Tips for Buying a Ski Season Pass

The itch usually starts in the late summer and early fall, just when the leaves begin to change. You tell anyone that will listen "I'm gonna ski a hundred days this year", including yourself. You go on to say that you're definitely going to get a seasons pass at the biggest, baddest resort around. All good intentions aside, choosing a ski pass should be about honesty and not pre-season gusto, because after all if your ski pass goes unused it's just a waste of money. Take it from personal experience.

There are many factors to buying a ski season pass you must consider before making the actual purchase. If you live in an area with a few ski hills to choose from you should narrow it down to the hill you'll be getting that pass for. Ask yourself if you'll even want to ski one hill all year, over and over. If you think you may get bored skiing one hill, see which of your local hills have teamed up to offer passes that are redeemable at other ski hills (many resorts in the Canadian Rockies do just that). If that isn't the case for you but you still want the variety of many hills then perhaps a pass just isn't for you.

You'll also have to consider your proximity to the ski hills of your choice. Sure, the big European style resort mountain is 2 hours away, but your local hill may just be a twenty minute drive, door-to-door. So while the big resort might be an awesome hill to ski, you'll have to ask yourself at which hill you'll get the most skiing for your money. A lot of times the local hill wins because of night skiing, while the big resorts often don't offer that. A quick mid-week ski is a nice luxury not everyone has so taking advantage could tip the scales in getting a pass.