YOUR AD HERE »

Mirror mirror on the wall, is Aspen the most expensive ski trip of them all?

Staff report
People buy lift tickets and pick up their season passes in the office at Aspen Mountain earlier this month.
Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times

The world’s largest vacation rental search engine created a Colorado Ski Price index that looks at the cost of vacations at 14 resorts. It probably would shock no one that Aspen came in as one of the most expensive, trailing only Beaver Creek.

HomeToGo estimated the expense of a ski trip to Aspen at nearly $550 per person per day. That was without bells and whistles. The price included one night of accommodation, a single-day lift ticket, a cheeseburger and fries on the hill and ski rentals.

“Colorado is consistently one of the most searched winter destinations in America, and we hope this guide helps travelers find the best skiing for their dollar,” Mike Pearce, U.S. country manager for HomeToGo, said in a statement.



The top three resorts for cheapest ski vacation were Monarch Mountain at $229.19 per person per day; Purgatory Resort at $279.47; and Arapahoe Basin at $282.32, according to the price index.

The three most expensive resorts were Beaver Creek at $632.02; Aspen at $548.57; and Vail at $518.22.




The average price for a ski trip at the 14 resorts was $389 per day, about $159.50 less than the average Aspen daily expense.

The price for lodging was determined through HomeToGo’s own metasearch data. It is the average price per person, per night to stay in a four-person or more rental unit found in the resorts between Dec. 1 and April 20. In Aspen, HomeToGo found the average to be $286.62.

The lift ticket price was for a full day of skiing for an adult Feb. 15. The prices might include a discount, such as buying in advance online. For Aspen, the price index used a price of $184.

The lunch price included a cheeseburger and fries using the Yelp $$ category. Aspen-Snowmass came in at $21.

Ski rentals were based on the price for intermediate-level skis, boots and poles for one person Feb. 22. The price in Aspen was listed as $56.95.

Monarch topped the list for affordable skiing in large part because of its lodging, located in Salida. The average price per night during the course of the season is $91.19, the price index showed. Aspen was notable for a different reason in accommodations.

“Nine of the 14 ski areas have accommodations that are 50 percent or less than the average price of accommodations in Aspen,” HomeToGo’s news release said.