This is a bit late in the season, but if you like to ski or snowboard be sure to sign up for the e-mail newsletter by SlidingOnTheCheap.com. They send out a free weekly newsletter that summarizes all of the specials and discounts offered by each of the resorts in most of the major US ski areas: Lake Tahoe, Colorado, Pacific Northwest, New England, Utah, and Southern California. It saves a lot of time versus tracking all of the changes on each of the websites separately. They also give away several free lift tickets each week, and occasionally get their own subscriber-only deals.
It’s always good to stay subscribed year-round because often ski resorts will sell some really cheap season passes early on in the year. For the Lake Tahoe area specifically, you can also bookmark SnowBomb.
Otherwise, if you are willing to take a gamble on buying some employee freebies or lift-ticket credits, you can either keep your eye open at the resort for scalpers or try on your local Craiglist ahead of time (just search “lift tickets”). We recently saved $24 on each of 4 lift tickets this weekend this way.
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Check out http://www.liftopia.com as well for discounted lift tickets.
Also search for “lift tickets” on http://www.eBay.com. For $2-$5 you can buy “coupons” which allow you to get ticket-window discounts such as buy-one-get-one-free lift tickets at several Colorado resorts. My wife and I are going to Copper Mountain and by spending only $10 on these eBay coupons, we’ll get 1/2 price lift tickets all week. DISCLAIMER: many of the coupons have restrictions (i.e. M-F only) so be sure to read the Ts and Cs closely. Happy shredding!
Something I do is I take day trips on buses. There are at least two groups in Boston that do this, and for about the same price as a lift ticket, transportation to and from the mountain is included. Even better, I don’t have to drive. The only downside is you’re doing it on someone else’s strict schedule, but not having to drive after a day of exhausting skiing and saving a lot of money make it completely worth it. There are probably companies or ski clubs in your area that do the same thing.
One great deal I didn’t see on those sites is from Shell gas stations: skifreedeals.com. If you buy at least 10 gallons of gas, you can get a coupon for buy one get one free at many resorts in the Northwest. Last year I filled up twice to get BOGO deals at Whistler, which is not usually a cheap place! Instead of paying $70 x 2 days x 2 people = $280, we only paid $140.
There are some inconvenient date things, like no weekends at most places (except Whistler), and for some reason this year the Whistler deal isn’t valid in Feb, March, or early April. Last year some Colorado resorts were also included but I see that’s not so this year. Looking at the details, I realize that now this in only a good deal for most people if you want to go to Whistler for late-spring skiing or elsewhere for spring-break/other free weekdays.
Costco also has some local deals as well…
I’ve been trying to keep an eye out for deals in the Northeast on lift tickets, and keep a running list on my ski-trip journal website. http://roco.telaetas.com. Craigslist and Sliding on the Cheap are good, there are also some threads on an AlpineZone bulletin, yearly Warren Miller movie usually has some good deals, and theres many mid-week deals that certain mountains offer if you look around.
Great article. Have you seen http://www.skiforfree.com? They have 50% off lift tickets for southern California resorts. Mt. High and Mt. Baldy. I purchased some for last week and it was easy and convenient. The only thing is you have to enter a promo code. I used EASY2 and it worked just fine!