How we went skiing for less than $100

Skiing, in many people's minds, is assumed to be something you can only enjoy if you have hundreds of dollars ready to drop. This guide is going to help you enjoy skiing without breaking the bank.
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Choose where you want to ski.

• No matter if you are going on a trip specifically to ski, or are lucky enough to have somewhere local you can easily get to, planning where to ski is the most important part of planning your trip. Picking a slightly lesser known resort can result in huge savings. For example the most well known ski resort in Canada, North America as a whole even, would be Whistler, therefore avoiding Whistler and heading to Sun Peaks or Big White will result in huge savings across the board. Famous ski resorts will be more expensive to stay at, are usually more expensive to rent gear at and will need to be booked further in advance, which is an added constraint no-one wants!

Use social media to your advantage.

• A good way to decide where to ski is to choose a broad area, in our case BC's Southern Interior, and follow several of the resorts on Facebook and/or Instagram. Many resorts have discount days or even whole weekends where everything is a lot cheaper and the only way to find this out is to be engaged with them on social media. Make sure you pay special attention to their event pages on Facebook for special days. We followed several resorts on Facebook and found that Sun Peaks (BC, Canada) was having a discount day where a lift pass was only $5 (plus a non-perishable food donation) which is a huge discount from the usual $100+ passes. Many resorts also offer huge discounts on opening (early winter) and closing (Spring) weekends , something that is often broadcast on social media.

Isn't the gear the most expensive part?... Nope.

• Most people aren't avid skiers and don't 'hit the piste' more than once every few years if at all, like us, and therefore don't have the gear you need to get going. You might assume then that to get skiing you need to invest a few hundred dollars in snow pants (or salopettes), a ski jacket, thermals, googles, helmets etc. and don't get me wrong, you do need these things, however you really do not have to splash cash on them. Buying your ski pants and jacket from a thrift store or local ads website (e.g. Craigslist) will save you tons of money. When we went skiing last week, we managed to find one jacket, two sets of pants and two pairs of goggles for a combined $35 CAD (buying a new jacket alone will cost upwards of $200!). If you aren't from an area where thrift stores would have ski clothing, Ebay can be a viable alternative.
• When it comes to the skiing equipment itself (skis, poles, boots and helmet) all resorts have rental outlets. Generally speaking renting isn't a cheaper option if you intend to go often, but for several reasons I would recommend rental equipment over purchasing (new or used). New skiing equipment can easily set you back hundreds if not thousands of dollars and you would need to be hitting the hills very often for them to pay for themselves. We decided against buying used equipment because A) There is no guarantee it will be safe. and B) You can't simply switch it for something better fitting if you get to the hills and something hurts or rubs.

Caitlin in her thrifty outfit

Explore the market!

• Once you have chosen your resort, you know when you will be going and have already found most if not all of the apparel you need. Find the rental shops that service the area and find out who is going to be the cheapest to rent from. Usually the pricing wont be astronomically different but even if you save yourself $10 dollars its worth spending a few minutes on google or at worst having to call the store to inquire.

Don't waste any time!

• As we state over and over on this blog, don't waste any time. Generally, the less time you leave yourself the more expensive things will be. Make sure you reserve your gear online or by calling the rental shop. This is especially important if you plan to go on a discounted day or weekend. We forgot to do this and if we had we not arrived half an hour before the rental shop opened to join the queue, there would have been no gear to rent. The discount day was extremely busy!

One hour after we arrive and already super busy!

Cut out the unnecessary extras.

• As with quite literally everything in life, much of the money we spend is on things we don't need. Things for luxury or convenience. Cutting these things out can save more money than you might think! When people aren't skiing at the resort, they are eating and drinking, and up in the mountains there really isn't a huge selection of places to choose from, so cafes and restaurants know they can charge what they like. We brought our own hot drink in a flask and made sandwiches the night before to take with us (which we stored in the car, which acts like a fridge when you are parked in the mountains!). Out of curiosity we checked the menus and drinks boards at the resort and figured we saved ourselves $40 at least by bringing our own snacks and drinks.

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Good things to know...

• If its your first time skiing, or maybe just first time in a while, you might be thinking about taking a lesson when you arrive. This is a good idea as skiing can cause injury if you don't know what you are doing. However skiing lessons can be extortionate, and this often drives a lot of people either away from the whole experience or leads to people going anyway (not something I'd recommend!). Many resorts however offer free lesson sessions on everything from learning the basics to using the lifts, call the resort to ask if there are any free sessions like this when you intend to go. Fortunately one of us was able to be taught by the other on the 'bunny hill' for an hour before we touched the real pistes.

 

• Perhaps the biggest mistake we made was not calling ahead to ask if helmets were included as a rental item. The website for the resort we visited (Sun Peaks in BC, Canada) listed the rental items and prices for goggles, skis/boards and poles, which led us to assume they didn't allow helmet rental. We decided to buy large youth helmets (half the price of adults and fit just fine) and then saw the helmets stacked for rental when we arrived. Although the helmets were only $30 each, renting one for $6 would have been much better!

 

• If you are not in your home country or do not have universal healthcare, be sure to check that your insurance covers winter sports. It's worth the few extra dollars to be safe from unexpected medical bills. If you are not sure if your covered, don't be afraid to call and ask (as Nick did with his insurance through university). We both brought our health cards (Caitlin's Canadian one and my insurance card) just in case of an accident.

 

• Need somewhere to stay? Check out your options before you book. It could be cheaper to stay just outside the resort town and there are often shuttle buses if you do not have access to a car.

Now you know how to potentially save yourself a lot of cash and still enjoy the rush that skiing brings! As always, if you have any questions about how we managed to go skiing for under $100 each, get in touch!

Adventure is just over the next hill

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