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I’ve written previously about how booking a ski trip well in advance can slash the costs of what is otherwise an expensive addiction. While it might seem counterintuitive, the end of winter is the best time to start planning your next one – whether in Australia or abroad.
For example: ever dreamed of skiing the luxurious pistes of Aspen Snowmass? A walk-up day ticket to the slope of choice for celebrities such as Mariah Carey and Elton John costs around $280. Book your jaunt to the northern hemisphere winter by October 31 and you can bring that price down to a steal of just $60.
Here’s how – the barely advertised Ski30 pass is a pass exclusive to Australians who book lodging packages at Aspen, offering up to 30 consecutive days of skiing making the ticket cost equivalent of $60 per day.
Even if you ski for two weeks, the equivalent $120 is half what Australian resorts (that are smaller and have far less snow) charge (a day at Perisher or Thredbo is around $250). Bring your kids 12 and under and they’ll ski free if you rent skis from Aspen’s Four Mountain Sports.
Booking a package through companies such as Sno’N’Ski, Travelplan, SkiMax or Ski Aspen scores you accommodation discounts of 20-30 per cent at Aspen and many ski destinations around the world. I’ve travelled with Ski Japan and Travelplan, who saved me countless hours and dollars by organising trips end-to-end at rates.
It’s impossible to match the industry rates they get by piecing things together on your own – trust me, I’ve tried. Beware of blackout dates, though. Book outside of school holidays for the lowest prices and to avoid the crowds of ocker accents.
The sweet spot for powder snow and palatable prices comes after Australia Day. Aim for the weeks between January 30 and February 14 – northern hemisphere holidays kick in later including the chaotic President’s Day Weekend in the USA.
Alternatively, spring skiing offers even cheaper rates, and snow quality can be similar to or better than peak season in Australia. Big Sky Resort in Montana knocks as much as 50 per cent off its ticket price during March and April, while the snow coverage is still excellent and there are more daylight hours to explore. Having skied in Big Sky in the depths of mid-winter at minus 21 degrees, with fingers that froze no matter how many layers I wore, I can tell you the shoulder season requires less acclimatisation.
March and April can be fantastic at colder and higher mountains in Canada and the northern US, but Japan and Europe have more fickle weather in spring and tend to lose snow rapidly. Beware the relative late-season warmth and stick to higher-elevation mountains.
Importantly, those who skied at Hotham, Perisher or Falls Creek in 2025 on an Epic Australia Pass can avoid buying lift tickets altogether at more than 90 resorts worldwide. The pass covers big-name resorts such as Hakuba, Verbier in Europe, Whistler in Canada and Vail in the USA. If you don’t have one, next year’s pass is cheapest when you buy it before October 15. It costs $1045 and you’ll gain access to overseas resorts in the following winter of 2026-27. This works out to $149 per day if you ski just seven days, and drops the more you ski.
Thredbo and Mt Buller are covered by a similar equivalent known as the Ikon Pass. It is about $1600 when bought in May (end of the northern winter season), and gives you only seven days of skiing at each resort. But it covers some of the more interesting and unique ski areas in the world – including Aspen Snowmass, Revelstoke in Canada, Chamonix in France, St Moritz in Switzerland and Niseko in Japan.
Clearly, the value of these multi-resort passes increases the more places you can build into an itinerary. Planning a road trip around Colorado in the USA gives you great bang for your buck with access to more than 30 ski areas in a single state – most covered by the Epic or Ikon passes. If you don’t like driving, settle in a spot surrounded by mountains and free shuttle buses to the slopes such as Banff in Canada, where you can access the “big three” of the Canadian Rockies on an Ikon Pass: Banff Sunshine, Lake Louise Ski Resort and Mt Norquay.
Alternatively, avoid Epic and Ikon altogether and look for local gems with back-in-time prices. Myoko Kogen in Japan may have smaller mountains, but they are often totally deserted and day lift tickets are as low as $40. Free shuttle buses run to five ski areas close to town, and there are nine resorts in the greater region.
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