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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Skiing on a shoestring

Timing, tips can save big-time on slopes

By: Louise Hudson

Posted: 01/21/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

Louise Hudson skis Powder Cowboy at Fernie. Sunshine Mountain Lodge at Sunshine Village offers hotel stay-and-ski packages throughout the season and you're guaranteed first tracks.

Ski-greedy and mad about mountains, I have always skied on the cheap. As soon as I left university, I trekked by train to the Alps, shlepped around shops in Crans-Montana until I got a job, managed to squeeze three hours of skiing amid eight-hour workdays and eked out my wage to last the whole season.

Realizing the real racket was in tour-guiding, I moved on to Verbier to work for a travel company as an overseas rep. I smugly skied six days a week, working on Saturdays and evenings. Not much salary, but a whole lot of vertical!

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Ladies who lunch at Sunshine Village. (POSTMEDIA )

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The Lodge at Sunshine Village. (POSTMEDIA )

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Backpacks save table spots at Canada Olympic Park, which offers good value for beginners. (POSTMEDIA)

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One of the rooms at the Lodge at Sunshine Village, where you can save on ski and stay packages. (POSTMEDIA)

Later, I settled in England and managed to get six weeks of skiing in the Alps, courtesy of my husband's role as a Ski Club of Great Britain rep. This is a unique British organization that trains volunteers (of any nationality) in backcountry guiding and then sends them out for three-week periods to resorts all over Europe and North America to be hosts to British holidaymakers. In return, we got free lift passes, accommodation, food and transportation.

One of my ambitions was to get to the Rockies. So when my husband was offered a position at the University of Calgary, my only question was how far is it from Lake Louise?

We were there six months later, just in time to buy season passes to the Big 3 at the summer pre-season price, kit ourselves up at the annual Ski Swap and take advantage of the Ski Cellar's fall tent sale.

With two kids and a determination to ski every weekend of the blissfully long winter season, skiing on a shoestring was our mantra. So many people say skiing is an expensive sport without actually looking at the overheads in comparison to other weekend pursuits. Hockey is also an expensive sport, as are soccer, fishing, horseback riding, ballet, even shopping at malls -- the most popular pastime in North America.

Other says skiing on the cheap is a travesty; it is a luxury pursuit that should be paired with flamboyant finery, fur coats, fancy food, and feather beds. But that is a hackneyed image.

In these recessionary times of budgeting and shopping around, we now brag about bargains. According to Jeff Yeager, author of the Cheapskate book series, travelling on the cheap is actually a fulfilling experience, with the added excitement of tracking down dazzling deals to distant destinations. When it comes to skiers -- even those with mountains nearby could do with a price break.

To become ski-savvy is a matter of research, digging up the deals, re-thinking priorities and changing some ingrained habits. For example, would you consider giving up one of the family vehicles in return for a whole season of skiing?

The CAA reckons running a car costs over $8,500 per year -- and that's for a small sedan, not the gas-guzzling SUVs so many of us run. Carpooling among family and friends is a mere matter of sensible scheduling. I should know, I've lived in Calgary for 11 winters, sharing my husband's car, trudging through thigh-deep snow, catching buses and cadging rides in return for the bliss of being able to buy season passes and equipment for the whole family and skiing every weekend of the winter.

There are other ways to change your ski habits, too. Instead of piling up to the mountains on weekends, Christmas holidays, Family Day Weekend, and Easter Break with all the other leisure lemmings, go off-peak. Whenever I ski in early December -- in fact, right up to Christmas Eve -- the slopes at the Big 3 are so peaceful. Pre-Christmas prices are always better than over the hectic holidays both in Alberta and farther afield in British Columbia.

I love skiing in January after all the Christmas crowds have gone -- and this is great month for deals. High season extends through February and into March but spring skiing is particularly satisfying with its slow-season discounts. Sunshine's spring pass gives unlimited skiing for the last two months of the season and anyone who shovels knows Alberta snow lasts well into May.

If you can swing it with work and chores, then mid-week passes are the way to go. Norquay, for example, has a buddy pass for four friends at just $109 per head for the season. I have often managed to fit in signature skiing during school hours, motoring to the mountains with girlfriends at 8 a.m. sharp, skiing hard until 2 p.m. and making it back for the school run. It takes lots of preplanning but it's worth it.

If you're an experienced skier or snowboarder, consider becoming a host or ski friend at one of your local resorts, working on the hill both guiding and greeting. Lake Louise offers one free ski day for each workday and Panorama grants a full-season pass in return for 17 working days.

