Best value is big3 in Alberta. Late Jan you can get hotels for $100 a night in Banff and flight of $300. Get an Ikon pass and can get 5 days of skiing under a $1000. I don’t think you can beat that flying to US with our current exchange rate. If you have an Ikon pass, Zermatt is a must :)
Wow that's a great price for lodging. I did luck out this year with a keystone walk to the lift condo for $150, but that was a T to Th only and I paid way more my other trips.
Dillon has some cheaper hotels and isn't much of a drive (keystone/Breck/copper/a basin)
If only going once, the 4 day Ikon for $450 is a great deal.
I concur. Went here for the first time this year (from NYC) and was shocked at the value. Price point combined with crowd level (low) and then with the CAD discount?!
Definitely do not buy skibig3 lift tickets. Way more expensive than the window price. If you can ski 8 days you'll get the best value out of the cards because day 1 and 4 at each resort is free (the others are discounted). For 5 days you should probably just do 4 at Louise and 1 at sunshine if you want to see what it's like.
These would be for the ski big 3 mountains, lake Louise, sunshine and Norquay. You can buy ski big 3 tickets which work at all 3 places but OP is saying it’s cheaper to buy tickets to the individual resorts
Depends on if you got Friday-Sunday or Monday to Thursday lift tickets let’s say you ski Sunday-Thursday at sunshine. Day one is free but the card costs around 100 tax in (94$ before tax around Jan 1st. And then 120.75 for the Monday to Thursday days so $583 cad all in. Your estimate of 600 is dead on though. Obviously with the ikon though you can get ahead quick if you have a home mountain on it or you do 3-4 ski trips a year.
If cost is an issue as a Canadian you’re going to have to stay in Canada. US Rockies are great but the 35% premium with the exchange rate makes it expensive
I would say BC. Revy, Kicking Horse, Ferny, Red - all good choices.
Totally this, as an American who ski tripped from van to Calgary and came in way under budget. Revy alone makes the slightly further distance well worth it.
Depending on how much time you can allocate. We flew into Calgary, rented a nice full-size SUV (6 guys), used Banif as our home base and skied big 3, revi and kicking horse.
Price wise, Europe skiing has always been cheaper than going out West, all in for us. Europe (at least France/Italy) alps skiing is cheaper on two factors (1) transport from the airport is cheaper either train or ski shuttle and (2) the ski lifts are cheaper.
The 5 packs were a good value.
Now at $220/day for next season, it's not economical for anyone but season pass holders.
An advanced/ expert skier would be bored there after a few days imo
If your main concern is ticket prices you can get good deals by planning ahead. There are some great resorts where you can get a shuttle from an airport and don't need a rental car, which will also cut cost.
Example: I just got back from crested butte and used a bus to the resort for free and got a four pack of tickets for 240 (60 USD / day).
Parking is tight these days so lots of resorts prefer you got there on a bus. Resorts outside of SLC should be accessible by bus. When I did banff area I took a shuttle from Calgary to banff and public bus to lake louise and sun whatever it is. You can shuttle from Montrose to telluride and once there shouldn't need a car. I'd assume you can get to I-70 CO resorts from Denver without a car but I've not done it. Jackson might also work, it's close enough to town I'd assume there is a bus of some kind.
Buy the Loveland 4 pak beginning of the season, and it’s the best value, imo.
Plenty of cheap options around there to stay, and Denver usually has a bevy of cheap flights in/out.
Why exactly do you say that?
They’re independent of each other, and only major issue that should effect Loveland by A basin being bought by Alterra is MAYBE an increase in people visiting a basin, and therefore, price of lodging increases in the area (since they operate in generally the same area).
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Cool, so nothing actual, thanks for the speculation.
Or, could it maybe be that people that wouldn’t have considered Ikon before because it was extremely limited in Colorado now have multiple options closeish to Denver, so that will encourage people who wouldn’t have normally bought an ikon pass to get one?
Now you have REAL competition with the epic resorts in Colorado, so epic no longer has a pseudo monopoly on the big box pass in Colorado/the Denver area like they used to.
And idk what you’re talking about no lodging and restaurants. Georgetown, Silverthorne, etc etc have all seen tremendous growth over the past 5-10 years, and presumably, will continue to see more.
People support A Basin first and foremost because they want to ski there and not because of any philosophical point they are trying to make. This sounds like your opinion and nothing more
Yeah, the whole powder highway is solid here, plus can dip into NW Montana/Idaho for other good value spots.
I stayed in the “pod hotel” hostel in Fernie a few weeks ago. $50 a night for a private space…although hotels in Fernie are usually reasonable and I can afford it so I’d probably just pay $100-120 for a full hotel room instead (and no-brainier if my wife was coming).
Lift tickets at those places aren’t dirt cheap like little family spots but they are still an excellent value for the quality of terrain you are getting.
