Feature
November/December 2007

Winter on the Cheap

Not really prepared to take out a second mortgage just to afford a ski getaway? We talked to dozens of resorts and got the skinny on where to skimp and how to save—without sleeping in the back of your truck.

By Evelyn Spence

Lodging
Don’t want to pony up for a Four Seasons—or share bunks with strangers at the local hostel? No problem. Whether you’re a plan-ahead project manager or a hopeless procrastinator, there’s always a way to squirrel away a few greenbacks. ➜ Steer clear of national days of rest. This means the obvious ones (Christmas and New Year’s) and the not-so-obvious ones (President’s Day and spring-break weeks, which usually fall in March).

Not sure when the prices hike? Check the dates a week or two before and after the holidays, when the snow is flying and the post-holiday crowds are thin; this is actually one of the cheaper times to book. “Last season, 19 of 31 days in January had new snowfall,” says Paula Worthington, media relations coordinator of Fernie, British Columbia.

➜ Go early or late. Depending on when a resort opens (Snowbird in Utah and Loveland in Colorado sometimes fire up their lifts at the end of October), you can get steals most of November and even early December. Take Crested Butte: according to Communications Director April Prout, you ski completely free from November 25 to December 15. “No strings attached,” she says. And after spring break (in early April, say), the prices drop again. In some years areas like Arapahoe Basin, Colorado, stay open well into June and are cheap from April until the bull wheels stop turning.

➜ Stay off-mountain. Sure, skiing straight to your front door— and having a slopeside hot tub—is a great perk, but if you crash even a 10-minute drive from the lift mazes, you’ll find some bargains. Bigger resorts like Whistler and Vail have great shuttle systems, so you might not even need a car. “In a place like Squaw, staying farther from the mountain means you actually get to hang out in really fun towns like Truckee and Tahoe City,” says Savannah Cowley of Squaw Valley, California.

➜ Work weekends. Take your snow days midweek, when a lot of accommodations are discounted (except holidays, of course). ➜ Plan way ahead—or go last-minute. In Fernie, British Columbia, for example, you can get a fifth night free if you book before Halloween. At Squaw Valley you can lock in rooms for $84 a night. If you wait until the eleventh hour, just check the resorts’ websites: they’ll place their fire sales front and center.

➜ Go off the beaten path. If Beaver Creek is on your life list but doesn’t jibe with your bank statement, consider a smaller, lesser-known ski area. Rather than Heavenly Valley, try Mount Rose, California. Instead of Telluride, try nearby Monarch, Colorado. The best part is you’ll most likely have the slopes (and the day lodges) to yourself. ➜ Rent a crash pad. If you book a big condo, you can squeeze eight people into a three-bedroom or six into a two-bedroom thanks to hide-a-beds, bunks, and kiddie rooms. Look at layouts and be creative.

➜ Organize a really big group. Bachelorette party, anyone? At Panorama, a ski resort in western British Columbia (which is owned by the same company that owns Copper Mountain, Colorado, and Mammoth, California), groups of 20 or more can stay two nights for under $150—and the group coordinator stays for free.

Lift Tickets
Walk up to the ticket counter at a resort like Aspen or Deer Valley and you might get a serious case of sticker shock: some single-day passes can cost $85. But with a little planning ahead, it’s easy to knock the price down.

➜ Look into buying a season pass. In states like Colorado, you can get a pass for just over $400—which, at today’s going rate, pays for itself in five or six trips. But remember to buy early: the Colorado passes are on sale only until mid-November; and if you buy in April for the next year’s season, you save even more. At Taos Ski Valley, New Mexico, you save $200 if you buy before October 5. At some resorts pass holders can buy discounted single tickets for friends and family, too.

➜ Buy multiday passes rather than a collection of single-day tickets—the more days you stay, the better the deal (and you have to stand in line only once).

➜ Research all of the packages—often advertised on resort websites—that combine lift tickets and accommodations. You can sock away hundreds (new soft shell, perhaps?). And, says Amber Turnau, PR coordinator at Whistler, “If you book packages early, your lift tickets are even cheaper.”

