How to Save Money on a Ski Vacation
As featured in USA Today: Ski Trip Advisors managing partner John Steed spoke with USA Today for its story on keeping a ski vacation affordable.
The most expensive day of skiing in America is the one you decide on that morning. Last season, a walk-up adult ticket at the biggest Colorado resorts cost more than $350 on peak days. The same mountain, the same snow, bought months earlier on a quiet Tuesday in January, can cost a fraction of that.
That's the whole secret, really. A ski trip isn't priced like a hotel room or a plane seat that drifts up and down. It's priced on a calendar and a clock: when you go, and how early you commit. I've been booking ski vacations for over 30 years, and almost every dollar our guests save comes from one of those two things, or from where they choose to sleep.
Choose your week before you choose your resort
Every mountain in the West has the same expensive weeks. The ten days from Christmas through New Year's are the priciest of the season, followed by Presidents' Day week and Martin Luther King weekend, when schools let out and families all travel at once. Spring break fills March.
The quiet stretch is January, once the holidays are over. Most resorts call it regular season, but for my money it's the sweet spot of the winter: availability is good, prices are low and the crowds are much lighter. By then the base has usually built up, too.
Value season is cheaper still. Depending on the resort, it usually runs from Thanksgiving until Christmas week, and some resorts bring it back in April. An early-season trip is a small bet on the snow. April trades that bet for soft, sunny spring skiing.
If your dates are flexible, tell us that before you tell us where you want to go. Moving a trip one week can save more than any discount code.
Commit early
"The biggest thing is planning early," I told USA Today, and nothing has changed my mind. Most resorts now price lift tickets the way airlines price seats. Park City and Deer Valley both tell skiers plainly that tickets cost less bought in advance and on quieter dates. Lodging works much the same way: the best-value condos go first, and what's left costs more.
Many of our guests book next winter's trip in March or April. That's when most of the season's deals are released, and it's when the Epic and Ikon passes go on sale at their lowest price of the year. Both passes climb in price through the summer and fall, until they go off sale in December.
Do the pass math
If you'll ski more than a few days, an Epic or Ikon Pass typically cuts the cost of getting on the mountain by more than half. You don't need to be a local to come out ahead.
The full Epic Pass includes seven days at Telluride, with 50% off lift tickets after that. The full Ikon Pass includes seven days split among Aspen Snowmass's four mountains, with no lift reservations needed this season, and it covers Jackson Hole and Big Sky too, where Ikon skiers reserve their days in advance. Even a few days helps: I told USA Today that a one-day Epic ticket bought in advance could cost as little as about $100, against $300 or more at the window during busy periods.
One of my favorite deals in the West is Jackson Hole's Golden Ticket. If you hold a season pass anywhere in the world, even at your small home hill, you can buy Jackson Hole lift tickets at 50% off on set dates. This winter those are late November to mid December, early January, and late March through closing day.
Sleep a shuttle ride from the lifts
Slopeside lodging is a luxury, and it's priced like one. Staying a short walk or a shuttle ride away can save hundreds of dollars a night, and in these towns the ride is easy and usually free.
In Telluride, the gondola between the historic town and Mountain Village is free, and the Galloping Goose bus loops through town every ten minutes during the day. In Aspen Snowmass, free skier shuttles run at least four times an hour to all four mountains, and Snowmass Village has its own free shuttle. In Big Sky, the free Skyline bus runs from Town Center and Meadow Village up to the Mountain Village. In Jackson Hole, hotels in the town of Jackson generally cost less than those in Teton Village, and the START bus runs out to the lifts for $3 a ride.
For families and groups, a condo with a full kitchen is often a better value than several hotel rooms. Breakfast at home and a few dinners in add up over a week.
Leave the rental car at the airport
A rental car is worth it only if your lodging has free parking, isn't near a shuttle stop, or you plan to visit more than one resort. Parking at the base is scarce, and day rates add up: in Teton Village it costs $25 a day unless you're staying there. With five or more people, a private shuttle from the airport is usually the most cost-effective way in, and it can stop at the grocery store on the way.
Put the pieces together
The last saving is the one most people never see. Resorts reward guests who package their trip. At Aspen Snowmass, guests can save up to 45% on lift tickets by bundling them with lodging. Equipment Rentals and Ski & Snowboard School often come with their own package savings, too.
That's where we come in. We know which weeks are quiet, which condos are a short walk from the shuttle, and which offers stack together, and every package comes with our Low Price Promise. Tell us your dates and your budget, and we'll do the math for you.
John Steed is the managing partner of Ski Trip Advisors and has been planning ski vacations in the West for over 30 years.
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