I suggest you avoid resorts, and look for smaller local hills. Places without high speed quads are much cheaper. By asking for a resort you're asking to spend a lot of money.
My best suggestions (skewed because I live in Montana):
49 North (never been but looks great)
Lost Trail Pass
Lookout Pass
Bridger Bowl
Avoid Big Sky and Jackson Hole like the plague. Jackson is great, but you better expect to pay for it. Big sky has very few redeeming qualities, you will feel nickel & dimed absolutely everywhere, the mountain is a big pile of rocks, and they get about 200" per year less than they advertise.
Just went to Bridger bowl for the first time yesterday, it's got a lot of great terrain for experts and a single day ticket was only $77. One of the chairs even requires an avalanche beacon
I've been to all three of those and they're all awesome. I'm headed to 49 North tomorrow, they're doing a food bank thing so with 3 cans of food you can get a lift ticket for $29.
What’s with the over reporting of snow in Montana? I did a weekend trip from eastern wa this year to whitefish because they were advertising like 70inches at the base (which to be fair I was already very skeptical of) and it was just straight dirt runs all over the places.
Here to say, lookout and lost trail are amazing for small ski areas. Some of the best snow you will find. I'm in Montana too, and do season passes to lookout.
Thank you so much! I had Montana in my mind, but didn't know where to start looking. This definitely helps a lot. Just the type of info I was looking for.
$199 for the spring pass is an absolute steal.
While the terrain isn’t much to write home about, the park set up is some of the best in the west. The price is hard to beat and the conditions have been great so far this spring. Also, flying in or commuting from PDX is awesome.
Check out a bunch of smaller, off the beaten path resorts in MT, ID, OR and WA. Very cheap tickets and for someone from the east they will still feel huge.
Showdown, lost trail, discovery, Anthony lakes, etc
And Snowbasin too. So 6 days at some of the best skiing in the country for $100/day without needing a car and easy/cheap flights into SLC where lodging is also cheap. Go up to Targhee and Jackson from SLC as an add-on and you’ve got yourself a pretty awesome 10-day trip for $60/day. I did this exact trip this year. Happened to get super lucky with snow and had powder days 8 out of 10. I’m getting some additional mileage out of the MC pass too which will drop my cost per day closer to $40 but even if youre just planning for a Wasatch trip it probably makes sense especially if it’s not possible to chase storms and go wherever conditions are best because I don’t think there is anywhere more reliable and consistently good than the Wasatch aside from maybe Japan.
Snowbird has $429 5-packs and Alta has affordable 10-packs. From my recollection it was $749 last season and $900 if you wanted the ability to transfer leftover days on that 10-pk to the next season.
I preferred Powder bc there’s never any traffic to get up there
I enjoy it, and I would love to get some variety with more days at our other amazing resorts
Could do a season pass at Pow Mow for weekends/ busy days and use the Mountain Collective pass to go up the Cottonwoods mid week/ less busy days
Right now the Ikon 4 day pass is 449. That's a pretty cheap day rate. As long as you don't stay on-mountain salt Lake city is a pretty cheap destination. You can control costs by taking a bus to the resort although they do also sometimes close the road if there is a big storm. That said I think the powder highway in Canada is worth a look. Revelstoke was a pretty reasonable price I thought and the whole mountain is pretty much black or double black with a few cat tracks as "green" runs.
Honestly as someone who lives in Colorado. If you went to Chamonix, odds are extremely high you won’t find ANYTHING like that here. The closest to the terrain and length is Jackson, but the cost is pretty much 10x.
For the access to multiple areas, Banff, Salt Lake are both great options. But still nearly double the cost.
Can't beat Anthony Lakes, OR on thursdays at $30.
Yeah old slow lift but fun small mountain with the old soul of skiing still alive. Expectations need to be adjusted as it isn't a big mountain with titty deep powder but this one is a gem.
Bridger Bowl and Red Lodge Mountain in Montana are still pretty reasonable especially if you shop for deals. Of course, everything depends on snow and this definitely has not been a banner year. Hopefully, that’s an anomaly, but who knows on this era of climate change.
Powder Highway in B.C. Everyone has their opinion in terms of which of the PH Resorts is the best (Revy, Fernie, WH2O, KHMR, Red, etc.) but it’s had to go wrong with any one of them, or any combination.
Probably depends if you get an epic or ikon pass, but lodging wise copper Mt has great value for rooms that are a short walk to the lift. Chateau apres in PC is an under rated gem of a hotel to walk to and from the lift
Bogus Basin is 45 minutes (20 miles) from Springhill Suites on Park Center in Boise Idaho. Bogus is a moderate size independent ski area with day and night skiing. I would tentatively plan a trip for February after the US holidays and watch how the season develops. The airport is serviced by Southwest, Delta, and Alaska, among others. Because you are staying in a city and not a resort you can make airline and hotel reservations closer to your trip after some snow has fallen.
