12 mistakes to avoid when buying a ski lift pass this winter

There’s no denying it, a week’s lift pass is not cheap. In the past week, former Italian ski champion Paolo De Chiesa claimed, “Skiing is becoming a sport for the elite,” citing lift pass prices in his home country had risen for the third season in a row.

Indeed, in many European resorts a week’s adult lift pass now costs more than €400 (£330). But unless you are a fully committed ski tourer who shuns the lift system entirely, it is a ski holiday essential.

The good news is lift pass companies no longer have a one-size-fits-all approach. Long gone are the days when it was simply a choice of buying a pass for the number of days you would be skiing or snowboarding – with each winter comes a raft of new initiatives from resorts.

This season, Les 3 Vallées – the world’s largest ski area, in France – has replaced its Family Pass with the Family Flex pass, whereby groups of three or more (one to two adults and up to six juniors aged five to 17) can ski for five days (or more) at the junior rate of £276.17 per person, which also includes a bonus day of six days for the price of five.

In Scandinavia, the seven resorts marketed by Norway Home of Skiing – including Myrkdalen, Geilo, Beitostølen and Gausta – have partnered with resorts in Andorra to offer five free days of skiing between the destinations for season pass holders.

Don’t fall into the trap of buying the default standard pass; read on for the mistakes to avoid, and follow these tips to make significant savings on your lift pass this season.

1. Do not buy your lift pass in resort

Buy your lift pass online, in advance and you will save money on the walk-up price at the lift pass office. For example, you can save up to 30 per cent in Verbier, or up to a staggering 60 per cent in Whistler Blackcomb. Some resorts mix up the savings, so for example in Megève, buy a lift pass for a minimum of six days at least 10 days in advance and you will get a day thrown in free of charge – six days for the price of five.

2. Bring your ID

If you are over the age of 70, or booking passes for juniors, check the savings available for young and old skiers, as it varies from resort to resort. For example, in Tignes-Val d’Isère, France, and Pila, Italy, children up to eight years old ski free of charge, while in Igls, Austria, children under 10 can ski for €2 (£1.65) a day. At the other end of the age spectrum, adults aged 71 and over have a significantly reduced rate in Les Deux Alpes, while over-75s can ski for nothing in Les 3 Vallées and the Grand Massif.

These discounted rates are available to book online, you just might get spot-checked in resort, so carry photo ID.

3. Think about who you are booking with

Not every all-inclusive tour operator is the same. Some, such as Club Med, Sunweb and Action Outdoors, do not just offer unlimited food and drink, they also include lift passes.

Other operators, such as Pierre & Vacances, offer early booking discounts of up to 15 per cent on the price of a lift pass. Cathy Rankin, the company’s head of UK sales, says: “The earlier passes are added to the booking, the better chance of getting the highest discount. Our pre-booked customers will also receive their lift pass with their keys as they check in, so it’s both time and money-saving.”

4. Think about how you are booking

Book via certain travel agents, as opposed to a tour operator, and you will be able to compare not just accommodation and travel prices but also lift pass prices.

Simon McIntyre, the managing director of Iglu Ski, says: “We provide easy visibility of all current lift pass offers from across the market, including where there are buy-one-get-one-half-price and two-for-one offers.”

Marcus Blunt, the co-founder of the ski company Heidi, says: “On the Heidi website you can easily compare lift pass prices for different resorts over the same dates. For example, looking at the same week over the February half term, a seven-day adult lift pass in La Plagne is almost double the price of the same week in Isola. Plus, a five-year-old can ski for free in Isola, compared to more than £200 for a week’s pass in La Plagne.”

5. You do not have to commit to an entire week, or even a full day

Most resorts offer lift passes for a half day or just a few hours’ skiing or snowboarding. These are particularly handy on the first and last day of your holiday, when your time on the slopes may depend on conditions or travel times.

6. Complete beginners can ski for free

It is rare to find a resort that does not have at least one run – the nursery slope – that is free to access. So if it is your first time, or it has been a while, do not rush into buying a full area pass for the week; take your time getting to grips with the baby slopes, and then buy a pass once you are ready to explore farther.

“Val d’Isere has terrific debutante greens with three free lifts, and Méribel in Les 3 Vallées has no less than seven free lifts. Book your holiday but not your lift pass, and then pick up a cheaper pass for fewer days, later in the week, when you are ready to progress beyond the nursery slopes. This can cut your lift pass price in half,” says Richard Sinclair, the chief executive of the ski travel company SNO.

7. Consider a local area pass instead of a full area pass

If you are visiting a large ski area – such as the Paradiski, Les 3 Vallées or Tignes-Val d’Isère – and you are not a mileage-hungry intermediate, you might be better off buying a local lift pass, rather than one that covers the wider area. For example, Val d’Isère now offers a pass just for the Solaise sector, at €47 (£39) a day.

8. Choose your resort wisely

“Not all ski passes are created equal,” says Blunt. “Some cover a bigger ski area than others for a cheaper price. If you want to make your money literally go farther, compare the cost per kilometre of piste that resorts offer. For example, Les Portes du Soleil in France is better cost per kilometre than, say, Courmayeur in Italy, which has a pricier pass but a smaller ski area.”

9. Don’t forget the UK snowdomes

If you are a regular at either the Snow Centre in Hemel Hempstead or Chill Factore near Manchester then consider the Indy Pass – a multi-day multi-resort pass that covers more than 230 independent resorts around the world, including both UK centres plus: Glencoe, Scotland; Baquiera/Beret, Spain; the SkiWelt, Austria; and Big White, Canada. It is sold out for winter 2024/25 (from $419/£329 for adults), but join the waiting list to buy one of the limited number of passes for next winter.

10. Check your resort’s website before you go

It is not possible to cover all the possible lift pass offers here, so cover your back and check directly with your resort for extra incentives. For example, Paradiski – which covers La Plagne and Les Arcs –  offers Tribu (tribe) discount, a €10 discount per person if three or more people buy the same pass.

Skiing in Canada or the US? These tips are specifically for you…

11. Book your lift pass before early December

Make the mistake of rocking up to a lift pass office in season in North America and you could easily end up paying more than £200 a day to ski. But book the right price product in advance and you can be skiing for as little as £32 a day (at Lake Tahoe).

However, these deals go off sale in early December, so booking early really does pay off.

Rupert Hatfield, the Canada & USA product manager at Ski Safari, says: “Many skiers like to wait to see what the snow is doing before they book their holiday. However, it does not really work like that in North America, unless you have deep pockets.

“For those hoping to grab a late-booking discount, any late offers won’t come close to the price increases that happen in December, once lift passes go up in price and early-booking discounts end.”

The good news is there are some good deals for junior lift passes. For example, Sun Peaks and Marmot Basin in Canada offer free lift tickets for kids up to 12 with each adult ticket, while in Aspen Snowmass in Colorado, kids aged between seven and 12 receive a free lift ticket when they rent equipment.

12. Consider an Epic or Ikon season pass

This is particularly helpful if you plan to ski for more than seven days in North America. These multi-resort passes increase the number of resorts they cover each year, and now feature many top European (Zermatt, Cortina and Chamonix) and Japanese resorts too, as well as the big names in North America (Vail, Heavenly and Whistler). Buy your pass as early as you can for the best value, and double-check the resorts covered.