“Look Mommy! Look Mommy!” exclaimed my 3-year-old daughter early this morning.
At first I thought she was referring to the black marker I had set precariously close to the edge of the kitchen counter. It had rolled off twice while I was making breakfast and I figured she was warning me that we were in for a repeat performance.
“The Sharpie?” I asked.
“No, out there,” she cried pointing to the living room window.
I looked up from my toast and saw what had led her to excitement. Big, fat fluffy snowflakes were falling from the sky—the first ones of the season. Lucky (for me anyway) the sudden snow burst did not last long and every flake that fell quickly melted as it touched the ground.
Of course, I know there are tens of thousands of others who witnessed this morning’s flurries and made mental notes to call area ski resorts. A quick Internet check revealed that as of today a handful of Wisconsin resorts are already open and several more are expected to follow suit any day now. The same is true for other popular ski areas in Colorado, California, Vermont and Utah. The snow cover may be limited right now, but the early season deals aren’t.
If you can’t wait until December to hit the slopes consider taking advantage of the following pre-season ski deals.
COLORADO
Would you believe Arapahoe Basin has already been open for more than a month? The resort kicked off the 2007-2008 season in early October and is now offering top-to-bottom skiing. Lift tickets are $45 through December 14th. But, Arapahoe is not alone. Copper and Keystone opened two weeks ago and is currently offering early-season tickets for less than $60. And if you stay overnight the deals get even better. Copper is offering three days of lodging and lift tickets at Copper starting at $81 per person/per day through November 21st and they’ll throw in a fourth night and daily lift ticket for free. At Keystone, Early Bird packages, including lodging and lift tickets, start at $92 per person/per day through November 20th. As for the rest of the state, Breckenridge, Loveland and Wolf Creek are also open, with Crested Butte, Vail and Winter Park expected to be up and running in the next few days.
CALIFORNIA
Always popular (see: crowded) Mammoth Mountain opened for the season on November 8th. Currently, one run and one lift are operating and you only have to pay $35 per person per day to get in on the action. Or, you could take advantage of the First Tracks package and spend the night in a great hotel and get lift tickets, for $115 per person per night through December 19th. Meanwhile, at Lake Tahoe, Heavenly is open and Northstar-at-Tahoe is up and running as well.
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