Make ski resort losses your gain this year

Skiers are winners in the current recession. Lodges and resorts out west are offering generous deals to put you on their powder. So, if you have a bit of extra cash on hand and the urge to hit the slopes, there's never been a better time to be alive.

In the Aspen/Snowmass area, you can get a free flight, a free night's stay and a free lift ticket. Of course, there's a catch. You're total stay has to stretch to five-days/four-nights, and you need to pay for one of the two airline tickets – which have to be on Frontier Airlines.

Vail Resorts, with properties in Colorado and on the California/Nevada border, can get you three nights in a room and three days on the hills for the price of two at its Heavenly Resort or Lakeside Inn & Casino. RockResorts, which operates on the luxury end of the scale, is kicking in a free night, a bottle of wine and a $50 gift card for guests who stay at least two nights.

These types of deal are rare this time of year, when skiers normally flock to the slopes. But, times are tough. Visits to Vail Resorts are down 5.8 percent (through January 4, 2009), and revenue from lift tickets is down 7.5 percent. Bookings through the end of last year ... down 14.8 percent. More and more reservations are hitting at the last minute. For the airlines and resorts, this is brutal, and they're willing to go the extra mile, it seems, to get you to dig into your wallet.

[Via NY Times, where more deals are listed]

Filed under: Skiing, Hotels and Accommodations