Europe Beckons Skiers as Dollar Strengthens

Would-be ski bums on the East Coast who are thinking about making a late-season trip to the Rockies should think again. With the dollar two years into a rally against major European currencies, a ski vacation in the Alps has become a relative bargain for Americans.

The dollar’s value during the past year is up 10% to 20% against the currencies of the Alpine countries: Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland. That means, in theory at least, a dollar buys that much more in goods and services in those countries since last March. The dollar has risen most against the Swiss franc, up 23%.

For Felipe and Elizabeth Macia, who already had enough American Airlines frequent-flier miles to get them to either place, the strong dollar was the deciding factor.

“We wanted to go to Europe and we wanted to go skiing,” said Felipe, a Latin American banker at Societe Generale Securities in New York who taught skiing as an undergraduate at the University of Vermont. “When we asked around and looked at the prices, [Europe] was more reasonable than the States.”

The Macias flew into Malpensa, Italy, and took a bus to Milan for about $7 each. From there, they drove with four friends to the town of Corvarra, in the Italian Alps.

A train from Milan to the town of Brunico costs about $50 (80,000 lira) and a bus from Brunico to Corvarra runs about $10. A similar-length van trip to Colorado’s Vail resort from Denver International Airport costs about $65 per person, said Paul Witt, a spokesman at Vail Associates, which manages the Vail and Beaver Creek resorts.

In Corvarra, the Macias met up with four friends and rented a two-room apartment with a pull-out couch, kitchen and balcony overlooking the mountain. Many hotels in the Dolomites charge by the bed, not by the room. In Corvarra, the Macias and their friends paid about $30 a person.

In the Rockies, a room in the lodge at Utah’s Alta resort starts at $90 and an “intermediate” room fetches $225 a night in Vail, one of Colorado’s glitziest spots.