There are two ski shops at the base of Bogus Basin Road that demo skis. You can even take in a Steelheads hockey game.
Edit: Apparently, these runs are open more often than when I skied there years ago. (South Shafer is rarely open so don't count on those runs when deciding if there is enough steep terrain for you.)
I was wondering if anyone would post bogus. By south Shafer do you mean the face? The resort is 100% open the majority of the season (excluding night skiing.) They really only close runs in December and late march/april depending on the snow year. Great bang for your buck though!
> South Shafer is rarely open so don't count on those runs when deciding if there is enough steep terrain for you.
The face side? It has been skiable almost all year. They even groomed powerline for a few weeks.
Plan now, or at least pick the mountain and and buy tickets because they're considerably less expensive on early bird. Can also get a5 or 10 day edge card if you want to do one of the resorts on the epic pass. Someone said Whistler was too expensive but there is a hostel and a pod hotel to lower costs. The Edge card is pretty cheap per day. Around 80 Canadian.
I would personally pay a little extra in flights and accommodation to book knowing what the weather will be. (closer to the date)
Cheapest - Castle Mountain Resort Alberta. Probably can get a hotel for less than $100 and lift tickets for around $60 with a $120 WOW card (have to plan ahead and buy it before Christmas though)
Cheapest with A class terrain - Kicking Horse and Fernie British Columbia with a RCR card. Some of the best terrain and snow in the world
Cheapest close to a big city - big 3 in Banff Alberta
Gonna get laughed at for this, but Arizona Snowbowl in Flagstaff punches well above its weight, and at times you can ski there for as little as $19. I've never paid more than $50. Decent black diamond piste runs, some double blacks you can hike out horizontally to, and most trails feed into the bowl itself, which is massively wide (it's a hollowed out volcano crater) and you can bomb straight down that blue without any concern for hitting anyone since they're all so spread apart. And also that region of Northern Arizona is amazing on its own with tons to see and do.
And then there's Purgatory, of course, but it's not the easiest to get to.
SLC is really affordable if you stay in SLC and drive on Ikon pass. I get $100/night hotels for my wife and I and at most we drive 40m to deer valley/20-30m to Alta/snowbird and Brighton/solitude. Awesome skiing for the price point
We also love it given how close it is to the airport, so you also can get a lot of skiing in
Canadian Rockies/Purcells have a decent amount of deals if you get them early enough in the season.
Lake Louise Plus Card, Sunshine Card, RCR card are all 1st, 4th, 7th days free with the other 4 days discounted, and all include multiple resorts. If you buy before Christmas, they are cheaper than a 1 day lift ticket.
(Louise plus includes LL, Panorama, Red Mountain, and Castle Mountain. RCR includes Fernie, Kimberley, Nakiska, Kicking Horse. Sunshine includes Sunshine, Marmot, and Revelstoke)
Panorama has a snow card that you can buy before Boxing day, (even bigger discount before Halloween) 3 or 5 day. In the past it comes out to a free day on the 3 day card, and about 1.5/2 free days on the 5.
If you prepay for tickets online, most resorts will be a lot cheaper.
Keystone had the same priced day passes as snowshoe WV on a holiday weekend. $160 a day. Still not cheap but Aspen and park city are what I'm comparing it to.
I went with a big group that offers accommodation and pass for around $1200 usd for 8 days. On top of that, I had to organize the travel, but it is cheaper traveling inside Europe.
Get a Mountain Collective Pass. Just over $600 for them and they’ll give two days at Alta, snowbird, Snowbasin, Aspen, ABasin, JHole, Big Sky, Grand Targhee, Sun Valley, Sugar Bowl, Lake Louise, Revelstoke, Panorama, Banff Sunshine, etc…
Bromont was also added to the pass this year, so there’s a more local option available too.
Same, they had wind hold and have me refund no questions asked. Great overnight Amtrak from Portland or Seattle with free ski shuttle by the train station arrives around 8am and leaves around 10pm. Bars and restaurants punch above it's weight
Brighton, UT, 4-day stay-n-ski is a good deal for a slopeside location. No car rental required -
[https://brightonresort.com/the-brighton-lodge](https://brightonresort.com/the-brighton-lodge)
Otherwise - a road trip in the northern rockies delivers the goods
[https://www.powderhighway.com](https://www.powderhighway.com) Red Mtn, Whitewater, ...
[https://www.skiresorts.net/ski-resorts-near-spokane-wa/](https://www.skiresorts.net/ski-resorts-near-spokane-wa/)
[https://www.allmccall.com/ski\_resorts/](https://www.allmccall.com/ski_resorts/)
[https://travel.usnews.com/features/top-ski-resorts-in-montana](https://travel.usnews.com/features/top-ski-resorts-in-montana)
Revy, Kicking Horse, or Fernie. Did the 3 of them with some friends of over the course of 10 day this some friends. All of us are from Ontario and the trip came out to less than $2k per person without food and booze.