Another way to qualify for free skiing is to age. Jasper offers free skiing on your birthday and, if yours falls outside of ski season, you add six months to your actual date to create your Marmot Basin Birthday and you will get a free ski day that day after registering with the website. Silver Star's 65-plus members receive free coffee, discounts, free lessons, and free high-performance rentals.

Season passes are best value for serial skiers, cheapest in May and discounted up to Sept. 30 for most resorts. Revelstoke, Panorama and Kicking Horse all offer dual-parent season passes, so one parent can ski half a day while the spouse is child-minding and swap in the afternoon. In the old days, parents had to have a pass each as they were non-transferable.

For skiing sporadic days throughout the season, Frequency or Loyalty cards are available at all resorts, often with partner deals. Sunshine pairs with Marmot, Lake Louise with Castle Mountain, Nakiska with Fernie and Kimberley, Kicking Horse with Panorama. You can ski for around $50 per day for seven days with these and get discounts off subsequent days at either resort.

If you want to immerse yourself in mountain culture for the weekend, one of the best ski-and-stay deals is the $99 rate at Lake Louise's Great Divide Lodge. Tack on a meal plan for $25 per day and free shuttles and you know exactly how much your ski day will cost you.

Hostels at Lake Louise, Silver Star, Big White, Castle Mountain and Rossland are also inexpensive weekend retreats.

And, if you consolidate your skiing into a whole week rather than the usual weekends, you can get several days' free accommodation and skiing with multi-day packages at most resorts including Sunshine Village where you can be first and last on the slopes if you stay over.

Having sussed out the right times to ski and the cheaper passes, there now is the question of ski gear. It is by no means cheap, especially if you want the latest brands and styles. However, if you're happy with last year and beyond in terms of boots, skis and clothing, then ski swap swag is great. Garage sales are also a perfect place to find gems for a few dollars. But do some research first -- beware of buying old skis and bindings, which shop technicians will then tell you are out of date and can't be altered to fit your boots. I've had kids grow out of their ski boots halfway through the winter but Panorama has come up with an innovative rental plan that would circumvent that.

For $149 per season, under-12s can pick gear in December and keep it until April with the option to switch up throughout the season. Consignment stores like Switching Gear in Canmore also yield incredible bargains. I dressed my son top to toe in Oakley gear last winter for under $100.

Finally, how can you heli- and cat-ski on the cheap? With the trend for spending on experiences rather than trinkets these days, elite powder skiing is high on skiers' bucket lists. The cheapest cat-skiing around can be found at Castle Mountain, where it costs $295 to play in the plentiful powder on Mt. Haig all day. Panorama's low season heli-ski rate is $517 for a three-run jaunt. And Revelstoke offers an all-inclusive day with Selkirk Tangiers Heliskiing at $747 and $400 for cat-skiing. I'm now anticipating my 38th ski season and I'm as enthusiastic as I was on my first trip to Austria at 13 years old when my parents savvilly rented not only my skis, boots and poles, but also my whole ski outfit.

-- Postmedia News

More deals for ski hounds

Sunshine: one free night for every four booked at Sunshine Mountain Lodge.

Sun Peaks: super saver early and late season package, ski/stay $119 per person; four days for price of three during low season.

Marmot Basin: Jasper in January (14t to 29): cheaper skiing, apres-activities and hotel bar-gains; Snowdays package offers 30 per cent off mid-week tickets and accommodations. Ski 3 for 2 Package all season with some blackout periods.

Big White: $77 lift/lodging packages Jan. 3 to Feb. 9 and spring break deals with free ski/ stay for 12 and under March 1 to April 14

Silver Star: Book six nights accommodation and five days skiing and seventh night accommodation and sixth day of skiing are free

Panorama: free skiing, break-fast, accommodation and tobogganing for kids under 12 with five day package, $135 per adult for lodging/lift ticket, one free child per adult. Pine Inn, on slopes, starts at $116 per night for accommodation and liftpass, includes $30 meal credit

Revelstoke: Sandman stay/ski for $99 per person with two-night minimum stay

Whitefish, Montana: Hibernation House, value on-mountain hotel -- liftpass, lodging and breakfast $79 per person per day mid-week

Deals at stores like Costco, Co-Op, Safeway, etc.: e.g., Family Snow Pack with lift ticket/rentals for two adults and up to three kids under 18 for $139.95, a saving of $515

WestJet boarding cards qualify for free skiing day of arrival at a variety of resorts and Air Miles collectors can trade in miles for lift tickets.

More deals for ski hounds