One-third of Czech ski hills to boost prices this winter

A third of ski hills in the Czech Republic will modestly boost prices this winter season, news website iDnes reported on Tuesday, citing the Association of Czech Ski Resorts (AHS). The price will go up on average by 11 crowns for a children’s daily ski pass, the highest increase. Ski hills have invested hundreds of millions of crowns in snow making equipment as well as to broaden existing runs. Above all, operators will be hoping for decent conditions and not a mild winter like the season last.

Photo: Barbora Kmentová

It is not uncommon for skiers in the Czech Republic to complain about ski pass prices, often arguing from a cost stand point or services that it makes sense to plan ski vacations in the Alps in Austria or Italy. For many others, though, there’s no place like home, and it is convenient to ski at attractive resorts in many of the areas in the Czech Republic, not least given their easy access. In terms of price, though, this year, skiers will have to expect a slight increase at about a third of resorts it was reported Tuesday. The good news is that other sites, 14 percent, will actually lower the price of daily passes.

The cost of an adult daily pass averaging between 28 Czech ski hills will be between 550 and 556 crowns; premium hills, however, will figure upwards of 700. Children’s daily passes will be 387 crowns on average, compared to 376 last year. Famous resorts such as Špindlerův Mlýn will reportedly not hike prices at all, but it is important to note that there the prices went up markedly a year earlier.

Attractive for skiers will be improvements at a number of resorts, AHS Libor Knot told journalists, including not only new lifts, runs but also new options at snowparks used by snowboarders. Skiareál Klínovec invested around 250 million crowns and Špindlerův Mlýn 100 million, for example, ahead of this winter season. This year it will also be able to access 19 different resorts on a single season adult pass, costing 11 thousand crowns. Other season passes will cost between eight-and-a-half thousand to nine-and-a-half thousand, iDnes reports. According to the daily, skiers in the Czech Republic have access to 156 kilometres worth of ski runs, 26 chairlifts, and 118 T-bars or similar systems.