On the flip side, lift tickets for the family can quickly exceed two
Benjamin’s a day, so if your winter calendar allows for several weekends and
a few holidays, the family season pass could be just the ticket.
The best pass deal deadlines have gone by, as ski resorts now start selling
next winter’s passes at the end of the season at huge savings, often
including spring skiing for the current season (keep that in mind come
March).
Here are some smaller New England resorts that offer family season passes at
considerable savings over individual pass purchases or doling out for daily
tickets. The key is that you commit to that one resort enough to justify the
cash.
Crotched in New Hampshire has an Unlimited Family Pass for $1,299 with no
blackouts, a good value for this 875’-vertical hill. It’s valid for two
parents and three kids, $100 for each additional child thereafter. The kids
will be stoked that Crotched’s pass is good day and night including 9pm to
3am on Friday and Saturday nights for “Midnight Madness” (yawn – I get tired
just thinking about skiing that late – but my kids would love it).
Pats Peak,
Ragged,
Black and
Cranmore all have reasonable season pass rates,
while they don’t have a family pass, the cost of two adults and two kids
tallies up to about $1,500. NH residents catch a break at State-owned
Cannon, two adults and two juniors adds up to $1,550 for the season.
The Balsams in Dixville Notch has a family of four Season Pass for $999, of
course it’s a haul to this beautiful northern New Hampshire resort, but it’s
like your own private ski area once you get there.
Shawnee Peak in Maine, just over the border from North Conway, is the oldest
continuously operating ski area in Maine – by gosh. A Family Pass at this
family friendly mountain is $2,049 for two adults and all children under 23
living at home, for day and night skiing too.
Bromley in Vermont gives a discount for each additional family member pass -
adult, child or teen, after the first family member purchase at full price,
so a discount of up to $100 per pass is applied when you are buying for your
family.
Sugarbush offers a free youth pass (for dependents 12 and under) with every
$689 Adult Mt Ellen pass, so a family of four could ski or ride Mt Ellen at
Sugarbush for $1,400.
Bolton Valley in Vermont has a family of four pass for $1,699, along with
some interesting new pass categories. The Single Parent Pass is $849 for one
adult and their child, and the Side by Side Parent Pass for $899 is designed
for two adults (only one can ski at a time) and their child under two or a
child with special needs.
This new “shared parent pass” category has emerged in recent years. While
you have infants and toddlers not quite ready to hit the slopes, this pass
makes sense, or saves cents for parents. Dad bags runs while mom gets base
lodge duty with the baby (legally, versus swapping a ticket). But long term,
this tag team pass doesn’t promote “family skiing” in the true sense – mom,
dad and the little ones all skiing together like the ski resort brochure
promotes.
Stratton also offers a Parent Pass, when you purchase a children’s season
pass, you can buy one parent pass for $1,399 to share with your spouse.
In Massachusetts, Wachussett does not offer a family pass per se, but you do
receive a ski shop credit of $20 for each family member Gold Pass you
purchase.
Check out the frequent skier cards that provide substantial savings off lift
tickets once you have bought the discount card in advance if a pass is more
than you can pony up (available at Killington, Smugglers, Sunday River,
Sugarloaf and Loan).
Once the big investment is made, think of your family pass as “winter glue,”
as you stick to a plan to ski more, and amortize the cost down with each
alpine visit. With a pass, you can ski just for the morning, but you’ll ski
both days of the weekend. Conversely, when you are buying ski days a la
carte, you can find any number of excuses not to shell out for full price
lift tickets for the family (weather, work, chores, the drive, sleeping in).