➜ Pick a resort where you won’t need a car. “I tell people not to drive up to Whistler,” says Amber. “You’ll have to pay for parking, and you won’t use your car. Just take the bus up from Vancouver and then use our shuttle system here.”

➜ If you’re skiing for only one day and don’t want the vacation equivalent of a full meal deal, find out if local supermarkets sell discount lift tickets. The savings are often only a couple of bucks and usually apply only to local ski areas.

➜ Check your credit card perks. You can use American Express rewards points to buy lift tickets.

➜ Let your plane ticket help. A lot of areas strike deals with airlines to give travelers a break. How? At Park City, say, if you bring your boarding pass, you’ll get a free ticket for that day (plan to land early, of course). If you fly Frontier to Denver, they’ll give you a buy-one-get-one-free coupon.

➜ See a ski flick. Come fall, when the latest Warren Miller movie hits the big screen, you can kill two birds with one stone: get pumped for winter and get rebates for tickets to local hills.

➜ “Alternate downhill and Nordic days,” says Steven Threndyle of Big White and Silver Star, two resorts in British Columbia. Cross-country skiing is often cheaper—and (bonus) it’s a great workout.

Rentals
Don’t own your own setup? Want to try snowboarding for the first time? Here are a few tips for renting the smart way.

➜ Check with the resort to see if you can prebook your gear. You won’t have to wait in painfully long lines, and you can save up to 20 percent.

➜ Rent in the city rather than on the mountain. A lot of sports stores in nearby towns—Salt Lake City, Denver, Seattle, San Francisco—have cheaper packages than at the shops near the slopes.

➜ If you’re a newbie, look for beginners’ packages that offer lessons, lift tickets, and gear for a single price.

Lessons
The last time your boyfriend tried to teach you a new sport, you ended up doing an endo on singletrack. Save yourself the grief and learn from a professional—without breaking the bank.

➜ Go with a group. Lessons with a few other people, rather than privates, are usually much cheaper.

➜ Take advantage of intro-to-skiing days, like the Discover Whistler program (www.tourismwhistler.com), which gives 40 percent off classes for everyone from beginner to expert, including multiday clinics that match you with the same instructor all week long.

➜ Try something new. If you’re a boarder, give two planks a go. Grew up skiing? See what it’s like to be a knuckle-dragger. Beginners’ lessons often come with both rentals and lift tickets and have the most bang for the buck.

➜ Book a lesson/lodging combo. At Squaw Valley, for one, if you book a multiday women’s clinic, you get deals on local lodging.

Après
When you get to the hill, you have to eat. And if you don’t plan ahead, you’ll be stuck ordering that (gnarly) $13 burger for lunch and a plate of $22 spaghetti marinara for dinner—not to mention the coffee that’s more expensive than a latte on the Upper West Side. But be creative and make a few compromises and you’ll still be able to eat like a queen.

➜ Find rooms with at least a fridge and a microwave and stock up on instant oatmeal, cereal, fruit, and yogurt for breakfast. Make use of the coffeemaker. Or book a lodge with complimentary breakfast and fuel up on toast, fruit, bagels and cream cheese, and OJ.

➜ Brown-bag it. There’s no shame in carrying a bagel and a Snickers bar in your pocket—or leaving a backpack full of snacks in your locker. Most day lodges let you use their hot water, so bring a cup of instant soup if you want something toasty. Save your pennies to splurge on the garlic fries, the ginormous brownie, or the cocoa.

➜ Shop before you get to the resort. A lot of ski-area grocery stores are more pricey than supermarkets down-valley, so stock up there—and then cook dinners in.

➜ BYOB—or make use of happy hours. Most resorts have great après-ski specials (huge plates of nachos for $5, cheap pitchers of PBR, 25-cent wings), and they sometimes last from 2 to 6 p.m. ➜ Keep an eye out for early- and late-season restaurant specials. Sometimes the fancier spots in town put together prix fixe menus when the crowds thin.

