How to Take the Whole Family Skiing Without Going Broke

26.12.2023 - 10:21 / nytimes.com

Skiing is not a cheap sport. It requires a lot of gear and, depending on where you live, travel. For families, the expense mushrooms with each child, often before they can determine whether skiing — or snowboarding — is an activity the children actually like.

In efforts to nurture future generations of downhillers, ski areas are increasingly offering discount passes to families with children, generally in the third through sixth grade — good ages, resorts say, to try a physically demanding sport — and sometimes tweens and teens.

“It’s rough to have to spend a few thousand dollars to see if you like something,” said Adrienne Saia Isaac, the marketing and communications director for the National Ski Areas Association, which represents resorts around the country. “This is a low-risk way to see if your kids and family want to participate.”

Colorado Ski Country USA, a trade group representing 21 resorts in the state, began offering its Kids’ Ski Passport nearly 30 years ago to families with children in the third through sixth grades, regardless of where they live. Costing $65, the pass entitles holders to four days each at 20 Colorado ski areas. This year, it introduced the new Gems Teen Pass for ages 12 to 17, offering two days each at 11 ski areas for $199.

“For us, some years, it’s the difference between getting to go skiing and not skiing,” said Joshua Berman, an elementary schoolteacher and author in Longmont, Colo., who has purchased the Kids’ Ski Passport in the past for his three children. Even using it just a few times each season, he added, “we’ve been able to get to the point where they love it.”

With their mandate to spread skiers out to a variety of resorts, children’s discount passes — offered by state ski associations from Vermont to Utah — tend to appeal to families in their home states, though they are generally available to skiers from out of state and can be a good way to sample a variety of resorts.

Utah has a longstanding program offering discounted passes for schoolchildren that is also available to out-of-state residents. The Ski Utah Student Passport currently offers fourth, fifth and sixth graders access to three days each at 15 resorts for $89.

In New York, the SKI NY Free for Kids Passport Program for third and fourth graders entitles holders to two complimentary days with an adult ticket purchase at more than 25 participating resorts, including Gore Mountain and Whiteface Mountain in the Adirondacks and Windham Mountain Club in the Catskills. It costs $41 to apply for the pass.

The Ski Vermont Fifth Grade Passport, $30, entitles pass holders to three days each at 20 participating Alpine ski resorts and one day each at 24 cross-country ski areas.

The Michigan Snowsports