$224 for a lift ticket in Oregon? Where prices are rising or staying put, as ski resorts absorb insurance hikes

Shortly after the first flakes began falling on the slopes of Mount Hood this fall, Timberline Lodge made a startling announcement coming from any business, let alone the already pricey ski industry : It is raising lift ticket prices.

Citing ballooning insurance premiums brought on by an increasingly unfavorable liability landscape for ski resorts and other recreational companies across Oregon, Timberline wrote in an Oct. 8 Facebook post that “we are absorbing as much of this cost as possible, but cannot shoulder all of it.”

Timberline, of course, is not alone. Prices at Oregon ski resorts are climbing, with other ski areas also placing the blame partially or squarely on rising insurance costs. They add that an increasingly “untenable” legal environment — with some injured skiers