Tips for Buying a Ski Season Pass

The itch usually starts in the late summer and early fall, just when the leaves begin to change. You tell anyone that will listen "I'm gonna ski a hundred days this year", including yourself. You go on to say that you're definitely going to get a seasons pass at the biggest, baddest resort around. All good intentions aside, choosing a ski pass should be about honesty and not pre-season gusto, because after all if your ski pass goes unused it's just a waste of money. Take it from personal experience.

There are many factors to buying a ski season pass you must consider before making the actual purchase. If you live in an area with a few ski hills to choose from you should narrow it down to the hill you'll be getting that pass for. Ask yourself if you'll even want to ski one hill all year, over and over. If you think you may get bored skiing one hill, see which of your local hills have teamed up to offer passes that are redeemable at other ski hills (many resorts in the Canadian Rockies do just that). If that isn't the case for you but you still want the variety of many hills then perhaps a pass just isn't for you.

You'll also have to consider your proximity to the ski hills of your choice. Sure, the big European style resort mountain is 2 hours away, but your local hill may just be a twenty minute drive, door-to-door. So while the big resort might be an awesome hill to ski, you'll have to ask yourself at which hill you'll get the most skiing for your money. A lot of times the local hill wins because of night skiing, while the big resorts often don't offer that. A quick mid-week ski is a nice luxury not everyone has so taking advantage could tip the scales in getting a pass.

Also, be honest about your schedule. It's a good idea to check your calendar both at work and at home to make sure you can ski. By crossing off any days you know you can't ski (like office meetings, birthday parties, hockey games, other events) you'll get a clearer picture of just how many 'ski days' you can squeeze in. If your winter looks just too darn busy to ski a lot, maybe a season of having no pass is o.k. remember to be honest about your ski days. A lot of passes also don't offer holiday skiing, generally the week between Christmas and New Years, which is a popular time to ski. If you holiday skiing is going to make up a lot of your ski days, make sure the pass you purchase allows holiday skiing.

Finally, there are many different types of passes for a lot of ski hills. I know my local hill offers an evenings-only pass which is excellent for getting some runs in after work, leaving no pressure to go skiing on the weekend. Also, a lot of hills offer cheap one-night-a-week passes which allow you to pick one night mid-week to ski with your friends. You could make it a social gathering once-a-week, and the price is far less then a full pass. As well, you can always buy lift tickets in bulk as well. If you would like the flexibility of going to the hill anytime but don't think you'll be able to make it to the hill a lot, you can usually buy 5 or 10 lift tickets at a time, good to use any day through the season, for a significant discount off the regular lift ticket price. That way you save money but don't have to get x number of days in to pay for a season pass.

So there you have it. The most important thing about buying a seasons pass is honesty with yourself. Weighing in all the factors like travel, schedule, holidays, variety, and money will go a long way in answering the where, when, and which type of pass to buy. Now I don't know about you, but I plan on getting a hundred days in this year!