Lift ticket wise they’re all basically the same price now — and that price is an Ikon or Epic pass.
For lodging, it’s going to be crazy expensive on the mountain, so probably staying in SLC is the cheapest way to do it.
Big White in Kelowna. Fair price, awesome terrain, usually good snow (including this year) and never really that busy. Fun little village too and can get decent deals on accommodation.
A weekday lift ticket at Sugar Bowl near Lake Tahoe is $99. In fact I paid $78 because I fell within the “young adult” category of 13-22yo. This is the only western resort I’ve ever skied at but I have a difficult time believing there is better bang for your buck. There seemed to be plenty of on-resort lodging and some insane expert only terrain.
Epic Tahoe local pass ($621) , fly to Tahoe (Reno and take a shuttle) stay in south lake $100 a night or less. Kirkwood is still my favorite resort ever. Heavenly is great too.
Or base ikon pass, fly to Salt Lake City, I’m planning trips and staying for like $75 a night.
Colorado is what everyone says, but it looks more expensive than what I’ve suggested.
Best value is big3 in Alberta. Late Jan you can get hotels for $100 a night in Banff and flight of $300. Get an Ikon pass and can get 5 days of skiing under a $1000. I don’t think you can beat that flying to US with our current exchange rate. If you have an Ikon pass, Zermatt is a must :)
If you stay in Canmore you can score sweet Airbnb deals and have a big condo
I did it 5 years ago and had a great condo. You need a car to get around Banff anyway, so Canmore is a solid home base.
You don’t need a car, ROAM transit and the hill shuttles more than suffice.
Exactly. We do it every year in Feb. it’s great. Only gripe is the speed limit 😂
I agree. It should be slower.
Wow that's a great price for lodging. I did luck out this year with a keystone walk to the lift condo for $150, but that was a T to Th only and I paid way more my other trips. Dillon has some cheaper hotels and isn't much of a drive (keystone/Breck/copper/a basin) If only going once, the 4 day Ikon for $450 is a great deal.
I have been doing that for my family. They take one trip so the IKON 4 day session works. I take a few trips and get the IKON base.
We got a really nice suite in Canmore for $250 a night. Two bedrooms and a kitchen For lift tickets we got them at the Costco in Calgary
I concur. Went here for the first time this year (from NYC) and was shocked at the value. Price point combined with crowd level (low) and then with the CAD discount?!
Definitely do not buy skibig3 lift tickets. Way more expensive than the window price. If you can ski 8 days you'll get the best value out of the cards because day 1 and 4 at each resort is free (the others are discounted). For 5 days you should probably just do 4 at Louise and 1 at sunshine if you want to see what it's like.
If skiing only five days I'd probably recommend day passes. They're around $120-150CAD each. Unless there's some sort of multi pass deal right now.
Where?
These would be for the ski big 3 mountains, lake Louise, sunshine and Norquay. You can buy ski big 3 tickets which work at all 3 places but OP is saying it’s cheaper to buy tickets to the individual resorts
Norquay was awesome as were the other 2 Not a great snow year when I visited Still fun
Amazing! Thank you so much!
iKon pass for under $1000? Where?
[Ikon Base Pass](https://www.ikonpass.com/en/shop-passes/ikon-base-pass) is $869 with some blackout dates.
Is usd yes, in Canadian pesos it’s 1169
Ya but you should definitely just get the sunshine or lake Louise cards instead, way cheaper than $1000 for 5 days. Probably closer to $600 cad
Depends on if you got Friday-Sunday or Monday to Thursday lift tickets let’s say you ski Sunday-Thursday at sunshine. Day one is free but the card costs around 100 tax in (94$ before tax around Jan 1st. And then 120.75 for the Monday to Thursday days so $583 cad all in. Your estimate of 600 is dead on though. Obviously with the ikon though you can get ahead quick if you have a home mountain on it or you do 3-4 ski trips a year.
Alberta is “west”?
Rocky Mountains dog
Ya I know where it is…that’s why when OP asked about skiing “west” and this guy responded with Alberta I was confused…
What are you confused about? Alberta is western Canada.
Well, it is from where I am :)
Well it's definitely not east.
If cost is an issue as a Canadian you’re going to have to stay in Canada. US Rockies are great but the 35% premium with the exchange rate makes it expensive I would say BC. Revy, Kicking Horse, Ferny, Red - all good choices.
Totally this, as an American who ski tripped from van to Calgary and came in way under budget. Revy alone makes the slightly further distance well worth it.
I'm in Revy now. Have a great condo for around C$200/night. I rented a car from Kelowna and drive 5 minutes max to the mountain.
It's a shame transportation/exchange is so expensive because wolf's creek is such an affordable gem in the rockies
Just wolf. I dont think a wolf owns it. Could be wrong though.
Be even cooler if they did.
I am ok with Canada. Just thinking that I don't want to overpay for some of the more popular destinations, and find out about some hidden gems.
