Rockies Offer Skiers Deals

Dec. 29, 2001 -- 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.

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.

Colorado Initiative, Utah Pride

Colorado has declared January 2002 as Winter Sports Month as part of an effort to encourage Coloradoans to rediscover their own state.

The state's 23 ski resorts are offering a variety of special offers to back up the initiative, including packages, discounts and promotions on everything from skiing and riding to ice skating and tubing. For details, see their Web site, www.coloradoski.com.

Salt Lake is somewhat different. Hosting the Olympics (Feb. 8-24), means that it is booked for most of February, although January and March (the latter being the area's best snow month, according to some) have more availability.

That said, most of those staying in those fully booked hotels in February won't be skiing — they'll be attending Olympic events. The two ski areas that are Olympic venues are Deer Valley and Park City. Other events are being held at various arenas in the area. That means that even though hotels may be booked at Alta and Snowbird, the slopes are wide open for anyone who wants to drive there.

While details were not available at deadline, local resorts are expected to have special incentive packages — and plenty of elbow room — for local residents or any friends or relatives who come stay with them.