Backpack & Budget : Cheap Sleeps Near Winter Resort Areas

Skiers can sleep for less than $20 near many of North America’s most popular winter resorts.

In Canada and the United States, more than 60 hostels are situated near major downhill and cross-country ski areas. Rates for a bed in a dormitory-style room average $7 to $20 per bed, per night. Some hostels also have packages that include lift tickets.

You can find out about these types of facilities through tourist information offices, guidebooks and the hostels themselves. (Some hostels are linked through associations; other independent hostels tend to promote each other.)

Most hostels have cooking facilities, allowing travelers to avoid expensive resort restaurants. Hostels also help solo travelers keep their costs down if they don’t mind sharing a room with a stranger. Some hostels, such as the Hostelling International (HI) facilities in Lake Louise and Banff, Alberta, in the Canadian Rockies, have private rooms for couples and families.

Here are some of the sites and packages available through Hostelling International this winter. The rates are set for HI members; non-members may be asked to pay a surcharge.

The 32-bed Winter Park, Colo., hostel (telephone 303-726-5356) is at an altitude of about 9,000 feet, right at Winter Park’s Mary Jane ski area, which has 106 trails and 20 lifts.

Visitors can also take advantage of 60 miles of groomed cross-country trails, plus a 3,000-foot alpine slide. There is also winter inner-tubing. The hostel has many double rooms and is within walking distance of services. Beds are $11 per night.

The 22-bed Hilton Creek International hostel (tel. 619-935-4989), which is on the eastern slope of the California Sierra, normally charges $11 (plus tax) per bed, per night. It also offers “Introduction to Ski Touring” packages for backcountry explorers. Cross-country ski equipment is available for rent, and there is a hot tub.

The 40-bed Pocono Hostel (tel. 717-676-9076) is one of nine Pennsylvania hostels near downhill and cross-country ski areas. This rustic lodge, where beds are available for $8 per night, is only two hours from New York City and is close to 10 downhill ski areas, including Mt. Pocono, Alpine Mountain and Camelback.

Travelers can relax by a wood stove in the century-old, 18-bed Trojan Horse hostel in Ludlow, Vt. (tel. 802-228-5244). It’s near the Okemo Mountain ski area and within 25 miles of nine other ski areas, including Killington and Stratton Mountain.

For more information, contact the hostels directly or the headquarters for Hostelling International-American Youth Hostels, 733 15th St. N.W., No. 840, Washington, D.C. 20005; tel. (202) 783-6161. In Santa Monica, there is an office at 1434 2nd St.; tel. (310) 393-3413.

Canada’s Lake Louise is a World Heritage Site. Its 100-bed Hostelling International hostel (tel. 403-522-2200) has a stone fireplace and is operated with the assistance of the Alpine Club of Canada. This winter, travelers can arrange a bed for a night plus a one-day lift pass (including breakfast and a shuttle bus to the mountain) for about $37. There are also three-day versions of this package that range from $134 to $140, depending on the date of your visit.

Overnight accommodations at the 154-bed Banff International Hostel, with lift tickets and bus transportation to the Mt. Norquay or Sunshine ski areas is $46 for one day or $129 for three days.

Ski-and-sleep packages are available for the 52 trails at Marmot Basin in Jasper National Park. You can stay at Whistler’s Mountain Hostel, or the Athabasca Falls and Maligne Canyon hostels. One-day ski-and-sleep packages range from about $26 to $30. Reservations must be made through the Hostelling International Travel Shop in Edmonton; call (403) 439-3139.

In Kamloops, British Columbia, along the Trans-Canada Highway, an old courthouse has been converted into the 92-bed Kamloops Hostel. The dining area is the former courtroom with the original prisoner and witness boxes, judge’s bench and jury seats. Ski-and-sleep packages, which include accommodations and a lift ticket to use at Sun Peaks Resort at Todd Mountain, are available for one night for $31. A one-day lift pass with two nights’ accommodations is $39. Call the hostel at (604) 828-7991.

You can ski the Apex Alpine Ski Resort in the Okanogan area of British Columbia for one day and stay a night at the Penticton Hostel (tel. 604-492-3992) for $32. Two nights’ accommodations and a one-day lift pass costs $40. Bus transportation to Apex Mountain is included.

Hostelling International members can purchase discounted lift tickets for Blackcomb and Whistler Mountains at British Columbia’s popular 33-bed Whistler Hostel (tel. 604-932-5492).

For reservations, contact the hostels directly. For more information on Hostelling International in Canada, call the national office at (613) 748-5638.