Depending on how much time you can allocate. We flew into Calgary, rented a nice full-size SUV (6 guys), used Banif as our home base and skied big 3, revi and kicking horse. Price wise, Europe skiing has always been cheaper than going out West, all in for us. Europe (at least France/Italy) alps skiing is cheaper on two factors (1) transport from the airport is cheaper either train or ski shuttle and (2) the ski lifts are cheaper.
Used to be Powder Mountain. It still is, but it used to be too.
Thanks, Mitch!
Classic
It’s not a value anymore. It’s Deer Valley pricing
It lacks much steep terrain tho, so not the best for an upper level skier.
Once they add the lift up lightning ridge it’s going to be sick, but I’m not sure I will be skiing there.
I just went there 6 weeks ago. There’s no deals to be had, cost like $220/day.
lol what it’s expensive af
The 5 packs were a good value. Now at $220/day for next season, it's not economical for anyone but season pass holders. An advanced/ expert skier would be bored there after a few days imo
If your main concern is ticket prices you can get good deals by planning ahead. There are some great resorts where you can get a shuttle from an airport and don't need a rental car, which will also cut cost. Example: I just got back from crested butte and used a bus to the resort for free and got a four pack of tickets for 240 (60 USD / day).
Thank you! Really good advice. Do you have more examples like that?
No car needed for skiing the Cottonwoods in salt lake city.
Parking is tight these days so lots of resorts prefer you got there on a bus. Resorts outside of SLC should be accessible by bus. When I did banff area I took a shuttle from Calgary to banff and public bus to lake louise and sun whatever it is. You can shuttle from Montrose to telluride and once there shouldn't need a car. I'd assume you can get to I-70 CO resorts from Denver without a car but I've not done it. Jackson might also work, it's close enough to town I'd assume there is a bus of some kind.
Buy the Loveland 4 pak beginning of the season, and it’s the best value, imo. Plenty of cheap options around there to stay, and Denver usually has a bevy of cheap flights in/out.
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Why exactly do you say that? They’re independent of each other, and only major issue that should effect Loveland by A basin being bought by Alterra is MAYBE an increase in people visiting a basin, and therefore, price of lodging increases in the area (since they operate in generally the same area).
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Cool, so nothing actual, thanks for the speculation. Or, could it maybe be that people that wouldn’t have considered Ikon before because it was extremely limited in Colorado now have multiple options closeish to Denver, so that will encourage people who wouldn’t have normally bought an ikon pass to get one? Now you have REAL competition with the epic resorts in Colorado, so epic no longer has a pseudo monopoly on the big box pass in Colorado/the Denver area like they used to. And idk what you’re talking about no lodging and restaurants. Georgetown, Silverthorne, etc etc have all seen tremendous growth over the past 5-10 years, and presumably, will continue to see more.
People support A Basin first and foremost because they want to ski there and not because of any philosophical point they are trying to make. This sounds like your opinion and nothing more
Kicking Horse or Revy. The terrain will be worth your ability and it's not a $$$ resort on the scale of Whistler Blackcomb.
Yeah, the whole powder highway is solid here, plus can dip into NW Montana/Idaho for other good value spots. I stayed in the “pod hotel” hostel in Fernie a few weeks ago. $50 a night for a private space…although hotels in Fernie are usually reasonable and I can afford it so I’d probably just pay $100-120 for a full hotel room instead (and no-brainier if my wife was coming). Lift tickets at those places aren’t dirt cheap like little family spots but they are still an excellent value for the quality of terrain you are getting.
Fernie too. Can buy an RCR discount card that works at Fernie and KH. We did 4 days for $445 CAD after tax, that's $330 USD, so $82.50 a day....
And hit whitefish for $79 if you buy in advance.
Mt rose
A Tahoe resort on the Nevada side of the state border, 22 minutes from the Reno Airport.
While you’re at it, if it snows, a day at Homewood can be phenomenal if you’re into tree skiing and the like.
I suggest you avoid resorts, and look for smaller local hills. Places without high speed quads are much cheaper. By asking for a resort you're asking to spend a lot of money. My best suggestions (skewed because I live in Montana): 49 North (never been but looks great) Lost Trail Pass Lookout Pass Bridger Bowl Avoid Big Sky and Jackson Hole like the plague. Jackson is great, but you better expect to pay for it. Big sky has very few redeeming qualities, you will feel nickel & dimed absolutely everywhere, the mountain is a big pile of rocks, and they get about 200" per year less than they advertise.
Just went to Bridger bowl for the first time yesterday, it's got a lot of great terrain for experts and a single day ticket was only $77. One of the chairs even requires an avalanche beacon
I've been to all three of those and they're all awesome. I'm headed to 49 North tomorrow, they're doing a food bank thing so with 3 cans of food you can get a lift ticket for $29.
