For New Year's, we took at trip to Steamboat Springs, CO to ski. This was our 2nd year skiing in Steamboat. I'm not going to pretend that skiing is somehow not expensive. It's very expensive. But, through the years (we took 3 ski trips to Beech Mountain, NC prior to Steamboat), I have learned a few ways to save money. For those who know me, I'm frugal to the core! We are also very committed to our church and giving to missions. I have a personal conviction that I don't want to spend more money in a given year on travel than we give to the church/missions. For all of these reasons, I am always looking to make our trips as affordable as possible.
Book Early... The biggest thing I do to save money is I book early. We stayed at the same airbnb that we stayed at last year. I booked it 9 months in advance. It's the most affordable place near the mountain that will house our family. Thankfully, the owner has a really good cancellation policy, so I always book her place as soon as she opens up her calendar. There is nothing to lose. We could cancel up to a week before coming and get a full refund. I also book our flights 9-10 months in advance. We fly nonstop directly from Atlanta to the small town of Hayden, CO. The flight prices went up dramatically after I booked our flights this year. I was so thankful I had booked them early. We also fly "light." What I mean is we don't pay to check a bag. This is a challenge when you have to pack bulky clothes, but you can do it! We roll our clothes and we wear our snow boots and puffy jackets on the plane. Everyone has a book bag and a carry on suitcase. It saves time and money at the airport.
Eating out... We don't eat out much. This past trip, we spent 4 nights in Steamboat and skied 3 straight days. We ate dinner in the condo every night except for our last night. We went to 8th street steakhouse in town for our last meal. It's a very unique steakhouse in that you cook your own meat! It was nerve wrecking but we managed to not mess it up! They tell you exactly how long to cook your meat on each side etc. We had the Colorado buffalo. It was really good! You may be wondering what I do for food if we only eat out once. I place a large Safeway Grocery delivery order. I place the order the day before we leave on our trip (who wants to do that once you arrive?!), and I schedule it to get delivered a hour or so after our airbnb check in time. I've been very pleased with this procedure. Safeway has always been on time and had my order correct.
Ski school... The cost can add up. Last year we had Abbie in ski school for 3 straight days. It was too much! It cost too much and it was too exhausting. This year, she only did one day of ski school and then skied the other 2 days with us. It's getting easier to do that since she is becoming a better skier. In fact, she is already faster than me (it's not hard to be faster than me :). Ski school gets more expensive the closer you get to your trip date. For the best price, I booked Abbie's ski school in September.
Activities beyond skiing (Apres ski if you will)....This year we kept it really simple. The only after skiing activity we did (besides dinner and walking around downtown our last night) was the hot tub at our condo. Our condo has 2 hot tubs right outside the door to our unit. It's free and super convenient. Almost any condo you book will have a hot tub. It's a nice perk.
Lunches.... I am not going to lie, this is the hardest thing we do to save money. It's hard because we literally sit out in the cold to eat a cold lunch. Ha! However, this saves us about $150-$180 per day. Lunch at the slopes is pricey. How do we do this? I literally pack a small, soft sided cooler bag in Abbie's carry on (she always has extra space). At the base of the mountain, we rent a locker for $15 per day. When we arrive to ski for the day, we put our cooler bag (packed the night before) into the locker. We all take a break around noon for lunch. I try to make the lunches a little different/more exciting than our regular lunches at home. We do wraps, lots of chips, and mini cokes. Yes, it's not as fun as sitting in a warm restaurant eating a warm burger, but it saves us almost $500 by the end of the trip. That's significant. And, I always have lots of hot chocolate in the condo to warm us up after we are done skiing.
Lift tickets....Holy cow! They cost a lot especially out west. This past year was the best though with how our school calendar fell. We were able to ski entirely on non-black out dates for the Ikon pass. I'm not going to dive into all the details, but it's helpful to know the Ikon pass (or Epic for other resorts) can save you money. It can save you money even if you only take one ski trip per year. We bought the 3 day session pass for each of us. We skied Jan 2-4, so we didn't have any blackout dates. We paid a fraction of what we would have paid if we bought our 3 day lift tickets through the resort. Guess what! Ikon passes are cheapest when they first come out. Yes, I bought ours 9 months in advance. The Ikon pass is good about letting you push back your pass date. If you buy your pass in April (like I did) but say your kid breaks their leg in November, you can bump your pass dates to next year! I think you have until mid December to bump your pass to the following year's ski season. It's kind of like built in travel insurance.
Transportation... The photo below is taken right by Steamboat gondola transit center. We do not rent a car when we come to Steamboat. We pay for a transfer from Hayden's airport to the the town. Once in Steamboat, we can get anywhere we want for free using the free public bus system. We take the bus from our condo each morning to the slopes. When we go downtown for dinner, the bus gets us there as well. It's great. Having dealt with driving in snowy/icy conditions 3 different years in Beech Mountain, NC, not driving here is a welcome relief. I hope these tips can be of help to some people!
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