of marketing the state. We truly do have really great snow, especially compared to the East Coast. But it’s making it really unaffordable for locals,” he said.
How to get a free ski pass
Rocky Mountain Ski Swaps partners with Nordic Valley Ski Resort for the event. Everyone who subscribes to the resort’s marketing list gets a free lift ticket. There is no spending minimum, so people just go to the Nordic Valley table, sign up for emails and claim the day pass.
“I just think that’s huge,” Roberts said. “What a great way to just really help families to get out there and play together. Families that play together stay together. We want to be able to support that.”
Last year, the resort gave out about 1,000 passes, though not all of them were redeemed, said Katie Gubler, Nordic Valley director of resort services.
Nordic Valley is a small, family- and budget-friendly ski area nestled in the Wasatch Mountains in northern Utah. It has six chairlifts, including a high-speed six pack, and 40 runs.
“A lot of the bigger resorts really cater to the traveling visitor and the high-dollar customer and Nordic Valley is the place for the locals,” Gubler said.
About 80% of visitors are skiing or snowboarding for the first time, she said. The resort has a “Rookie Sender Package” for beginners that includes equipment, two-hour lesson and lift ticket for $49. Day passes go for as low as $15 depending on the day.
Fire destroyed the resort’s lodge in January 2024 but it’s under reconstruction. For now, Gubler said, it has yurts and a “parking lot atmosphere” with food trucks.
Nordic Valley is scheduled to open Dec. 12, conditions permitting.