Original post written by Ahmar Wolf
We’ve got bad news for you, I’m afraid. Due to dramatically low interest we’re canceling FSW 2026.
We had hoped that officially taking a year off would give people the space and time they needed for their love of FSW to rekindle, but sadly it wasn’t enough. We understand what we’re up against isn’t a lack of enjoyment or desire, but an issue we’ve been running from for years that has finally caught up with us: cost. We’ve long provided an elevated experience – and certainly in more ways than just accommodations – but it’s those accommodations that are the overwhelming majority of our costs (~80%) and the source of almost all our price increases.
And for as high as our proposed costs were this year, know that we fought to provide you a more affordable experience by negotiating 1/3 off the rental cost (and it was almost $1000/person >.<). Over the years the value of the houses have tripled, and so did the prices, though I doubt many of you saw your incomes triple in that time.
Lift tickets also dramatically increased in price over the years, and we’re unable to offer them at a discount until we reach a certain threshold of attendees, which we couldn’t do this year.
Overall, organizing FSW post-covid has become an arduous slog, and so between that, the rising costs, and waning interest, we no longer believe the FSW model is viable.
There’s a chance that we may pursue a new approach in the future. It is, after all, Furry SKI Weekend not Furry House Weekend, and bringing friends together, new and old, to share a blended experience of fursuiting and snow-sports is what we always wanted to give people. We would likely move to a model where we provide dates and locations where we’d be fursuit skiing, and invite others to join in if they wanted, deferring all details to them aside from the minimal coordination. Though this would address the cost and our cost in time and effort, there’s nothing about this that would differentiate us from some of the other furry ski events that have arisen and we’ve supported and fostered over the years. So there’s still much for us to ponder.
Even if this is the end of FSW, we’re fiercely proud of all we’ve accomplished as the first, and for a long time largest and (in our humble opinion) best, furry ski event in the world. We built new friendships, saw furs who met on our trips get married, made incredible videos and took countless incredible pictures. We were a furry event that interacted with the public back when that was much less common (And answered many “do you have sex in those” questions with a whispered but resounding, “Yeah. Why? Did you wanna hook up with me?”). We’ve been featured in news articles and weird sports books. In short, we made a small mark in the world while giving back to our community and our friends.
For all that we did to make the last 18 years possible, we can’t thank you enough. Without you we couldn’t have pooled our resources and gotten a big house to share. We couldn’t have filled the slopes with wild hoots, howls, and chitters as an unexplainable sea of animals flew over sunlit snow, making our fur and faces damn near glow with joy. And we couldn’t have made memories and friendships that will last us a lifetime.
If this is the end, it was an incredible run. We loved what we did and we love all of you. Be good. Be kind. Be unapologetically you.
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