Is there such thing as affordable skiing?

[Anonymous]

But, one needs hot food when skiing. No bag lunches.

You might. Not everyone does. Most kids don't care.

Also, thermoses exist.

[Anonymous]

I am all for cold sandwiches while skiing but if you need something hot, you can bring those dry ramen cups and add hot water at the coffee station in the ski lodge (same with bringing your own powdered hot chocolate).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Canaan is cheaper than timberline and it’s 5 mins away.

True, but Timberline has better snow-making capabilities and often has better conditions than Canaan even though they are only a short distance apart.

Of course, but OP was asking how to do it cheaper and there’s a cheaper option literally 5 mins away.

OP here. I did a spreadsheet to compare both Canaan Resort and Timberline and it is actually not cheaper. The rental is slightly cheaper but the lift tickets are the same. The adaptive lesson is actually more expensive than Timberline. We have gone to Canaan in the past and my daughter actually learned to ski there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are able to plan ahead, skiing can become slightly more affordable.

Here is what we do -

* Seasonal rentals - Our program was an upfront cost of $250 and then it's $30 a year. Once DS has outgrown the junior program we get a $250 credit to an adult ski package. We started at 3 and he will probably go until 12 with the program.
* Smaller resorts, family-owned, etc. to keep down lift ticket and lesson costs when younger, especially when it truly doesn't matter where they learn how to ski, it's muscle memory that matters
* Group lessons, not private
* Season pass once you get to the point of committing to a resort and/or group (like Epic, IKON, etc.). DS now has Epic, in this case it gives a discount on lessons if you want them
* Buy all needed gear, clothing, etc., off season and on Ebay. I find basically brand new ski stuff all the time for 1/10th of the price on Ebay because kids grow so fast.
* Drive instead of fly, day trips only
* Use hotel points - we are really good at maximizing points and only go to places where we can redeem them
* Use frequent flier miles as well
* Adults own equipment, no cost on rentals, all bought off-season new, but the previous years design
* Pack our own lunches to eat on the mountain

As an example with the above, our family of 3 skied in Steamboat for a week for $2200 - that included flights, hotel, transportation, lift tickets (passes) and food. DS had a single day group lesson so he could ski with kids his own age.

OP here. Can you share more about the junior program? I think my daughter will benefit from something like this. Is that the program that Liberty runs? I know it sells out very quickly but how do have a program like that when they don't get snow?

[Anonymous]

OP here. We came back from our Timberline trip and everyone had a great time. My daughter said she wants to take more lessons. Yikes. My son was able to master the bunny slope independently and that was the highlight of my trip. I was going to cancel our February President's Day weekend trip to Canaan Valley but now I am thinking of ways on how to cut cost instead of cancelling as my kids love skiing.

I know a few here mentioned food and I wasn't able to do that this trip as we were always in a rush to get out of the hotel to get to the resort to get our ski rental, etc. So, I know this is an area I can improve on. Truth be told, the food at TL wasn't super pricey in the grand scheme of things, but every little bit helps.

I also did not know that I can reload tickets on my TL cards and that would be a saving of $5 per ticket.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. It’s called cross country. New Germany State Park for DMV folks

How often are those trails open in a typical winter? It's hard to even make snow in this area.

On par with Anchorage Alaska

[Anonymous]

TL tries to keep food costs low. Highly recommend buying season passes in April. That is the cheapest way to go. It is hard to ski around here on daily passes. It is just way too much $$. WV also has a 4th/5th grade ski program (at least they used to). A few free days at a bunch of mountains. Other states have that too. Epic offers a huge discount to military. There are ways to make it less $, but skiing is just expensive. Unless you want to try cross country - that is where it is truly cheap to no $.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:TL tries to keep food costs low. Highly recommend buying season passes in April. That is the cheapest way to go. It is hard to ski around here on daily passes. It is just way too much $$. WV also has a 4th/5th grade ski program (at least they used to). A few free days at a bunch of mountains. Other states have that too. Epic offers a huge discount to military. There are ways to make it less $, but skiing is just expensive. Unless you want to try cross country - that is where it is truly cheap to no $.

