Fact Sheet
Schussing on a shoestring
Don't break the piggy bank just yet. Colorado ski towns offer something for all budgets and if you know the locals' secrets, it's easy to live like a king on a pauper's budget in Ski Country USA.
FREE
Skiers and riders stop by the ski school at Beaver Creek
to satisfy a sugar tooth with a warm snack. Beaver Creek
chefs serve free cookies and hot cocoa outside the ski
school.
Not everything costs a fortune in Aspen's neck of the woods. Aspen's neighbor Snowmass is home to free après appetizers served at the Mountain Dragon.
Crested Butte brings back free skiing from November 25 through December 15, 2007. All you need to do is go to the ticket office during these days and a cheerful ticketing specialists will smile, give you a lift ticket and send you to the slopes to ski or ride for FREE.
The Free Box in Telluride is a locals' invention that is truly one of a kind. Bargain hunters can sift through goods on a corner of Colorado Ave. in Telluride's historic downtown and take someone else's trash for their free treasure!
Telluride, Aspen, Copper, Winter Park and Steamboat are just some of Colorado's 26 resorts that give free mountain tours daily.
Colorado resorts including Telluride and Silverton offer free ice-skating, cost of rental equipment is not included.
At Steamboat, kids ski for free! Steamboat's Kids/GrandKids Ski Free program, valid the entire season, enables children 6-12 years of age to ski the same number of days as their parents or grandparents when a parent or grandparent purchases a 5-or-more-day lift ticket.
$5
Salt Creek Restaurant & Saloon at Breckenridge offers
$2 pitchers of beer and $.25 wings from 5-7 p.m. on Tuesday and
Thursday nights.
Locals know about the cheapest eats at Loveland. Tuesdays offer the best wing deal around with $.25 wings and skins at The Red Ram in Georgetown. Loveland Ski Area's Rathskellar bar offers $.50 tacos on Tuesday any time after 2 p.m.
The Winter Park Pub located at the north end of town offers happy hour every day from 3-7 p.m. with $2 drafts and $.25 wings, and on Tuesdays, ski town guests chow down on $1 tacos.
Keystone Parrot Eyes, a tropical-themed bar in River Run village, offers $1.50 locals special for margaritas.
$10
Arapahoe Basin, perched at 13,000 ft. atop the Continental Divide,
isn't just for the expert skier. A-Basin offers $10 beginner
lift tickets at the Molly Hogan learning center.
No better way to re-coop from a day on the slopes than with a rub-down. Guests can indulge in a neck and back massage for just $10 at the Sundeck Restaurant and Lodge on Aspen Mountain.
Dinner for under ten at Hamilton's in Aspen? You betcha. At Aspen's Mezzaluna, visitors can scarf beer and pizza for just $10, then knock-back $2.75 shots and beer at Little Annie's in Aspen.
$50
Colorado ski country is home to seven hostels that will
transport you back in time to rugged sixties' in-vogue ski
lodges. The cost? Fourteen to forty-four dollars a
night.
The Colorado Gems, eight no-frills resorts including Arapahoe Basin, Eldora, Loveland, Monarch, Powderhorn, Ski Cooper, SolVista and Sunlight, offer a full-day lift ticket for just about $50 or under.
Fifty bucks can get you a long way, or should we say many places, when you fuel your car. It takes about one tank of gas (300 miles/tank) to get to 19 Colorado ski resorts from Denver.
SPLURGE
Although Aspen now offers activities for all budgets, big-spenders
still frequent Aspen to ski in style. The day after Aspen
Mountain closes, the mountain is up for grabs… for a
price. Aspen offers the chance for up to 100 friends to
buy out the mountain for a day of private skiing. The money
goes to charity. The asking price for a day of pristine
skiing on your own private mountain? $15,000 and up.
Vail, another ski resort known for glitz and glamour, serves up over 5,000 acres for private skiing and riding each day before the lifts open to the public with the First Tracks Deluxe Package. For $5000 for 40 people, $125 for each additional person, two lifts will open early to give a private group run of the mountain. The Deluxe Package also includes a breakfast buffet at Wildwood Restaurant.
For the ultimate splurge, skiers can ride in style in their own personal train car, or better yet, train! The Winter Park Ski Train runs to and from Denver weekends throughout the ski season. It is available for private parties for $9,000 per car or $35,000 for the train.
Beaver Creek skiers looking for the ultimate mountain retreat
can end their ski day by riding the lift back up and schussing over
to Trapper's Cabin, a private, luxury accommodation at 9,800 feet
on the mountain. A cabin keeper greets guests at the door with a
glass of champagne, hors d'oeuvres and warm, fleece slippers. The
accommodations come complete with a personal gourmet chef that
prepares a five-course dinner in the cabin's kitchen.
Included in the stay is one day of skiing and lunch at one of
Beaver Creek's exclusive on-mountain cabins--Zach's Cabin, Allie's
Cabin or Beano's Cabin. This ultimate mountain retreat starts
at $950/night. For a larger price tag, private fireworks can
also be arranged at one of the on-mountain cabins.
