 Poster: A snowHead
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Before I start working this all out, has anyone costed skiing in NA vs Europe for a family of 4?
Given the current exchange rate, the US is potentially looking more appealing!
I'm looking to book Easter 2009 
A 6 day Les Arcs family pass works out as a eye watering 760€ = £606
cheers,
Greg
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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kitenski, I think the big thing with NA is that their lift passes to tend to be on the pricey side too...
However, if you're going during a peak week then you can get exceptional value compared to Europe. However, if the Easter holiday is around Easter next year that might not be so marked, as I suspect half of NA will be heading on their hols too.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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kitenski, Whistler's lift passes were eye-watering too.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| skisimon wrote: |
| kitenski, I think the big thing with NA is that their lift passes to tend to be on the pricey side too... |
Not necessarily true for a family. Many North American resort offer free skiing to under twelves, usually subject to you staying in resort-owned accommodation or buying an equal number of adult tickets. We've often skied in North America and I've hardly ever paid for my kids to ski.
Sometimes these deals aren't available if you book through a tour operator; sometimes they're only available if you book through a tour operator. You just need to do some careful research.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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me and my family were in les arcs for half term, and we worked out that for our lift pass each lift ride cost around 1.5euros, which aint bad considering it also covers piesting and patrolling ect, but for cheaper lift passes i guess head for smaller resorts 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Easter is not a public holiday in the US...............................but many people take their holiday then, anyway, and it often (usually) coincides with school spring break.
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It depends what accom you want, when and for how long. When we went annually to N.America (Canada, mainly), we stayed in decent hotels with at least one pool, large bedrooms and generally good facilities, usually in school Easter hols, for 2 weeks. Doing that was no more expensive than doing the same in Europe. But, if we'd have gone to Europe, it would've been for 1 week in a less comfortable hotel (or maybe s/c), which would have been cheaper. As has been said, there are deals on lift passes (and they didn't seem t be as expensive relative to Europe then).
Fx changed the equation, but my take is if you want 2 weeks of comfort, N.America will be as cheap, give or take. If you want 1 week of simpler accom, Europe will be cheaper. If you wany 2 weeks of simpler accom., don't ask me.
I thoroughly recommend N.America for a family ski hol., BTW.
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| skisimon wrote: |
kitenski, I think the big thing with NA is that their lift passes to tend to be on the pricey side too...
However, if you're going during a peak week then you can get exceptional value compared to Europe. However, if the Easter holiday is around Easter next year that might not be so marked, as I suspect half of NA will be heading on their hols too. |
Lots of US resorts offer "spring" season passes for $100ish from the end of March to boost the coffers & lock in new pasholders for the next winter (they credit the price against a full pass for the following year. Easter was really not busy at all where I was.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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ok, so thanks for all the replies so far. Given for Europe I tend to go with a family friendly small chalet company, sort out flights myself via Easyjet or jet2, any recommendations on resorts/companies I should be looking at for NA or Canada? Really don't want to ski East coast.......
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kitenski, Your main constraint may be the relatively late Easter in 2009. Some resorts close at the start of April - sometimes to hand the hill back to the wildlife. All our family ski holidays in the last 7 years have been in North America, but none that late. Flights, ski passes and accommodation should be a bit cheaper at that time of the year.
DIY is easy in the US/Canada. Ski Independence has some good liftpass deals and a good website and is a fair place to start browsing.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| kitenski wrote: |
A 6 day Les Arcs family pass works out as a eye watering 760€ = £606
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I've just read in another thread about someone getting a 12 day Colorado pass for $249 (i.e. £125), so at that rate, you could get 4x 12 day passes for £500. (The colorado pass covers you for 5 or 6 resorts, I believe)
eek! Just looked at a SEASON Colorado pass - $209 for a kid, $329 for a teen and $439 for an adult.
"The 2008/09 Colorado Pass is a season pass that is valid for unlimited, unrestricted skiing and riding at Keystone, Breckenridge and Arapahoe Basin, plus 10 days at Vail and Beaver Creek. These passes are restricted from use at Vail/Beaver Creek: November 28-29, 2008 December 27, 2008 - January 2, 2009 and February 14-15, 2009."
http://www.snow.com/passsales/info/coloradopass.asp
If you're just going to stick to Breck, Keystone and A-Basin, get the Summit Pass for $399/$199
So, for anyone thinking of taking a child to Colorado next season, that may be worth looking into.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| stoatsbrother wrote: |
kitenski, Your main constraint may be the relatively late Easter in 2009. Some resorts close at the start of April - sometimes to hand the hill back to the wildlife. All our family ski holidays in the last 7 years have been in North America, but none that late. Flights, ski passes and accommodation should be a bit cheaper at that time of the year.
DIY is easy in the US/Canada. Ski Independence has some good liftpass deals and a good website and is a fair place to start browsing. |
thanks alot, it does look like a good starting point. My kids will be 6 and 9 by next Easter, any recommended resorts I should be looking at?
regards,
Greg
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kitenski, my experience is that at busy times, such as school Easter hols, it's not possible (or very difficult) to beat TO prices. I avoid TOs whenever possible, for the usual reasons, but I could never beat them for Easter in N.America. Outside school hols, it isprobably a different story. We always bought our own passes, partly because the TO reps were incapable of doing the calculations necessary to work out which pass was best for us.
To generalise, chalets are less readily available in N.America than in Europe, but they are available. We always stayed in hotels, some of which provided a decent kitchen, so self catering was a (not very attractive) possibility.
We ususally skied in Banff, and invariably had good or very good conditions.
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You know it makes sense.
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richmond, I'm not so sure. At half term, I've never been able to beat the independent price by travelling with a tour operator. This year we saved around £1,000 by travelling independently and we also benefitted from much more convenient flights.
That might be because we've got three kids, though, and TOs don't cater for our family size. A few years back I called Virgin and asked for advice on a holiday for five with a guarantee that the kids would sleep in the same room as us or very close by. They had one holiday to offer me out of their whole brochure.
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