Packages
The best way to plan a cheap mountain holiday is to troll for packages online—regularly, obsessively, and determinedly. If you know what resort you want to visit, check its website, then search for deals through airlines, travel agents, and even sites like Expedia and Orbitz. Some resort sites even let you customize your deal, depending on where you want to stay, whether you want lessons, and how many adults and kids are in the picture. Sometimes you can get almost everything short of an umbrella cocktail (flight, hotel, car, lift tickets, and rentals) all at once. Just figure out your budget first, and you’ll be able to find the right turns for the right price.

If you’re planning for you, your spouse, and your kiddies, the costs often skyrocket—but, thanks to tons of family promotions by resorts, there are ways to cut corners. Here are just a few.

➜ Look for “kids stay free” packages. Sometimes it’s even better than that. At Big White, British Columbia, one child can fly on Alaska Airlines, stay, and ski free for every adult who purchases an airfare/accommodation package.

➜ Ski free. Many resorts let kids ski for nada so long as Mom and Dad are skiing, too. At Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, even kids up to age 17 qualify.

➜ Span the generations. At Steamboat Springs, Colorado, both kids (up to age 12) and grandkids ski free when their oldster buys a five-day (or more) ticket package.

➜ Let someone baby-sit. At Smuggler’s Notch, Vermont, childcare is 50 percent off during part of December and most of January. So if your little one is too little to ski, you don’t have to hang up your gear all winter.

➜ Book lessons. They often come together with rentals.

Most important, pick a resort that’s family-friendly. Though most areas offer discounts, they often don’t have more than lessons and condos. The following spots are tried and true.

Smugglers’ Notch, Vermont. Smuggs doesn’t stop at the traditional lodging/lift ticket deal. Its packages come with a welcome party, lessons for all ages, use of a Teen Center (with DJs, Internet access, Ping-Pong, and Xbox), free use of snowshoe and cross-country trails, outdoor ice-skating, discounts on adult lessons, and even a travel protection plan. www.smuggs.com

Steamboat Springs, Colorado. This cow town invented the idea of “kids ski free”—and now they can fly and rent free, too. The Kids’ Adventure Club has a “kids’ night out” of tubing, movies, snacks, swimming, and games; and lessons include treasure hunts and races. There are even five kids-only lifts. www.steamboat.com

Crested Butte, Colorado. Despite its reputation as a place of pilgrimage for extreme skiers, CB has great programs (and beginner runs) for the young and mere mortal: lessons are divided into Cubs (3 to 4 years), Polar Bears (5 to 7), Grizzly Bears (8 to 12), and teens—each with specific activities like games and quiet time. And for $2,050, a family of four (with kids under 12) gets round-trip flights, four days of skiing, and three nights of lodging. www.skicb.com

Grand Targhee, Wyoming. With great snow and a self-contained (and soon- to-be-expanded) base village, Targhee has stay/ski perks for kids under 14—and you can buy punch cards for more savings on lessons. Come nightfall you can check your little treasure into the Winter Explorers program for popcorn, ice- skating, stargazing, tubing, and rides with sled dogs. There’s even a trail map just for kids (so you can find, say, the North Pole Park and the Bear Den). www.grandtarghee.com

Northstar-at-Tahoe, California. Compared with nearby areas like Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows, Northstar is much more laid back. And it knows what parents need: for $71, the Parent Predicament ticket lets Mom and Dad share a single lift ticket—so one can shred while the other changes diapers (and vice versa). Want to teach your child how to ski? The free, daily 45-minute “Mommy, Daddy, and Me” lesson gives tips to parents. Need a diversion? There are regular movie nights, ice-skating, and snowshoeing. www.skinorthstar.com

Big White, British Columbia. Weekly skating parties, weekly fireworks, carnival nights, American Idol–inspired talent shows, game-and-movie nights for six- to 12-year-olds, and the largest tubing park in North America—all free (or dirt cheap). Not only that, but kids 11 and under fly, ski, and stay free. There’s a mini-halfpipe if Junior is just starting out—and a family race area if you want to teach him the value of competition. www.bigwhite.com