Season Passes available from Soaring NV in Minden

On Friday, December 13, 2019 at 8:21:02 AM UTC-8, wrote:
Minden will always be a soaring destination even if I have to bring my own towplane up there. Seriously, there is absolutely no objection to a commercial op making money. I ran one myself and I priced such that I had an income. But to say paying $100 for a tow is reasonable and “no one complains�, is something of a self indictment. Maybe thats because at that rate of expense the only guys who are soaring are folks with money. Maybe thats why we see very very few young people entering the sport.
Take the Soar Minden price schema, a 3k tow is gonna be $90 minimum and thats if the tow pilot does’nt dottle getting back down. And add another $25 for someone to hook you up and run a wing. Now I am paying $115 minimum just to get up in the air. Anyone who tells me that is “reasonable� is someone who has plenty of expendable income, has’nt been in soaring for long, or is just an idiot. At these relative prices I will bringing a pawnee up to Minden this spring and charge 1/2 that and still make an acceptable profit.

I remember a time before there were any commercial operators at Minden, just a sometimes available Bellanca Scout, so we bought a C-180 and made tows available for the cost of gas plus a smidge just to help put Minden on the map and have company to fly with. I guess that level of comraderie and love of the pure sport does not exist anymore.

To keep things in perspective: if you buy a lift ticket at the window in Squaw Valley or Northstar, a 1 day ticket is $179 this season. On the other hand a launch for my ASH26Mi costs about $2 in 100LL (but ignores the $50K capital expense). At Truckee, the minimum tow is to 2000 AGL by agreement with the tower, costs $68. Line staff is free but they do appreciate a tip now and then. Retrieves are $205/hr tach time. If Minden bills $7.40/min during a retrieve, that's $444/hr. My IP attorney charges $750/hr and he doesn't even own an airplane.

When I learned to fly in Calistoga, a tow to 1500 AGL was $2.50, and $1/1000 above. Even then, my brother and I used to do dual tows (two 1-26 behind a Supercub) to save money.