Rockies Offer Skiers Deals

Dec. 29 -- No place epitomizes great skiing in the U.S. more than the Rocky Mountains. There are more than 20 major resorts in Colorado alone.

They're big — some resorts have 5,000-plus skiable acres. There's lots of snow — some ski areas had nine feet of snow by mid-December. And all that snow tends to be lighter, more powdery snow than that found in West Coast ski areas, less packed and icy than Midwestern and Eastern ski areas.

The most fabled powder in the Rockies is that of Utah's Wasatch Mountains, the western range of the Rockies.

Ski Mecca

These attributes alone have made the Rockies a mecca for American skiers. But a 25 percent drop in bookings post-Sept. 11 has caused many Rockies ski areas to offer major discounts. Although business has picked up — some ski areas are reporting their business is down just 14 percent — that is still enough to motivate ski areas to offer some serious bargains.

One of the most compelling is a "Kids Fly, Stay and Ski Free" for destination skiers at Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone. These resorts have teamed up with American Airlines Vacation to offer the package, available from AAV (800-321-2121), Mountain Vacations (800-775-7995), Moguls Mountain Travel (800-666-4857), Aspen Ski Tours (800-778-8589) or through any travel agent selling GOGO Worldwide Vacations packages.

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To qualify, a child must be under 12 and traveling with a paying adult. Two adults mean freebies for two children.

For both destination skiers and local skiers, these same four ski areas have announced a new "Big Deal" offer that comes with discounts of up to 50 percent on weekdays and 30 percent on weekends at select properties all season long, except for over Martin Luther King weekend (Jan. 18-20) and President's Day weekend (Feb. 15-17).

There are many other offers, such as free nights and free lift tickets after purchasing a minimum number of days, special prices for children, and so on. You can start a search through our main snow report page.