Lift-ticket deals: Less green stuff, more white stuff

IF a ski or snowboard trip induces euphoria, the first trip to the ticket window may provoke just the opposite.

Daily lift tickets at many of the larger U.S. ski resorts now top $80.

But those prices fluctuate wildly depending on when you buy. There’s early, pre-Christmas, holiday (read: most expensive), regular, mid-, high, bargain and late season. And certain ski areas keep ticket-window prices secret until the last minute.

Beyond the lodging packages and occasional youth or military discounts, there are more fluid deals on daily lift tickets at Western resorts. Here is a sampling. Because prices fluctuate, some may no longer be available.

Ski free. Jackson Hole, Wyo., has a freebie deal with no blackout dates. Fly into nearby Jackson, present your boarding pass at Jackson Hole Sports (located slope-side) and ski free the day you arrive. They’ll even throw in free equipment rental. From Southland airports, you can hit the trails by late morning.

To entice visitors to drive to the east side of Utah’s Wasatch Mountains, the Park City Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau offers a day-of-arrival Salt Lake City pass to the Canyons, Deer Valley or Park City resorts. Register online at www.parkcityinfo.com/skiing/quickstart/, then print and take a voucher to a ticket window.

Colorado’s Copper Mountain offers a two-for-one deal for Frontier Airlines’ Denver passengers upon presentation of a same-day boarding pass. If you leave Los Angeles or Orange County on an early flight, expect to arrive around 1 p.m.

Skiers and others flying Delta Airlines into Hayden airport (officially called Yampa Valley Regional Airport), which serves Steamboat Springs, Colo., also can get a deal. You must be a SkyMiles frequent-flier member and present a boarding pass with your account number at a resort ticket window. With a noonish arrival and 22 miles to the ski hill, you essentially get a complimentary afternoon pass.

Through retailers. Safeway, King Soopers (a grocery chain in Colorado), Walgreens and some sporting goods stores in Colorado’s Front Range communities carry discounted passes to Arapahoe Basin, Breckenridge, Copper, Crested Butte, Keystone, Loveland and Winter Park.

At REI stores in the Bay Area or Sacramento, members can purchase $44 tickets to Mt. Rose at Lake Tahoe. These stores and the Reno outlet also sell discounts to Kirkwood ($56), Northstar ($56), Sierra-at-Tahoe ($56, including a $5 retail or food voucher), Squaw Valley ($60) and, during non-holiday periods, Sugar Bowl ($44).

You can pick up a voucher for Sierra-at-Tahoe or Northstar at sporting-goods stores in the Bay Area, California’s Central Valley and in Reno for $44, good through Dec. 23, Jan. 2-13 and March 20 until the end of the season. Or go to a Safeway for a $109 ticket good for two out of three days. Details: www.northstarattahoe.com/info/ski/tickets-passes/ticket-deals.asp.

Online: Alpine Meadows, one of the least expensive resorts, knocks off $3 to $10 per iRide ticket purchased online at www.skialpine.com/winter/tickets/IRIDE.

Daily passes for Kirkwood purchased at www.skikirkwood.com/e-commerce/ qualify for a $5 reduction. Or get two consecutive days for $99.

In Utah, the Super Pass (www.ski-saltlake.com) can be loaded with two to six days at Alta (no snowboarding), Brighton, Snowbird and Solitude. It costs about $48 a day, a savings of $4 to $16 each day. The pass includes round-trip transit on city buses from Salt Lake City and is sold online through Travelocity, www.travelocity.com (click on the activities tab).

Try emerging online reseller www.liftopia.com for tickets to Colorado’s Arapahoe Basin ($46.20) and Crested Butte ($68.90) and a smattering of other resorts.

Packages: Locally, Bear Mountain and Snow Summit have a $115 ticket good for two consecutive days of skiing at peak times. Individual lift tickets for peaks cost $62. And at Mountain High in Wrightwood, a six-pack, good for non-peak times, will cost you $179, a savings of $115.

California’s Mammoth will reduce its midweek rates soon after the New Year to $55 a day. The lift tickets must be purchased at least three days in advance at (800) 626-6684, and give access to the slopes on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from Jan. 9 to Feb. 1.

Mt. Rose packs the calendar with attractive offers. Ski Fridays and Saturdays or Saturdays and Sundays for $99. Mom, Dad and two kids can ride any day for $116 total. Wait until Tuesdays and get a two-for-one. For $19, women can enjoy the slopes on Thursdays.

Vail Resorts tout the alluring Perfect 10 promotion, which bestows 10 days at Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Vail and Heavenly in California for $439, a substantial discount from ski areas where individual lift tickets cost nearly twice as much.

Purchase the pass at www.snow.com or any ticket window. Use it after Jan. 2 and once before Jan. 31.

*

travel@latimes.com

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Click or call

*--* Resort Rate* Online Phone Alpine Meadows $46 skialpine.com (530) 583-4232 Alta $52 alta.com (801) 359-1078 Arapahoe Basin ** arapahoebasin.com (888) 272-7246 Bear Mountain $49 bearmtn.com (909) 585-2519 Beaver Creek ** beavercreek.snow.com (888) 830-7669 Breckenridge $81 breckenridge.snow.com (800) 789-7669 Brighton $47 skibrighton.com (800) 873-5512 The Canyons $70 thecanyons.com (435) 649-5400 Copper Mountain $79 coppercolorado.com (866) 841-2481 Crested Butte $74 skicb.com (800) 810-7669 Deer Valley $77 deervalley.com (888) 754-8477 Heavenly ** skiheavenly.com (800) 432-8365 Jackson $72 jacksonhole.com (888) 333-7766 Keystone $81 keystone.snow.com (800) 344-8878 Kirkwood $67 www.kirkwood.com (209) 258-6000 Loveland $52 skiloveland.com (800) 736-3754 Mammoth $78 mammothmountain.com (800)626-6684 Mountain High $49 mthigh.com (888) 754-7878 Mt. Rose $58 mtrose.com (800) 754-7673 Northstar $69 northstarattahoe.com (800) 466-6784 Park City $71 parkcitymountain.com (800) 331-3178 Sierra-at-Tahoe $61 sierraattahoe.com (530) 659-7453 Snowbasin $60 www.snowbasin.com (888) 437-5488 Snowbird $64 snowbird.com (800) 232-9542 Snow Summit $49 snowsummit.com (909) 866-5766 Solitude $53 skisolitude.com (801) 534-1400 Squaw Valley $69 squaw.com (530) 583-6985 Steamboat $79 steamboat.com (877) 237-2628 Sugar Bowl $50 sugarbowl.com (530) 426-9000 Vail ** vail.snow.com (877) 204-7881 Winter Park $79 skiwinterpark.com (303) 316-1564

*--*

* Regular season adult rate

** Rates not available

Note: Holiday rates may be higher