Hacks to Make Skiing Out West Affordable

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are various ski passes deals out there - do a bit of research, it's not that hard.
Epic,Max, Mountain Collective all come to mind.

You say only your kids are skiing, so maybe those passes aren't for you b/c usually the kids ski free/heavily discounted.
Then again, if you don't ski that often, maybe the ski passes aren't for you. It's hard to say from your post.

Not to digress from you post, OP, but why are only your kids skiing? Taking them the Catskills, Poconos, NE isn't a good enough ski vacation for them?
You're paying a premium to ski out West, and you and your spouse don't aren't taking advantage of it by not skiing?

Also, get "free" airline tickets by getting a credit card with frerquent flyer miles. There are a whole bunch of credit cards offering various deals with this so look into it and see what matches your spending habits best to max out the number of miles you earn.

Bad backs and knees play into the adults not skiing. I think my kids would have an absolute blast skiing out west. The snow is much better and the runs much longer. They would be in absolute heaven being able to ski at a place like Breckinridge or Copper. The Poconos and Vermont are not out of the question just because I have asked about going out West. You know what Felix Ungar said about those who assume, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alta is pretty inexpensive relatively if you:

1) Stay in a VRBO/Airbnb in Sandy or similar & rent car
2) Bring your own lunch
3) do 1/2 day ski school instead of full day (which they actually offer)
4) Do the mountain collective if you think you will do more than 1 mountain-- gives free or discounted tix for kids as well

We did it for our family of 4 for just under $3K for a week.

Sorry-- $4K.

Including air fare?

We’ve done it for that or less in March/April. It helps when Easter is late so break is late. Depends on the airfare of course. We have our own equipment and don’t take lessons. In late season we’ve gotten deals at fancy hotels in vail with breakfast and $350-400 Rt to Denver.

But we are big skiers. Can’t imagine going just so the kids can ski.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alta is pretty inexpensive relatively if you:

1) Stay in a VRBO/Airbnb in Sandy or similar & rent car
2) Bring your own lunch
3) do 1/2 day ski school instead of full day (which they actually offer)
4) Do the mountain collective if you think you will do more than 1 mountain-- gives free or discounted tix for kids as well

We did it for our family of 4 for just under $3K for a week.

Sorry-- $4K.

Including air fare?

Yes. And kids rentals.

[Anonymous]

It is much more expensive to fly directly into Eagle or Steamboat than Denver - maybe for 2 people it will be cheaper than renting a car but not for 4. If you splurged on a place that didn't need a car you might be able to get an Uber to a closer resort for $100 or so each way though that is just a guess.

I'm from Colorado and grew up skiing and there used to be some ways to keep costs down.

If you don't own your own equipment rent it in Denver.

You used to be able to buy discounted ski passes at the grocery stores in Denver.

If you are willing to stay away from the base of the mountain and skip the ski-in ski-out experience you can definitely find cheaper accommodations but that definitely lessens the fun of the experience as there can be some congestion around the areas in the morning and you have to haul your stuff. This is particularly true around Winter Park and the YMCA's Snow Mountain Ranch at least used to have some reasonably priced dorm style rooms with cafeteria dining options - I just looked and they have rooms for $124 a night for 6 so not much of a bargain.

And definitely pack your own lunches - you can easily save $40 a day for a family.

But the big resorts where you can stay at the base are really nice - better food, more walkable, other stuff to do etc. If it was only saving $500 I'd go to Vail for the week but I think you can save a lot more than that if you plan the trip carefully and accept some trade-offs but it still won't be cheap - I can't imagine you could do better than $500 a day for a family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alta is pretty inexpensive relatively if you:

1) Stay in a VRBO/Airbnb in Sandy or similar & rent car
2) Bring your own lunch
3) do 1/2 day ski school instead of full day (which they actually offer)
4) Do the mountain collective if you think you will do more than 1 mountain-- gives free or discounted tix for kids as well

We did it for our family of 4 for just under $3K for a week.

Sorry-- $4K.

Including air fare?

We’ve done it for that or less in March/April. It helps when Easter is late so break is late. Depends on the airfare of course. We have our own equipment and don’t take lessons. In late season we’ve gotten deals at fancy hotels in vail with breakfast and $350-400 Rt to Denver.