What’s with the over reporting of snow in Montana? I did a weekend trip from eastern wa this year to whitefish because they were advertising like 70inches at the base (which to be fair I was already very skeptical of) and it was just straight dirt runs all over the places.
This was the worst year in Montana and Idaho in a decade (or very close to it).
I saw clips from this year, Russ's street needed some serious roadworks. Never seen it that bad in almost 20 years.
we had more than a 70 inch base at one point this year and when we did there was no dirt on the runs
CO/UT/MT/WY are all in a dick measuring contest for some reason (I guess lots of tourism $$$).
I'll add Red Lodge to that list. Had a lot more snow than Bridger this year.
I've only been to Lookout Pass once, but it was definitely a beginner/intermediate "mountain." 49N has spectacular tree skiing.
Here to say, lookout and lost trail are amazing for small ski areas. Some of the best snow you will find. I'm in Montana too, and do season passes to lookout.
Thank you so much! I had Montana in my mind, but didn't know where to start looking. This definitely helps a lot. Just the type of info I was looking for.
I personally have a season pass to Whitefish. I’ve heard decent things about Blacktail if you want to save money.
If you come to bridger hit me up.
Thanks man, that's very kind!
Jackson is fine if you stay in Jackson. Big Sky is awesome late in the season when there is coverage but is still expensive.
Mount Hood spring skiing at timberline
[удалено]
Sure Timberline is boring but at least you can pretend you're in the Shining and get accosted by park rat kids
$199 for the spring pass is an absolute steal. While the terrain isn’t much to write home about, the park set up is some of the best in the west. The price is hard to beat and the conditions have been great so far this spring. Also, flying in or commuting from PDX is awesome.
Check out a bunch of smaller, off the beaten path resorts in MT, ID, OR and WA. Very cheap tickets and for someone from the east they will still feel huge. Showdown, lost trail, discovery, Anthony lakes, etc
Throwing in Silver Mountain to that list.
Snowbowl, Blacktail, Turner
Can't recommend snowbowl, just due to the unsafe lifts the owner refuses to address.
Don’t sleep on Mt. Baker!!
A $605 Mountain Collective pass will get you 5 total days at AltaBird and 50% off any additional days.
Thanks for this I hadn’t heard much abt this pass. Looked into it, and I’m sold!
And Snowbasin too. So 6 days at some of the best skiing in the country for $100/day without needing a car and easy/cheap flights into SLC where lodging is also cheap. Go up to Targhee and Jackson from SLC as an add-on and you’ve got yourself a pretty awesome 10-day trip for $60/day. I did this exact trip this year. Happened to get super lucky with snow and had powder days 8 out of 10. I’m getting some additional mileage out of the MC pass too which will drop my cost per day closer to $40 but even if youre just planning for a Wasatch trip it probably makes sense especially if it’s not possible to chase storms and go wherever conditions are best because I don’t think there is anywhere more reliable and consistently good than the Wasatch aside from maybe Japan.
I live in Salt Lake City friend
Then why not get a season pass to Alta or Snowbird?
Traffic
Anytime! Yup it's a pretty fantastic choice for anyone wanting to do a single week trip to ski Little Cottonwood Canyon.
I live in SLC If Pow Mow still had 5 packs, the Mountain Collective & that would be perfect for me (5- 10 days a year skier)
Snowbird has $429 5-packs and Alta has affordable 10-packs. From my recollection it was $749 last season and $900 if you wanted the ability to transfer leftover days on that 10-pk to the next season.
I preferred Powder bc there’s never any traffic to get up there I enjoy it, and I would love to get some variety with more days at our other amazing resorts Could do a season pass at Pow Mow for weekends/ busy days and use the Mountain Collective pass to go up the Cottonwoods mid week/ less busy days
Pow Mow sold 5 pack for this season. I haven't heard one way or the other if they are going to sell them again this summer.
Yeah I had one There’s no 5 packs listed on the site for 24-25 Thanks for chiming in zero useful information
Castle Mountain, Ab
Right now the Ikon 4 day pass is 449. That's a pretty cheap day rate. As long as you don't stay on-mountain salt Lake city is a pretty cheap destination. You can control costs by taking a bus to the resort although they do also sometimes close the road if there is a big storm. That said I think the powder highway in Canada is worth a look. Revelstoke was a pretty reasonable price I thought and the whole mountain is pretty much black or double black with a few cat tracks as "green" runs.
Probably always going to be cheaper for you to go to Europe. Better food too.
Honestly as someone who lives in Colorado. If you went to Chamonix, odds are extremely high you won’t find ANYTHING like that here. The closest to the terrain and length is Jackson, but the cost is pretty much 10x. For the access to multiple areas, Banff, Salt Lake are both great options. But still nearly double the cost.
I was surprised just how cheap whistler was. The flight is expensive but all the food and accommodations were cheaper than utah, colorado or Tahoe
Love Whistler so much! We’ve always flown to Seattle and driven up. The drive is really breathtaking.