OP here. Thanks! We actually went to White Grass and it was truly affordable. We went on a high wind day and it wasn’t enjoyable for everyone. But, yes, we spent about $137 or was it $167 for 4 of us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you are able to plan ahead, skiing can become slightly more affordable.

Here is what we do -

* Seasonal rentals - Our program was an upfront cost of $250 and then it's $30 a year. Once DS has outgrown the junior program we get a $250 credit to an adult ski package. We started at 3 and he will probably go until 12 with the program.
* Smaller resorts, family-owned, etc. to keep down lift ticket and lesson costs when younger, especially when it truly doesn't matter where they learn how to ski, it's muscle memory that matters
* Group lessons, not private
* Season pass once you get to the point of committing to a resort and/or group (like Epic, IKON, etc.). DS now has Epic, in this case it gives a discount on lessons if you want them
* Buy all needed gear, clothing, etc., off season and on Ebay. I find basically brand new ski stuff all the time for 1/10th of the price on Ebay because kids grow so fast.
* Drive instead of fly, day trips only
* Use hotel points - we are really good at maximizing points and only go to places where we can redeem them
* Use frequent flier miles as well
* Adults own equipment, no cost on rentals, all bought off-season new, but the previous years design
* Pack our own lunches to eat on the mountain

As an example with the above, our family of 3 skied in Steamboat for a week for $2200 - that included flights, hotel, transportation, lift tickets (passes) and food. DS had a single day group lesson so he could ski with kids his own age.

OP here. Can you share more about the junior program? I think my daughter will benefit from something like this. Is that the program that Liberty runs? I know it sells out very quickly but how do have a program like that when they don't get snow?

It's a rental program only and we aren't in the DMV. However, many mountains do have multi-week lesson programs where the cost overall is much less than if you were to do lessons a la carte, plus you get consistency (usually) with instructors which is really helpful.

[Anonymous]

Spend the money now and get them comfortable skiing. They won’t need lessons forever, but having a solid understanding ability to handle green runs will go far.

In the future, rent from a local ski shop that offers seasonal rentals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No way around it, skiing is expensive. We only go once or twice per year. Usually Timberline, Canaan or Wisp. I see a lot of people add on the cost of lessons. We got kids one lesson when they were younger, but after that, they are on their own. They aren’t world class skiers, but they can ski blues and some blacks, and enjoy themselves enough.

+1 they can ski on their own after one group lesson when they were like 5

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TL tries to keep food costs low. Highly recommend buying season passes in April. That is the cheapest way to go. It is hard to ski around here on daily passes. It is just way too much $$. WV also has a 4th/5th grade ski program (at least they used to). A few free days at a bunch of mountains. Other states have that too. Epic offers a huge discount to military. There are ways to make it less $, but skiing is just expensive. Unless you want to try cross country - that is where it is truly cheap to no $.

OP here. Thanks! We actually went to White Grass and it was truly affordable. We went on a high wind day and it wasn’t enjoyable for everyone. But, yes, we spent about $137 or was it $167 for 4 of us.

Love White Grass. Unfortunately, my intermediate downhill skills don’t translate well to Nordic skiing….at least not yet. Even though I struggle on the XC downhills, I love being in the woods and the quietness of XC…the prices are great too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No way around it, skiing is expensive. We only go once or twice per year. Usually Timberline, Canaan or Wisp. I see a lot of people add on the cost of lessons. We got kids one lesson when they were younger, but after that, they are on their own. They aren’t world class skiers, but they can ski blues and some blacks, and enjoy themselves enough.

This is us. Kids got one lesson when they were younger and are now good enough to enjoy skiing. For us, skiing is expensive, so we only go once or twice per year. No reason for expensive lessons and kids enjoy it enough, but don’t have any desire for ski school. It’s just a fun family thing for us to do.

[Anonymous]

Once you can get rid of lessons it’s cheaper

[Anonymous]

I think skiiing is used by rich people to avoid hanging with the riffraff. It really is terribly expensive.