But we are big skiers. Can’t imagine going just so the kids can ski.

Why can’t you imagine it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alta is pretty inexpensive relatively if you:

1) Stay in a VRBO/Airbnb in Sandy or similar & rent car
2) Bring your own lunch
3) do 1/2 day ski school instead of full day (which they actually offer)
4) Do the mountain collective if you think you will do more than 1 mountain-- gives free or discounted tix for kids as well

We did it for our family of 4 for just under $3K for a week.

Sorry-- $4K.

Including air fare?

We’ve done it for that or less in March/April. It helps when Easter is late so break is late. Depends on the airfare of course. We have our own equipment and don’t take lessons. In late season we’ve gotten deals at fancy hotels in vail with breakfast and $350-400 Rt to Denver.

But we are big skiers. Can’t imagine going just so the kids can ski.

Why can’t you imagine it?

Because I don’t want to spend my vacation days and vacation $ in a ski town not skiing. Especially since OP obviously has limited vacation $.

[Anonymous]

How much does it cost? Can you do it for a family of 5 with a budget of 10k? Including flights.

Just curious bc if all the “sticker shock” response.

[Anonymous]

I would do whistler. Seem to get more bang for your buck.

[Anonymous]

DD & DH like to chase good skiing. Cheapest we have found so far is for them to fly to Utah and stay in Salt Lake and drive every day. They say it's not a bad drive and there are lots of inexpensive and good places to eat dinner when they get back each night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How much does it cost? Can you do it for a family of 5 with a budget of 10k? Including flights.

Just curious bc if all the “sticker shock” response.

I’m guessing yes. But even at Liberty it’s $130per person per day for the all mountain lift ticket and rentals. So that’s $650/day for a family of 5.

[Anonymous]

We did a fairly economical trip to Utah for spring break last year. The big saver was we had miles to burn so we got free flights. We also got a good deal on lodging at Snowbird because it was so late in the season. We stayed at the resort and got one free adult lift ticket with the room per night plus kids skied free. So our only expenses were one adult lift ticket on the days we skied, ski school for the kids, meals, and a rental car. We also spent one night in Salt Lake City before flying home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We did a fairly economical trip to Utah for spring break last year. The big saver was we had miles to burn so we got free flights. We also got a good deal on lodging at Snowbird because it was so late in the season. We stayed at the resort and got one free adult lift ticket with the room per night plus kids skied free. So our only expenses were one adult lift ticket on the days we skied, ski school for the kids, meals, and a rental car. We also spent one night in Salt Lake City before flying home.

This is a good tip. We’ve stayed at airport hotels in Denver, Salt Lake and Calgary on the night we arrive or before we depart. It can save several hundred $ compared to a resort hotel. We’ve done it to accommodate our flight schedule and saving money was a nice bonus.

[Anonymous]

If you stay in Sandy (outside SLC) you can take skier buses to the mountains each day if you don't want to deal with driving or want to save $$$ by not renting a car. The motels there are set up for skiers. We stayed at a nice chain motel where we got a one bedroom suite with a small kitchen, and they served giant breakfast plus dinner on weekdays for free. Bus was across the street (but we had rented a car). You can get great deals on lift tickets to Alta, Snowbird, Solitude and Brighton. Group lessons at Alta are not that expensive and beginner skiers can get discount lift tickets just access a couple lifts.

Also, buy Southwest tickets in advance and fly with your skis at no charge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you stay in Sandy (outside SLC) you can take skier buses to the mountains each day if you don't want to deal with driving or want to save $$$ by not renting a car. The motels there are set up for skiers. We stayed at a nice chain motel where we got a one bedroom suite with a small kitchen, and they served giant breakfast plus dinner on weekdays for free. Bus was across the street (but we had rented a car). You can get great deals on lift tickets to Alta, Snowbird, Solitude and Brighton. Group lessons at Alta are not that expensive and beginner skiers can get discount lift tickets just access a couple lifts.

Also, buy Southwest tickets in advance and fly with your skis at no charge.

UTah all the way. Can do multiple resorts and they are all close to town. Sandy hotels will be cheaper than salt lake.

[Anonymous]

We used miles for the plane tickets and then a timeshare for a week at the ski resort. We just paid for our week life tickets and gear rental.