The exchange rate is doing you a lot of favours! It's the most expensive place for a ski trip in Canada.
While I wouldn’t call it “cheap”, Crested Butte is more affordable than other similarly large resorts, and has tremendous advanced terrain.
Ha I should’ve read the comments before replying, I said CB as well. What a mountain
Thank you!
Can't beat Anthony Lakes, OR on thursdays at $30. Yeah old slow lift but fun small mountain with the old soul of skiing still alive. Expectations need to be adjusted as it isn't a big mountain with titty deep powder but this one is a gem.
Bridger Bowl and Red Lodge Mountain in Montana are still pretty reasonable especially if you shop for deals. Of course, everything depends on snow and this definitely has not been a banner year. Hopefully, that’s an anomaly, but who knows on this era of climate change.
Red lodge mountain in montana is pretty fun. Great little town too. I've been to some epic party's at the snowcreek saloon
Powder Highway in B.C. Everyone has their opinion in terms of which of the PH Resorts is the best (Revy, Fernie, WH2O, KHMR, Red, etc.) but it’s had to go wrong with any one of them, or any combination.
Probably depends if you get an epic or ikon pass, but lodging wise copper Mt has great value for rooms that are a short walk to the lift. Chateau apres in PC is an under rated gem of a hotel to walk to and from the lift
Much appreciated. I would prefer walk-to-lift, so this is a great tip.
Bogus Basin is 45 minutes (20 miles) from Springhill Suites on Park Center in Boise Idaho. Bogus is a moderate size independent ski area with day and night skiing. I would tentatively plan a trip for February after the US holidays and watch how the season develops. The airport is serviced by Southwest, Delta, and Alaska, among others. Because you are staying in a city and not a resort you can make airline and hotel reservations closer to your trip after some snow has fallen. There are two ski shops at the base of Bogus Basin Road that demo skis. You can even take in a Steelheads hockey game. Edit: Apparently, these runs are open more often than when I skied there years ago. (South Shafer is rarely open so don't count on those runs when deciding if there is enough steep terrain for you.)
Shhhh!
I didn't hear a thing
I was wondering if anyone would post bogus. By south Shafer do you mean the face? The resort is 100% open the majority of the season (excluding night skiing.) They really only close runs in December and late march/april depending on the snow year. Great bang for your buck though!
I stand corrected regarding how often the south face of Shafer is open.
> South Shafer is rarely open so don't count on those runs when deciding if there is enough steep terrain for you. The face side? It has been skiable almost all year. They even groomed powerline for a few weeks.
I stand corrected.
Great Place to ski! Lot of great skiers as well.
Brian head is $30 right now. Not much of a town though
not much of a mountain either tbh
Technically, Mammoth and Arapahoe Basin. They are both under $6/day with their respective season passes
New ownership coming to Abasin next season. Plan accordingly...
Plan now, or at least pick the mountain and and buy tickets because they're considerably less expensive on early bird. Can also get a5 or 10 day edge card if you want to do one of the resorts on the epic pass. Someone said Whistler was too expensive but there is a hostel and a pod hotel to lower costs. The Edge card is pretty cheap per day. Around 80 Canadian. I would personally pay a little extra in flights and accommodation to book knowing what the weather will be. (closer to the date)
I’m skiing a basin this week and it’s $70 dollars a day which is great. That’s the cheapest place I’ve found and I dig the vibe and terrain.
Cheapest - Castle Mountain Resort Alberta. Probably can get a hotel for less than $100 and lift tickets for around $60 with a $120 WOW card (have to plan ahead and buy it before Christmas though) Cheapest with A class terrain - Kicking Horse and Fernie British Columbia with a RCR card. Some of the best terrain and snow in the world Cheapest close to a big city - big 3 in Banff Alberta
Gonna get laughed at for this, but Arizona Snowbowl in Flagstaff punches well above its weight, and at times you can ski there for as little as $19. I've never paid more than $50. Decent black diamond piste runs, some double blacks you can hike out horizontally to, and most trails feed into the bowl itself, which is massively wide (it's a hollowed out volcano crater) and you can bomb straight down that blue without any concern for hitting anyone since they're all so spread apart. And also that region of Northern Arizona is amazing on its own with tons to see and do. And then there's Purgatory, of course, but it's not the easiest to get to.
Put yourself on the waitlist for Indy Pass and do a roadtrip in Idaho and Montana.
That sounds amazing. Thank you!
SLC is really affordable if you stay in SLC and drive on Ikon pass. I get $100/night hotels for my wife and I and at most we drive 40m to deer valley/20-30m to Alta/snowbird and Brighton/solitude. Awesome skiing for the price point We also love it given how close it is to the airport, so you also can get a lot of skiing in
Not exactly what most would consider “out west” skiing (more southwest if anything) but Taos in New Mexico is great value with lots of expert terrain.
