Where to look for ski deals?
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Anonymous
| We’ve been bitten by the skiing bug and want to try going outside the mid-Atlantic for a trip next winter. Not sure if that would be New England, Canada or out West; would love recommendations for a few sites that offer ski packages so I can track some of this year’s offers and get a sense of what might work for Winter 2025. |
Anonymous
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What kind of package are you looking for? Air + hotel + lift tickets? How many people are going, and how many are kids.
I’m writing this from Aspen. My strong advice is to get either an Epic or Ikon pass when they go on sale in March. They have many different options for different numbers of days and with / without blackouts. The deals for kids are good. I also strongly advise Colorado or Utah over pretty much everywhere else. Colorado will have the cheapest air from DC, Utah has cheap lodging and minimal driving. If it was me, I’d say Ikon passes, fly to Denver, then drive to either Steamboat or Winter Park. Both have pretty reasonable lodging nearby. |
Anonymous
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I am not aware of any ski packages other than ski club trips.
We go to CO every winter/spring break. We have Epic passes, makes the most sense for us as we go Liberty, WT and 7 springs. We book things early to save money. Saved a ton by booking our flights as soon as SW released the dates we were flying. |
Anonymous
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As an avid skiier and Ikon pass holder, I agree with the above advice with one caveat, Steamboat has gotten stupid expensive since the pandemic. We went Christmas 2019 and then Christmas 2022 and last month. We reserved our AirBnB in July or August to get a decent price and they raised the prices over 200 per day over last year for ski school/camp for our munchkin.
That said, Colorado is fantastic. You might want to look at places like Frisco, which are close to Copper, Keystone, A-Basin, and Breckenridge. You will need to rent an AWD car to drive to the different mountains. You will also want to research where you want to go. Lots of the Front Range are Vail owned, which means Epic. All of the Aspen mountains, Steamboat, Winter Park, Copper and A-Basin are Ikon. You might also want to try Utah. Park City is fun, but it is expensive too. PC and Canyons are Epic, Deer Valley is Ikon as are Alta, Snowbird, Solitude and Brighton. I like Solitude as a mountain for first time out west skiiers. There isn't a town to speak of, just the village. The AirBnB type lodging there is more reasonable than in other places. I wouldn't recommend Alta-Snowbird for first time out west skiiers. They are amazing mountains but some of the toughest out there. (Snowbird more than Alta but Alta is no slouch) Also, there is no town to speak of and lodging is limited. Either way, decide where you want to go and then buy one of the passes next spring when they go on sale. I know there may be sticker shock but you have to remember that day passes for most of the mountains are 200+ a day. I know Steamboat over Christmas is 275 per day. |
Anonymous
| check out the ikon and epic passes around april. |
Anonymous
+1, I don't know of any "packages" either. You could look at Epic's or Ikon's websites to see. We book the ski in/out condo as soon as the rental agency releases the nest year's dates. DH monitors it and airfare and books ASAP. We have Military Epics so huge savings there. We use the Alpine Ski Shop trade in program for our kids. |
Anonymous
| If you’ll consider Europe, there are lots of companies that do all package deals, though you’d need to either book your own flight (to somewhere like Geneva or Zurich) or fly to London and go with the package from there. They are very well priced and usually include half board accommodation, lift tickets, ski rentals, ski school and transfers to/from airport. See for example igluski.com or crystalski.co.uk |
Anonymous
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What do you need in a package?
What is your budget? How far in advance do you need to plan? Are you bound by school vacations? The best thing to do is to go midweek when conditions are good, whether it's to New England or out west. Of course that doesn't work for many. |
Anonymous
| Europe is the best deal by far, especially if you can cover the flights with points. |
Anonymous
| There aren't many, you can thank Vail Resorts. |
Anonymous
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Not much you need in terms of a package.
Ski trip for us just involves: ski pass flights lodging rental car or shuttle reservation |
Anonymous
| we go the Frisco area places, air bnb a house, get the 2 out of 3 day pass early and eat at home when there and pack lunches that the non skiers will bring to the mountain around lunchtime. |
Anonymous
To wit, flights to Milan are $470 RT through pretty much all of February and March. Italian Dolomites are the cheapest of the four countries that share The Alps. |
Anonymous
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We're going to stay in Frisco/Silverthorne in a few weeks and will head to Copper. It's reasonable priced and centrally located to other resorts should we opt to venture out.
My friends love Purgatory becuase they have the kids ski free, which is fantastic. I looked into it and it was pretty cheap but the flights down to Montrose are more expensive than Denver. A lot of resorts will offer package deals if you book lodging through them. I had thought about staying at Copper ad they offered discounted lift rates with stay I found it cheaper to get an Airbnb in Frisco, plus we have family staying and I need space. |
Anonymous
A lot of people drive down to Purgatory from Denver in a rental car. Makes sense if you're doing a 5-7 day trip. If Montrose is anything like Vail airport, you will be at the mercy of the weather gods. So many people get canceled flights at Vail airport and then need to scramble to Denver at the last minute to try to get home. |