Ski Hostels Send Costs Downhill

A ski or snowboard vacation at many of North America’s top winter resorts can be a challenge on a student’s budget. But there are ways to cut costs.

One way to find deals is to monitor the Internet sites of agencies that specialize in travel for students, such as Council Travel (www.counciltravel.com) and STA Travel (www.statravel.com). Another method is to watch for deals on the resorts’ Internet sites. A third option is to stay at youth hostels at or near the ski areas. Few impose age restrictions, and many offer discounted packages that bundle lift tickets and lodgings.

This winter Hostelling International-American Youth Hostels has 31 hostels near popular ski regions, including (although at higher than usual rates) Salt Lake City, where the 2002 Winter Olympics will be held Feb. 8 to 24.

At the Salt Lake City Youth Hostel, dormitory beds, which usually start at $14 per night, are booked completely during the Olympics, www.slc2002.org. But before and after the Olympics, the hostel has three- and seven-day ski packages, which include beds in a shared room for two, ski rentals, lift passes and ski bus transportation. Five blocks east of Temple Square and near a ski bus pickup point, the hostel is 28 miles from the Big or Little Cottonwood Canyons ski areas, which include Alta, Snowbird, Solitude and Brighton, and 31 miles from Park City, site of the Olympic ski/snowboarding events. Snowbasin and Powder Mountain are a one-hour drive. Salt Lake City Youth Hostel, 107 F St.; (801) 359-3855.

In Breckenridge, Colo., the Fireside Inn, affiliated with Hostelling International, is a 10-minute walk to the shuttle bus for the ski area. Hostel guests can get discounts on ski lifts and equipment. Dormitory and private rooms cost from $30 to $175 per night. Fireside Inn, 114 N. French St.; (970) 453-6456, www.firesideinn.com.

Aspen, Snowmass, Vail, Buttermilk, Highlands and Beaver Creek are all within an hour’s drive of Glenwood Springs, location of the Glenwood Springs Hostel. It offers discount ski rentals and lift tickets, starting at $35 for Aspen. (Round-trip bus service to Aspen costs $6.) Dormitory accommodations cost $12 per night, or $39 for four nights. Glenwood Springs Hostel, 1021 Grand Ave.; (800) 9-HOSTEL (946-7835) or (970) 945-8545, www.rof.net/yp/gwshostel.

For details on youth hostels in ski areas log onto www.hiayh.org/ whatsnew/ski.htm. HI-AYH adult membership is $25 per year. Hostels usually charge $3 to $5 more per night for nonmembers. To find independent hostels in or near U.S. ski areas, check out Ski Country Hostels, members.aol.com/th lodge/skiusa.htm.

This season Hostelling International-Canada has 17 ski and snowboard packages at resorts from British Columbia to Quebec.

One of North America’s top-ranked ski resorts, Whistler/Blackcomb, has accommodations in dormitory rooms for $12 to $15 per night.

“I never thought I would wind up here, because I’m not a resort kind of person,” said Kerry Thompson, a 31-year-old Whistler Hostel employee, “but the hostel is out of town, rustic and cozy.” One of its highlights, Thompson said, is the beautiful view: “You can look up from the hostel in the morning and see the runs.”

HI-Whistler is 90 minutes north of Vancouver and five miles from the night life of Whistler Village. A local bus carries skiers and snowboarders to the resort for $1. The hostel has a kitchen so guests can cook their own meals and a comfortable place to relax by a fireplace. Reservations are recommended: HI-Whistler, 5678 Alta Lake Road; (604) 932-5492, www.hihostels.bc.ca. Lift passes range from $24 to $41. BC Rail’s Caribou Prospector passes by the hostel’s back door and will stop if requested in advance; (800) 663-8238, www.bcrail.com.

For cross-country skiers there are trails at Alta Lake, and Bigfoot Adventure Tours, (888) 244-6673,offers door-to-door round-trip transportation from Vancouver for $31.

HI-Banff is offering one-, three- and five-night packages that include a lift ticket valid at Banff Mt. Norquay, Sunshine Village and Lake Louise, transportation to and from the ski areas and breakfast. HI-Banff is on Tunnel Mountain Road, about a two-mile, $1 bus ride from the hub of Banff village. You can make your own meals in the hostel’s kitchen, or you can try the restaurant and pub.

The one-day ski package costs about $49 to $55; three days, which include one free night skiing at Banff Mt. Norquay, are $135 to $161 per person; and five days, which include one free night skiing at Banff Mt. Norquay, are $226 to $269 per person. 801 Coyote Drive; (403) 762-4122, www.hostellingintl.ca/alberta.

For inexpensive lodgings at Quebec’s Mont-Tremblant (the highest peak in the Laurentian Mountains and the biggest ski resort in eastern North America), you can stay at Mont Tremblant International Youth Hostel, 2213 Chemin Principal, Village Mont-Tremblant; (819) 425-6008, www.hostellingtremblant.com. Ninety minutes north of Montreal, the hostel features an English pub and offers two nights’ accommodation and two lift tickets from $72 per person.

HI-Canada ski and snowboard package rates are for HI members. Nonmember rates are also available. For details log onto www.hihostels.ca. You can get information on independent ski hostels in Canada online at Canadian Ski Hostels, www.canadianskihostels.com, and a listing of HI and independent Canadian ski hostels is at Ski Country Hostels Canada, members.aol.com/thlodge/skican.htm.

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Lucy Izon is a Toronto-based freelance travel writer and author of “Izon’s Backpacker Journal.” Her Web site is www.izon.com.