The season-pass program for your local ski area is a great way to save your money and get the jump on other skiers while enjoying the quality skiing that makes winter in the US so great to begin with.
It’s why I love skiing so much.
I used to rely on good luck to earn my skiing time. If the rest of the family was skier-free, I could find a seat at a professional photographer’s studio that hosted so-called day parties while my siblings and I were making money from our freelancing.
The trick was to go to the “commercial event” every time, so that I was the only person willing to pay for passes at the day-club hotel.
I’m too busy to scrounge for money to ski.
But if you are among the other half of Americans, why not join in on the fun and save money doing it?
In fact, if you’re willing to switch to getting ski pass ‘pay as you go’ and are willing to join forces with others, you might be able to make a pretty penny by doing so.
It’s a cheap and simple way to get people to ski and ski more.
Free Ski Passes Are a (Free) Money Saver
With no real effort involved, you can get a ski pass for free!
What’s more, if you’re going to be a member of the Elite Pass Program for Ski and Snowboard School at Dollywood (Park Lodge), you can get an Elite Pass on a pay-as-you-go basis.
To be clear, with the Elite Pass, you are paying for lessons, equipment rentals, lift tickets, and so on, and it will set you back between $350 and $475 per season.
But you can save hundreds of dollars.
If you go skiing at Dollywood, you and your family can ski free of charge – all right, for four days only, or at least for the month of January – meaning you’ll never have to skis back to the regular lift ticket $85/day at Dollywood.
This is an annual price with a monthly change, and you can change your pass at any time or switch to a different series of passes at any time.
Your child might love to ski, but she’ll never be able to afford the cost of a season pass.
Plus, she’ll never ski with other kids, as there just aren’t enough kids eager to do so.
Sure, she’ll become brand-conscious as the season goes on, but that’s not where the value will come from. Instead, it’ll come from becoming more independent in a skiing community where you can share experiences with other members and learn a new set of skills.
Free Lessons for Adults on Pay-as-You-Go
For the 2016-2017 season, a better savings option is to join the Pass. Go to the Northwest Pass site and search for the key words “MasterCard.” Once you register, it’s as simple as saying you’ll be paying an annual fee of $105 for your pass.
You’ll get 24/7 access to all the area’s new “new kids on the block”, along with 250 New Season Passes and 50 Mid-Season Passes. You’re also allowed to buy three pass types that will get you access to four seasons of skiing at Dollywood as long as you know the username and password of the pass type you’d like to use.
But when I searched for a Mid-Season Pass, I found out that I’d be paying at least $300 for the season, the third season I’d pay for.
An even better choice is to get the Fall Mid-Season Pass. It has the same value, but the Mid-Season Pass also includes the Fall Special Sessions, which offer 50% off total powder days at the resort.
The season-pass program is a great way to save your money, while enjoying the quality skiing that makes winter in the US so great to begin with.
Hope you found it to be useful! Have any questions? Comments? If so, feel free to leave them in the comment section below.