Looking for ski deals to cut costs?Let's face it. Skiing can be an expensive hobby. Never mind the equipment, just opening your wallet to pay for lift tickets is sometimes hard to swallow. Here you'll find some common skiing discounts and ski deals. Every little bit helps, right?! There are also a few special passes and packages that can't be beat. Read on for details. Some options that run in conjunction with daily lift tickets and might knock a bit off the ski lift ticket price are:
Resort Discount Cards Some resorts, such as Stowe Mountain Resort in Vermont, offer discount cards. Here's how they work. You buy the discount card for around $50. The daily lift ticket costs $75 but with the resort card you get the same ticket for $60. And, perhaps after five days of skiing (not necessarily consecutive), you get the 6th day free. The cards usually get you discounts on other purchases around the resort too. Ski passes can be purchased ahead of time online. In fact, most resorts encourage you to do this with a couple of rewards.
Parent Interchangeable Tickets Some resorts, such as Alpine Meadows in Tahoe, California, offer special tickets for parents who need to take turns skiing and baby-sitting. It's one daily lift ticket that parents can swap easily and legally throughout the day. No need to play nice and buy two full tickets. Nor be naughty and snip the ticket off one jacket to put on another part way through the day. Many resorts, however, don't offer parent interchangeable tickets, so playing naughty or nice is a personal choice for you! A lot of resorts offer discounts to full-time university students and military personnel. Discounts apply to daily lift tickets and possibly season passes. Resorts don't offer such deals lightly. Any that allow for these discounts will require solid proof of full-time enrollment. Military personnel are usually asked to present an active military ID. Some resorts offer the discount (approx 10%) to all immediate family members, while others limit it to the individual. College students must usually present a valid student ID and some original document showing full-time registration. College discounts usually apply to season passes rather than daily lift tickets. Go prepared to the resort and head for Guest Services or Special Tickets. Or call ahead of time and ask. Ski companies usually offer significantly discounted skiing to area locals once or twice a season. So if you live near a ski hill, call and ask if and when their local days are. You'll hardly ever find them advertised on their websites but if you know in advance, they're a screaming deal. Provided of course, you're a local and can prove it with a driver's license, bills, etc. Some resorts offer huge discounts on lift tickets to local youth. A valid student ID is usually required and such tickets exclude Saturday skiing. You might not find this on a resort's website, so if you have a child — or are one — ring up your local mountain and ask. Why pay $20 when you could be paying $10? A few resorts, such as Big Sky Resort near Bozeman, Montana and Homewood Resort in Tahoe, California even offer FREE skiing to Honor Roll students. Now that's a reason to keep the grades up! Some resorts offer a Spring Pass for the price of about three days of skiing. You get more than three days though — you get a full pass for the rest of the season. Spring passes are offered after a certain date, usually in late March or after the Easter holiday. Yet another reason to love spring skiing! If you're new to skiing, learning packages are a great deal. Almost all resorts offer skiing packages to complete beginners. These include rental equipment, a lift ticket and a lesson. Basically a package covering all your needs. The deal comes in that these packages usually add up to the cost of a lesson and the equipment package alone, which means the lift ticket is thrown in for free. As we said on the Ski Lift Tickets & Passes page (click here for more info), if you're not sure what ticket to buy or what discounts a resort offers, ask, ask, ask. Staff usually want to pass on their insider knowledge and will tell you what's the best deal.
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