SKI resorts have never been cheap places to spend time, but with spiralling prices in top resorts and a weak pound, the cost of lunch on the mountain or a few beers at the end of the day is higher than ever.
As autumn approaches, keen skiers and snowboarders will be asking themselves whether or where they can afford to go.
The new 2010 edition of Where To Ski And Snowboard – apparently Britain’s only annual ski resort guidebook still standing – has got to grips with resort prices to show how pricey they have become.
Last season, its editorial team and scores of reader volunteers gathered over 2,500 prices in the restaurants of Europe and North America to produce a Resort Price Index (RPI) for all the top resorts.
With the most expensive resorts twice as pricey as the cheapest, the book’s figures are essential reading for any cost-conscious skier.
Many won’t be surprised to learn that prices are highest in top French resorts, with Courchevel notching up an RPI of 145 (the average resort gets 100).
Here and in other expensive resorts, it wasn’t uncommon to pay 6-7 euros (£5-6) for a beer and twice that for a simple plate of pasta.
But even in swanky areas, relative bargains can be found.
The cheapest bottle of wine found in the Alps was in Courchevel 1650, down the hill from super-swanky Courchevel 1850.
Elsewhere in the famous Three Valleys area, Les Menuires looks a positive bargain, with an RPI of only 100.
Of the major French resorts, only Montgenevre came in lower at 95. Most big resorts scored 105.
Switzerland, of course, has its own currency, so comparisons with euro-countries are complicated by exchange rates. Using mid-summer rates, Switzerland emerged a shade cheaper than France, with RPIs from 90 up to 125 in swanky St Moritz and Verbier.
The big surprise for many people will be that Austria looks a relative bargain.
Most resorts got RPIs of 80-95, with only the very fashionable Lech and Zurs coming in over average.
INFORMATION: Where To Ski And Snowboard, published by NortonWood, costs £18.99 in bookshops nationwide.
