Ski Tips

My first stop this season at the Alyeska Resort ticket office produced a double take. Could my kid’s lift ticket really cost $68? That seemed North Face-like steep for a teenager’s day on the slopes.

But in context, Alyeska’s ticket prices are not that bad. Consider the going rate at Vail in Colorado. Buying lift tickets there seems almost as complicated as buying airline tickets, but the basic walk-up day rate is $179. I have skied Vail. It’s nice, but not $179-a-day nice. Even Alta, one of my all-time favorites, formerly famous for its bargain rates, has broken the $100 barrier, with tickets now at $104.

So Alyeska’s lift-ticket bite is not as painful compared to those at Lower 48 resorts. Still, there are ways to shave costs at Alyeska and elsewhere in Alaska. Here are some I can share:

Ski weekdays

Once upon a time, when I lived in Colorado and had a work schedule that gave me Tuesdays and Wednesdays off, I got very accustomed to midweek skiing. Moving to a Monday-to-Friday work schedule brought some unpleasant surprises. Traffic jams. Lift lines. Crowded slopes.

There is another reason why midweek skiing is superior – much cheaper lift tickets. At Alyeska, full-day adult tickets are $65 on weekdays, $20 less than the weekend rate; weekday lift tickets for students, members of the military and seniors (60 to 69 years old) are $50, versus the weekday rate of $68. Note a new policy: Full-day lift tickets at Alyeska include night skiing when that is available – generally, Thursday through Saturday – so if you combine the weekday discount with the extended hours, Thursdays look like a good bet for penny-pinchers.

The midweek discount, though not universal, is common in the industry. Eaglecrest in Juneau, for example, knocks a few dollars on weekdays. One place that does not cut prices for midweek skiing: Aspen Mountain, where the $155 ticket price is presumably pocket change for the local glitterati.

Buy your tickets in advance

The places where you might have bought your skis or snowboard also sell lift tickets that let you use them. REI, Hoarding Marmot, Ski AK, AMH and the Blue and Gold Boardshop sell tickets that can be used on any day for $65, said Ben Napolitano, mountain marketing manager for Alyeska. REI members even get an extra $1.01 off that price. Tickets are good from now until April 23.

My favorite spot for these purchases is Kaladi Brothers, where you can grab a latte and a lift ticket on your way down to Girdwood. But this tip may come too late for many. Ticket supplies are very limited at Kaladi’s, and most stores have sold out by now.

The best deal for prepaid Alyeska tickets is probably found at Costco. A two-day ticket sells there for $109.99. The two days do not have to be consecutive, important for place where periodic road closures, electrical outages and windy rainstorms can upend ski plans. Be advised: This is not two separate passes that can be used for two people on the same day.

Join and volunteer

Arctic Valley, the rustic ski area overlooking Joint Base Elmendorf Richardson, is a full-on volunteer operation. The Anchorage Ski Club, which is four years older than the start of organized skiing at Arctic Valley, runs the whole show, and in an old-fashioned, shoestring, elbow-grease way.

Membership in the ski club at the “regular” level or higher entitles you to ticket discounts – $25 for a full-day adult pass versus $40 for a non-member, for example. Members score cheap tickets in other ways. They are the volunteers who are responsible for everything at Arctic from operating lifts to pouring aprs-ski beers, the club says. But they generally work for part of the ski day and then ski for free the rest of that day. Eight hours of volunteer service earns a full-day transferable pass, the club says.

There may be other volunteer opportunities. In my long-ago youth, I used to earn free lift passes by volunteering at races. I’d lurk on the edge of race courses and dash to replace gates knocked down by skiers. That meant a lot of standing around and grumbling, but also a nice reward: a chit for a day’s skiing.

Nowadays, ski racers’ parents are expected to do those jobs – or guilted into doing them -- and many of those parents already have season passes. But it’s worth an inquiry in case event organizers wind up short-handed.

Spend the night

Shell out money for a room at the fancy Alyeska hotel to get cheap skiing. Hear me out: In certain circumstances, this is the economical way to go.

Alyeska offers a Sunday-to-Thursday special, with rates starting at $179 plus taxes. With each room come two adult lift tickets. If you calculate the cost of gas and, more importantly, the time and stress extracted from the Seward Highway drive, this might be an attractive option – and not just from the economic standpoint. Consider a powder day in the middle of the week. If you can escape Anchorage and stay the night, you could scoop up what are essentially free tickets and “then you’re in proper placement for that first tram,” Napolitano said.

Outside of the midweek package, there are some hotel-lift ticket options. Those who stay at the hotel can purchase $45 adult lift tickets, of $40 tickets for students and $22 for kids. The catch: Reservations and payment must be made at least 48 hours in advance.

Clip coupons or click for discounts

Hilltop in south Anchorage may be tiny -- which makes it perfect for tiny skiers – but it’s also big on coupons. Hilltop coupons are regulars in the Valpak discounts, so check the online version and the mailers that arrive at your house the old-fashioned US Postal Service way, as well as other mailers. A coupon for a two-for-one lift ticket/rental package is among the deals in the current edition of the Northern Lights Entertainment Coupon Book, but getting the book requires a $55 outlay.

Arctic Valley sells discounted tickets through Liftopia, but those require advance purchase for specific days, so spontaneity is out if you go that route.

Brave the chill

An oddball discount: At Moose Mountain in Fairbanks – the ski area that shuttles skiers up the hill by bus, not chairlift – prices are cut by $5 whenever temperatures at the base dip below 0 degrees Fahrenheit.

Be a geezer

The best discounts go to skiers who make it past their 70th birthdays. At Alyeska, skiers 70 and older are charged only $16 for a weekend lift ticket. At Arctic Valley, the price is even better: free.