Times are tough right now, but hotels, airlines and some destinations are offering ways to help you save green this ski and snowboard season. And let's face it, more of us are likely to give up buying new furniture right now than to give up the winter holiday vacation getaway. Here's a selection of deals to help stretch your snow budget:
Crested Butte Mountain Resort and Delta Airlines have teamed up to offer free skiing for anyone flying to Gunnison/Crested Butte via Salt Lake City this season. The ski free deal must be booked through Crested Butte Vacations, and you'll get one free lift ticket for each person in your party who flies in on a Delta jet. Just book by November 14, for anytime this ski season. I have skied this Colorado resort often, and love the place, especially the well-named Paradise bowl. It's great to ski in Paradise!
Another one of my absolute favorite places to ski is Jackson Hole, and this year when you purchase three airline tickets through Jackson Hole Central Reservations, the resort will throw in the fourth ticket for free. Even better -- this is the year the legendary moutain opens its new aerial Tram, that will whisk skiers and snowboarders 4,139 vertical feet in 9 minutes to the summit of Rendezvous Mountain. Even if you aren't a skier, take the ride for the incredible 360 views of the Tetons from the top. Or, follow me down Laramie Bowl, my favorite run here. The resort opens for the season on November 29. The Tram debuts December 20th.
It's less than one hour from the Salt Lake City airport to the nearest chairlift, so it's easy to get a couple of runs in the same day you arrive in town. And if you do -- it's free. Just show your boarding pass and ski free in the day of arrival at any of Park City's three resorts, Park City, Deer Valley and The Canyons. It's called the Park City Quick Start program, and you have to register online. And don't ask me which one of these three resorts is my favorite -- I have experienced both adrenalin rushes and humiliating splats at all of them.
The new High Peaks Resort in Lake Placid, New York, is pegging its room rate to whatever the Dow Jones' closing number is each Friday. If you book a room through December 19, you'll pay the closing bell price in dollars and cents. For example, if the Dow Jones average closes the week at 8,387, the room rate for the following week will be $83.87 -- a savings of more than $160 off the hotel’s $250 average nightly rate.
See you on the slopes!
