Skiing on the Cheap - 04/05

[Greg]

Well, the annual "Skiing on the Cheap" thread is probably long overdue. Post links to ski deals you've found for the 2004/2005 ski season. I'll start:

http://www.allforonepass.com/
http://www.threedompass.com/
http://www.ski3deals.com/
http://www.skibutternut.com/rates/ways-to-save.html
http://www.stowe.com/tickets/specials.php
http://www.jiminypeak.com/promotions/ecoupons.php
http://www.madriverglen.com/deals/

Add your findings.

 

[thetrailboss]

For beginners, families, or anyone who does not have a lot of money and wants a friendly, decent place to ski:

www.patspeak.com

The pass rate for the season is $260 adult all season and $309 for a pass that includes tubing.

Saturday night (3-10pm) tickets with rental, lesson tips, and tubing included is just $23 per person. Get there early for rentals.

Burke Mountain offers more vertical (2000) and a great atmosphere. In late February, they will run the "NEK Special," which is $15 for a Sunday afternoon ticket (12:15-4pm). www.skiburke.com

www.rideandskine.com

Ride and Ski New England Card through Children's Hospital at Dartmouth (CHaD) costs $49 if you buy it now and gets you discounts at resorts in New England. They give you a free ticket when you purchase. They also host "2 for 1" Saturdays at different mountains with an apres ski party that has some good prizes and fun for the fam. My GF scored a pair of skis through them and they are a great bunch.

Jay passes are also a steal. www.jaypeakresort.com

 

[hammer]

If you like to ski in NH and you want to be able to wander around to different resorts, you can give the SkiNH passes a try:

http://www.skinh.com/passes.cfm

 

[Greg]

If you like to ski in NH and you want to be able to wander around to different resorts, you can give the SkiNH passes a try:

http://www.skinh.com/passes.cfm

Whoops! :blink: I meant to include that one. Thanks hammer!

 

[riverc0il]

given the amount of infrastructure, operations costs, and worst of all insurance fees that ski areas have to pay, i don't think a $35 lift ticket would allow many ski areas to stay in business. the slight profit they loose by offering a few deals to skiers in the know isn't much compared to how much money ski areas would loose by dropping their price $20 a head. they simply wouldn't get enough new skier visits to cover the lost revenue. and with prices that low, they would need to drop season pass prices even further.

i think ASC is really gambling big time with their season pass deal. you can tell by the way they are marketing the hell outta this thing that it's probably gonna make or break them. given the buzz and the amount of people that are saying they will buy one, i'm sure it was a smart move on their part but time will tell.

 

[Greg]

Cotched's offering a $199 season pass for a limited time:

http://www.crotched.com/SeasonPasses.html

 

[skijay]

I heard this on the radio a few minutes ago and checked it out:

http://stratton.com/smartpasses.cfm

 

[rosswilli]

if it weren't for freebies

happy hours and radio stations, we wouldn't ski half as much. But between that and lower priced mountains like Saddleback and Squaw, and an occasional full price ticket elsewhere, we do tons of skiing.

Where there's a will, there's a way.

 

[hammer]

Has anyone know of any places where there are discounts on single day weekend ski passes?

 

[Greg]

Has anyone know of any places where there are discounts on single day weekend ski passes?

What areas/states are you interested in skiing?

 

[hammer]

What areas/states are you interested in skiing?

I'm mainly interested in ski areas in Mass. and NH that would be close enough for a day trip from the Boston area.

 

[Greg]

I'm mainly interested in ski areas in Mass. and NH that would be close enough for a day trip from the Boston area.

Butternut is kind of a haul from Boston, but the $99 3 packs are good on the weekends. Berkshire East has a pretty reasonable weekend rate ($40). You may also want to take a look at the Ski NH passes.

 

[hammer]

Thanks for the input, Greg!

I was really tempted to get the SkiNH passes, but the only ones that were in the affordable range were the Bronze passes, and unfortunately they didn't include some of the areas that I was thinking of trying out this season (like Sunapee or Gunstock). My wife was also concerned about using all the passes in the package if we couldn't get out too often.

I'll check out the info on Butternut and Berkshire East to see how suitable those areas would be for a family trip.

 

[rjc1976]

Here is one for the Hunter skiers/riders. $30 gets you a free lift ticket and saving all season long.

http://www.huntermtn.com/biglift.html

 

[trailbiscuit]

Ummm....know the right people to get freebies off. :lol:

 

[tree_skier]

My favorite is to have my wifey work at an area then its all free for me!!!!

 

[hammer]

I just saw some info on a reduced set of SkiNH passes:

http://skinh.com/3pack_6pack.cfm

If you don't have season passes, ski on the weekends, and like to go to NH ski areas, this may be a good deal

 

[pepperdawg]

Couple of more dealios:

Sugarbush - Dec 24th - $5.50 lift ticket.

Also I think Mt SNow has 2 tix for $50 Sunday Dec 12....

 

[ctenidae]

Keep an eye out for discount tickets on things you buy, anyway. Harpoon did it a few times last season, a $10 off coupon on every 12 pack. I also have a stack of $10 off coupons for Sunappee/Okemo I snagged at the Expo, plus a few left over from last year that are still good for early season.

On the subject of offering a lower overall price instead of coupons, there are many reasons against it. One is advertising. You get a coupon, you go skiing, you like it, you return and pay full price. Every $10 they give away probably brings back $100-$200. Another is accounting. They get to chalk every ticket sold up as revenue, at the full price. Discounts come from a different set of books. When they need cash for improvements, they can go to banks and investors and say "We had a bazillion dollars in Revenue last year", and they don't mention they gave back half of it in discounts.

 

[ctenidae]

Sun., Dec. 5: Mount Sunapee "Cares & Shares" - Ski or ride the entire day for just $25 with a contribution of five non-perishable food items.