Last year, U.S. ski resorts attracted a record 57.6 million visitors, according to the National Ski Areas Association.
An uphill trend in this downhill industry would seem to bode poorly for skiers, who’d rather be knee-deep in powder than debt. Or ski-lift lines.
Do not fear. “With the advent of high-speed quad lifts, lines are not an issue anymore,” says Mark Uhlfelder, vice president of sales at Ski.com, an online ski travel site.
While that may be debatable, Uhlfelder advises that better deals and quieter slopes come to those who are willing to surrender some vacation days.
“The best deals are when everyone else is not clamoring to go on vacation,” says Uhlfelder, whose company is based in Aspen, Colo. “Avoid the President’s Day holiday, the week between Christmas and New Year’s and, because of spring break, all of March. And weekends, of course, if you can help it.”
Is there a single best day to step into your bindings? “Try Christmas day,” Uhlfelder says. “It’s always good snow, and everyone else is at home eating a big meal.”
RedEye found a few deals as well as a few burgeoning resorts that are worth exploring, though they don’t have the name recognition of places like Vail or Whistler.
Here are some happy trails, be they black diamond, blue square or green circle:
Deer Valley, Utah
(www.deervalley.com )
This resort, which boasts 88 trails, limits sales of its $69 lift ticket to 6,500 per day. Snowboarding is prohibited, which, depending on your tastes, is a deal-maker or deal-breaker. Someone must be in favor, since Deer Valley has finished in the top three in the SKI Magazine reader poll for three straight years.
Along with neighboring Park City and The Canyons resorts, Deer Valley participates in Quick START, which allows air travelers to get a free half-day of skiing on their day of arrival by showing their boarding pass. With more than 100 flights arriving in Salt Lake City, (a 45-minute drive from Deer Valley) each day before noon, that’s a bargain.
Ski Santa Fe and Sipapu, New Mexico
(www.skisantafe.com, www.sipapunm.com)
Ardent skiers will drive farther north up Interstate 25 to Taos, but hitting the Santa Fe slopes allows you access to a city rich in art and–unknown to many–outstanding restaurants. Ski Santa Fe, just 17 miles from the town’s plaza, offers high elevation (12,000 feet) on its 45 trails; a lift ticket is $45.
Sipapu, 25 miles southeast of town, is ridiculously cheap. Although there are only 31 runs and four lifts, none of which are high-speed, this family-owned resort offers free lodging with its $34 lift ticket.
Alpine Meadows, California
(www.skialpine.com )
This Lake Tahoe resort has slashed its lift ticket price by 33 percent from last season, from $56 to $39. Fourteen lifts, two of them high speed, ferry skiers to more than 100 trails.
Smuggler’s Notch, Vermont
(www.smuggs.com)
Why head East? Because Smuggs, as it’s known, is offering a free season pass if you purchase a package of five nights or more this winter.
Fernie, British Columbia
(www.skifernie.com)
Deals? Not really, but this remote newcomer (only a decade old) is drawing rave reviews. A 31 1/42-hour drive from Calgary, Fernie attracts powder buffs and offers nearly as many bowls (five) as ESPN’s holiday program schedule. For the price of a $58 lift ticket, you can ski on 107 trails. Warning: Fernie is subject to a Jack London kind of cold.
Get your gear on
– The cardinal rule of ski warmth: layers. For maximum warmth, your base layer of clothing should be Patagonia’s Capilene. Surely some chemist could explain how it whisks perspiration off your skin and then evaporates it quickly, but all we know is that it works. And it lasts. Now, there’s no need to run inside the lodge for a hot cocoa break. Long-sleeve shirt, $32, bottoms, $30, www.patagonia.com.
– It’s 4 p.m., you’ve just pulled off your boots, and your next mission is a hike to the apres-ski lounge. Your feet, however, just want to sleep. Don a pair of Hot Socks, made of water-repellent microfiber shell fabric. It’s like immersing your dogs in two heated pillows. $35,
www.backcountry gear.com.
– Stuck on a chair lift with Mr. Annoying Guy? Pull out your cell phone-size Kenstrel 4000 Pocket Weather Tracker and kill time by learning the clime. Altitude, temperature, barometric pressure, windspeed, wind chill, dew point–it’s all there. Of course, if you start spouting off meteorological data to a complete stranger, then you’ll be Mr. Annoying Guy. $329, www.nkhome.com. –j.w.
