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Question: How do you manage your ski budget?

R0ckette

Certified Ski Diva
Skiing has undoubtedly gone up in price over the years. The Epic & Ikon passes are a better deal than ever, but it seems like the primary increase in cost of skiing has been overnight accommodations in ski towns. When I was in college I remember doing a spring break trip to Vail and it was semi-affordable. We even stayed in the middle of Vail Village - and it wasn't even that long ago. Post grad school I do better than most financially and I still find myself questioning why the heck things are so expensive. I'm not sure what happened, but it seems like accommodations go up by 5-10 percent annually at ski resorts now.

How I've managed to be able to do my annual 2 week trips per year primarily was get into a timeshare program. It lets me get slope-side accommodations at relatively low prices, at least in Utah & Colorado. These places also have kitchens so I don't have to eat out every time I'm on a trip. I also bring my own skis, and currently own only one pair of skis. My local trips to Mammoth I go with a ski club that happens to own a set of condos, and charges relatively cheaply to sleep bunk style for the weekend.

How do you ladies manage your ski budget annually?
 

mustski

Angel Diva
We look for VRBOs, but we plan our trips early and actually shop around for accommodations in the summer before. The least expensive places are still on the market. We cook most of our meals and on trips that are just the two of us, we pack a lunch. Our splurge trips are those that we meet up with other people because it involves dinners out and meeting for lunch in various lodges around the mountain.

As for Mammoth, that has become our spring plan and we take the RV!
 

Analisa

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
We seek out resorts off the beaten path. We're headed out to Montana to ski with my siblings in a few weeks, and we convinced them to do Bridger over Big Sky to cut half the ticket price. We'll hit a few more resorts on the way there and back from Seattle, and every place on the list has tickets from just $40-80. They're smaller, but still plenty epic to keep us busy for a few days. At places like Schweitzer, lift tickets are around $90, hotels for $80, and we found a few really great dinner places where you could do an entree and wine for around $20.

Vail's been pretty forthright with their business plan to get skiers into a network of resorts with strong pricing on season passes and then making it really easy and "free" for passholders to ski other places (while pulling in margin on the rest of the vacation experience). Even as our home mountain has become part of the "Epic" family, I'm sure we still come out ahead by hitting resorts like Whitefish and Bogus Basin than we would for any of the Epic resorts - maybe with the exception of Whistler if we stayed in Squamish.

Basically, B-list resorts are total gems. The C-list is also worth a visit if you've got a soft spot for the sort of small community hills where families can leave their crock pots plugged in in the lodge all morning.
 

marzNC

Angel Diva
. . . Bridger over Big Sky . . .
Great example of a wonderful ski area that has more better pricing for lift tickets and related travel costs, in comparison to the destination resorts that some people think are the only places worth skiing at for a ski vacation. Of course, that assumes that slopeside lodging is not a requirement. Lodging options in Bozeman span the range from cheap motels to nice VRBO condos, about a 30-min drive away.

Another example that I like is Grand Targhee. Slopeside lodging is available, but staying in Driggs or Victor is even less expensive. My room at The Pines was $60/night on a holiday weekend. While most of my trip in late Feb was planned well in advanced (flights, VRBO at Big Sky), I only called to see if The Pines had rooms available about 10 days before.

Note that Bridger and Targhee are NOT small ski areas. Bridger has 2000 acres and Targhee has 2600 acres. Both have a range of terrain for all ability levels.

Had a couple fabulous days at Targhee over Pres. Day weeekend. Of course, we got very lucky with the weather. But that's the same for a destination resort. I've been skunked on a March spring break week with my daughter at Alta that was planned months in advance. Had fun, but it was warm spring skiing . . . and then it started snowing heaving a week or two later.

TR Grand Targhee, Powder Days Feb. 17-18, 2019
 

geargrrl

Angel Diva
We seek out resorts off the beaten path. We're headed out to Montana to ski with my siblings in a few weeks, and we convinced them to do Bridger over Big Sky to cut half the ticket price. We'll hit a few more resorts on the way there and back from Seattle, and every place on the list has tickets from just $40-80. They're smaller, but still plenty epic to keep us busy for a few days. At places like Schweitzer, lift tickets are around $90, hotels for $80, and we found a few really great dinner places where you could do an entree and wine for around $20.

You might look at Lookout Pass, Silver Mt & Mt Spokane on the I-90 corridor. All sub $60 tickets and the snow is phenomenal right now.
 

slyfox4

Ski Diva Extraordinaire
I ski at Loon (20s pass, was I think $379 last year and $429 this year). We don't get access to Sugarloaf or Sunday River, but we're ok with it. We are able to put $50 down which we do on the last ski day, and pay it off over the summer. I think they charge your card 4 or 5 times. But all of Loon's season passes are able to paid off over time, hurts the wallet a little less!

We also scope out Liftopia when we can to find good deals on lift tickets. I've skied at Jay for around $40 some years. We are going on our first plane ride to ski trip, and luckily my parents are also vacationing with us which helps the overall costs. A friend of ours told us about this website called skitds.com which essentially is like a ski vacation planner. They work with resorts to get you good deals on lodging, tickets, etc.
 

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