The Deals Are Out There.  Time To Act.

Mike “Bear Trap” Warner is a former ski instructor committed to finding discounts for seniors.

[Editor Note: Mike “Bear Foot” Warner produces SeniorsSkiDeals.com which publishes the prices of top ski resorts and offers advice on where to find the best discounts and when to buy.] 

If you are a senior skier and are planning to ski over a week this winter, you might want to consider buying a season pass. The ski resorts’ season passes  listed here are worth buying if you plan on skiing four or five days at one area. Telluride 70+ Season Pass is $900 while Aspen is $499. With daily lift tickets at $114 on a week’s ski trip you would buy the pass in Aspen but not at Telluride. There is also insurance available for your pass if you need to cancel your trip.

When Alex Cushing owned Squaw Valley, kids up to 12 and seniors 65 and over skied for free. His thinking was the kids would love the sport and come back for 60 years, and the seniors were being rewarded for a lifetime of lift tickets. Now seniors are a profit center for most resorts. An article appeared in Huffington Post in 2015 of 108 ski area’s with free lift tickets for seniors. This year of the 100 top rated ski resorts from ZRankings.com only four offer free skiing for 70+ skiers.

There are a number of ski areas that still offer very good senior season pass rates. Below is a list of the resorts that still offer real deals to 65+ or 70+ senior skiers. These resorts make it worthwhile to buy their pass if you plan to ski there five days or more.

Eastern skiers will be surprised, or already know, that there is only one good deal offered out of the top ranked 17 ski resorts. Out of the top 11 Canadian ski resorts, again only one deal is posted. An example is Killington’s senior pass 65-79 costs $659. The online daily lift ticket is $70. So you’re better off buying lift tickets if you ski nine days or less there.

California:

Heavenly Valley 65+ Epic Value Pass $389

Also good discounts with restrictions at Northstar and Kirkwood.

Homewood 62-69 $349

Diamond Peak 65-69 $169

Mammouth: 65-79 $499

Also good discounts at June, Bear Valley, Snow Summit

Utah

Sundance 65+ $150

Beaver Mountain 70+ $100

Eagle Point 62-69 $ 239  70+ $199

Idaho

Bogus Basin 70+ $229

Tamarack 70+ $199

Colorado

Aspen 70+ $499

Winter Park 60-69 $ 429 70+ $339

Loveland 60-69 $ 399 70+ $99

Copper Mountain 65+ $319

Wolf Creek 65+ $323

Also good discounts at Snowmass, Buttermilk, and Highlands

Montana

Whitefish Mountain 70+ Free

Oregon

Timberline 65-70 $ 169 71+ Free

Mt. Hood Ski Bowl 65-70 $ 149  71+ Free

Washington

Mt. Baker 70+ $ 125

Stevens Pass 70+ $ 99

White Pass 73+ $ 20

Vermont

Smugglers Notch Resort 70+ $29

British Columbia

White Water 70+ Free

12 Comments

  1. Eldora seasons pass is $309. Just bought mine. It’s easier than mooching lift tockets.

  2. Howard Trachtenberg says:

    Killington has an Unlimited SuperSenior (80+) for $59. That is not a typo!

  3. I tried to find the list on ZRANKINGS of free skiing, couldn’t find it, however, based upon my own experience, it’s not a very good list.
    Here’s my list of ski areas that I go to that offer a “free” senior season pass for a nominal one time charge of under 70 bucks:
    ALTA
    LOVELAND
    KILLINGTON
    HUNTER [NOT ADVERTISED]
    MOUNTAIN CREEK [FREE FREE]
    All of the above are offered for sale on the telephone.
    I’m sure that there are more, however, that’s enough skiing for me [80+]. I highly recommend that youse guys [New Jersey] make a phone call and if they don’t, tell them
    that you’re not dead yet and that an almost free pass might result in your buying a $12 dollar hamburger.

  4. Snowbasin has 75+ unlimited season pass for $69 (initially $49).
    Powder Mtn has same for $20.
    Both are in Utah near Ogden.
    One of these resorts also offers 2 free tix at partner resorts in CO.

  5. Your list is woefully inadequate. For example, both Squaw and Snowbasin offer senior and super senior passes with some serious discounts.

  6. A Colorado mountain you forgot is Monarch, For us 70+ ers the daily ticket is free and the season pass is just a $20.00 admin fee, with extra benefits attached at the ski area.

  7. Squaw Valley / Alpine Meadows offers a “Super Senior” (76+) unrestricted “Gold” pass for $459 (thru Oct. 10) – also includes 50% off at all “Mountain Collective” resorts (that includes Alta, Aspen, Jackson, Mammoth, Sun Valley, and Taos, among others). (OR, the “Silver”, for $349: 10 blackout dates, and without the “Collectives”.) If you get the pass the preceding spring it’s an even better deal; I signed up last April for 2017-2018, $389 for the Gold.

    Interestingly, a few seasons ago, they appeared to have discontinued the “Super Senior” rate and offered only the considerably more pricey “Senior” (65+) option. I sent them an indignant email complaint expressing my strong disappointment, and, to my great delight and amazement, they then REINSTATED the “Super Senior” deal. Presumably, I was not the only customer to do so – maybe sometimes the squeaky wheel actually DOES get attention! In any case, I’ll take it!

  8. Hey Bear Trap, when comparing lift ticket prices these days you have to mention the deals that are available on line. Yeah, I know that would be another article or list of websites, but even a few days in advance there are substantial individual day pass discounts that can be found.

  9. I never liked season passes because they tie me down to a single ski area for the whole winter. But in recent years, I got hooked on the multi-ski area passes. Three of them are very interesting:

    1. Powder Alliance. Buy a season pass to one of the 16 ski areas throughout Western US, and get 3 free ski days at each of the other 15 ski areas. The price varies depending on the cost of you home area pass. In Oregon, the Fusion Pass gives you unlimited skiing at Timberline and Skibowl plus 3 free ski days at each of the remaining 14 ski areas, for a total of 42 free days, and it costs just $269 for seniors (65+), or only $50 for super-seniors (71+).

    2. The Mountain Collective pass gives you just 2 free days at each of 16 ski areas, for a total of 32 days for $469.

    3. The Epic Pass is valid only for Vail resorts, 10 of them in the US plus 4 others in New Zealand and Australia. There is no senior discount. The Epic Pass costs $879, the most expensive all 3 passes mentioned here. But considering that a day lift ticket at Vail now costs $169, this pass is a real bargain if you will ski a lot in Colorado and around Lake Tahoe.

    Check out each pass to see which ski areas are involved. If your home ski area is included, these are some of the best deals around.

  10. Edward Cocca says:

    Whistler-Blackcombe in BC offers a Senior Season Pass for $163.00 CD which equates to $!46.00 USD. I know because I bought one.
    Think snow,
    Ed

    • How did you buy your pass ? I can not find it on their website!

      Did you just buy it or did you buy it before Vail bought them out?

  11. Gore Mountain in North Creek, NY owned and operated by New York State has a Sr. pass at 70+ for $249. It allows you to ski Gore, Whiteface and Bellayre all owned and operated by NYS. They also have a Sr. frequent skier pass, Empire Card as well. One for age 65 and another at 70+. First ticket free, every 6th ticket free and all others at discount rate for the season. The best deal around for New York is McCauley Mountain in Old Forge, NY (Central Adirondacks) 60+ $99 for season pass all privileges included

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*