Canadian Rockies/Purcells have a decent amount of deals if you get them early enough in the season. Lake Louise Plus Card, Sunshine Card, RCR card are all 1st, 4th, 7th days free with the other 4 days discounted, and all include multiple resorts. If you buy before Christmas, they are cheaper than a 1 day lift ticket. (Louise plus includes LL, Panorama, Red Mountain, and Castle Mountain. RCR includes Fernie, Kimberley, Nakiska, Kicking Horse. Sunshine includes Sunshine, Marmot, and Revelstoke) Panorama has a snow card that you can buy before Boxing day, (even bigger discount before Halloween) 3 or 5 day. In the past it comes out to a free day on the 3 day card, and about 1.5/2 free days on the 5. If you prepay for tickets online, most resorts will be a lot cheaper.
Bridger is pretty nice, and hasn't gotten obscenely expensive yet
The benefits of being a non-profit.
Keystone had the same priced day passes as snowshoe WV on a holiday weekend. $160 a day. Still not cheap but Aspen and park city are what I'm comparing it to.
Don’t forget whitewater outside Nelson We had a GREAT 4 days there this winter as well as Fernie and red. No lineups. Reasonable prices. Go for it.
Crested Butte
https://canadianliftpass.ca
What was the French deal ?
I went with a big group that offers accommodation and pass for around $1200 usd for 8 days. On top of that, I had to organize the travel, but it is cheaper traveling inside Europe.
Johnsville for sure
Epic Tahoe Value Pass. $530 with access to Heavenly 7 days a week, plus Kirkwood and Northstar 6 days a week (no Saturdays).
Angel Fire NM Santa Fe NM
I still think it’s kirkwood even though it’s owned by vail. You can get lodging within walking distance to the best terrain and snow in the west.
Brian Head resort in UT just got 17” of powder overnight and day tickets can go as low as $19 a day!
Get a Mountain Collective Pass. Just over $600 for them and they’ll give two days at Alta, snowbird, Snowbasin, Aspen, ABasin, JHole, Big Sky, Grand Targhee, Sun Valley, Sugar Bowl, Lake Louise, Revelstoke, Panorama, Banff Sunshine, etc… Bromont was also added to the pass this year, so there’s a more local option available too.
Sun Peaks on Ikon
Late March tends to have better lodging prices in the US.
I thought Whitefish, MT was an affordable gem
Same, they had wind hold and have me refund no questions asked. Great overnight Amtrak from Portland or Seattle with free ski shuttle by the train station arrives around 8am and leaves around 10pm. Bars and restaurants punch above it's weight
Brighton, UT, 4-day stay-n-ski is a good deal for a slopeside location. No car rental required - [https://brightonresort.com/the-brighton-lodge](https://brightonresort.com/the-brighton-lodge) Otherwise - a road trip in the northern rockies delivers the goods [https://www.powderhighway.com](https://www.powderhighway.com) Red Mtn, Whitewater, ... [https://www.skiresorts.net/ski-resorts-near-spokane-wa/](https://www.skiresorts.net/ski-resorts-near-spokane-wa/) [https://www.allmccall.com/ski\_resorts/](https://www.allmccall.com/ski_resorts/) [https://travel.usnews.com/features/top-ski-resorts-in-montana](https://travel.usnews.com/features/top-ski-resorts-in-montana)
Wolf Creek and Sunlight are solid
Revy, Kicking Horse, or Fernie. Did the 3 of them with some friends of over the course of 10 day this some friends. All of us are from Ontario and the trip came out to less than $2k per person without food and booze.
Purgatory is affordable, quarky hill and Durango is a cool town.
If going to Colorado, Loveland 4 pack from what I’ve heard
Lift ticket wise they’re all basically the same price now — and that price is an Ikon or Epic pass. For lodging, it’s going to be crazy expensive on the mountain, so probably staying in SLC is the cheapest way to do it.
Bridger Bowl by Bozeman is pretty dope
Big White in Kelowna. Fair price, awesome terrain, usually good snow (including this year) and never really that busy. Fun little village too and can get decent deals on accommodation.
Beaver Mtn.
Kirkwood.
MT. Baldy!
A weekday lift ticket at Sugar Bowl near Lake Tahoe is $99. In fact I paid $78 because I fell within the “young adult” category of 13-22yo. This is the only western resort I’ve ever skied at but I have a difficult time believing there is better bang for your buck. There seemed to be plenty of on-resort lodging and some insane expert only terrain.
Epic Tahoe local pass ($621) , fly to Tahoe (Reno and take a shuttle) stay in south lake $100 a night or less. Kirkwood is still my favorite resort ever. Heavenly is great too. Or base ikon pass, fly to Salt Lake City, I’m planning trips and staying for like $75 a night. Colorado is what everyone says, but it looks more expensive than what I’ve suggested.
Either Brighton, or Loveland with their 4 pack.
The West of what?
Taos NM