Skiing For $100 Or Less: A Fam...

There are a lot of ways to build a family ski season in Colorado.

The Colorado Ski Country USA Gems Parent Pass is one of them, and this season, we're releasing the very limited number of Parent Passes in waves. Demand for the pass is higher than the number available, but spreading releases throughout the fall gives more families a chance to discover the program before winter gets underway.

And whether or not a Parent Pass ends up being part of your family's winter, it's far from the only way to spend more days together on snow.

For decades, Colorado Ski Country USA, our member ski areas, and industry partners have worked on different avenues to make skiing and snowboarding accessible to more people, from the Kids Ski Passport and free lift tickets to special midweek pricing, community ski days, beginner tickets, and advance-purchase deals.

The trick, increasingly, is knowing where to look and planning before you go.

First rule: Don't wait for Saturday morning

Think about buying a lift ticket a little like buying a plane ticket.

You probably wouldn't walk up to an airport counter on the Saturday before spring break and say, "We'd like four tickets to the beach today." You'd choose your dates, compare your options, and book ahead.

The same thinking can go a long way with skiing.

Many resorts use dynamic or advance-purchase pricing, which means the price you see online weeks or months before your ski day can be much lower than what you'd pay at the last minute. Weekdays and other lower-demand periods can also carry significantly lower prices.

Winter Park, for example, says skiers can save up to 40 percent on 2026-27 single- and multi-day tickets by booking at least 48 hours ahead. A-Basin tells guests simply: the earlier you purchase, the more you save. Monarch's online prices change with visitation levels for each date, and the mountain recommends purchasing early for its best pricing.

So before deciding a mountain is out of reach based on the price you've heard about or what someone paid on a holiday weekend, pull up the resort's ticket calendar and look around.

Moving a ski day from Saturday to Wednesday, buying in September instead of January, or choosing a different type of ticket can change the math considerably.

Start with these sub-$100 options

Ski free on Sundays at Howelsen Hill

We'll start at $0.

Howelsen Hill's Ski Free Sunday program offers free lift access every Sunday throughout the winter season. Families simply stop at the ticket office for a free ticket before heading to the lifts. No reservation is required.

It also happens at North America's oldest operating ski area, where generations of Steamboat families and nearly 100 Winter Olympians have spent time on snow.

Find $74 Sunlight Mountain Resort lift tickets

Sunlight Mountain's 2026-27 daily lift tickets currently start at $74, and the resort encourages guests to buy online before arriving for its best pricing.

For families who can choose their dates ahead of time, Sunlight is one of the first calendars worth checking when planning a winter trip.

Make Thursday a Winter Park ski day

A little flexibility can open up options elsewhere, too.

Winter Park's $89 Thursdays return for the 2026-27 season, with $89 adult lift tickets available on Thursdays from January 7 through February 25, 2027, subject to the program's blackout dates and availability.

Families planning a multi-day trip might also look at Winter Park's Flex Midweek ticket packs, which currently start at $85 per day based on a four-day adult product.

Celebrate A-Basin's 80th with an $80 Wednesday

Arapahoe Basin turns 80 this season, and one of the ways The Legend is marking the milestone is with $80 Wednesday lift tickets.

A-Basin is also a good mountain to watch beyond the birthday promotion. Its regular day tickets are priced by date, must be purchased online in advance, and get more expensive as the visit approaches. Its current multi-day products can also bring the daily cost below $100, including three-day Any Day Packs starting at $249 and three-day Midweek Packs starting at $209.

Learn for less at Loveland Valley

For families with newer skiers or riders, a full-mountain ticket may be more than you need.

Loveland Valley is specifically designed for beginners, with gentler terrain and its own lower-priced ticket. Adult Valley-only tickets are $50 during early season and $60 during the regular season for 2026-27, while children's tickets are $30 and $35. Kids ages 5 and younger ski free.

Loveland is also introducing advance-purchase discounts on full-day adult tickets this season, with a limited number available for each day. That's another reason to look before you load the car.

Check the calendar at Monarch

Monarch's full-day lift tickets use dynamic pricing, with adult tickets currently starting at $69 when purchased online. Prices vary by date and rise as demand increases, so booking early can make a meaningful difference. The resort also offers afternoon-only tickets starting at $79 for low-demand dates, with regular afternoon pricing of $99.

Already have a full season pass somewhere else? Monarch's Migration Ticket is $69 Monday through Friday for qualifying season passholders from other mountains.

In other words, don't just search "Monarch lift ticket." Think about when you're skiing, how long you want to ski, and what you may already have in your ticket arsenal.

Make Purgatory a midweek plan

Purgatory's 2026-27 daily lift tickets aren't on sale quite yet, but the resort has already told skiers how to shop when they are.

Purgatory uses demand-based pricing rather than a fixed window rate. The resort says guests should expect higher prices during peak periods and much lower pricing on weekdays and other non-peak periods, and it recommends planning ahead and purchasing online for the best rates.

There's another big family benefit here: kids 12 and younger ski free with Purgatory's Power Kids Pass, with no required adult season-pass purchase.

Keep Ski Cooper and Powderhorn on your fall checklist

Not every resort has released 2026-27 daily pricing yet, which makes fall a particularly good time to keep checking back.

Last season, every adult day ticket at Ski Cooper was $99 or less, including $49 weekday tickets and $99 weekend and holiday tickets. Cooper has already said its new 2026-27 pricing will be released this fall.

Powderhorn is another one to watch. Its 2025-26 online adult tickets were $89 Monday through Thursday and $99 Friday through Sunday, with only designated holiday dates moving above $100.

Those are last season's prices, not a promise for this winter. But they're good examples of why it's worth revisiting resort websites as 2026-27 ticket calendars come online.

Look beyond single-day tickets at Copper and Eldora

Copper's Four Pack + Bonus Day offers five unrestricted days for less than $74 per day when purchased by September 8, with no blackout dates. Copper also offers $99 Play Forever Thursdays on select dates during the season, with a portion of proceeds supporting nonprofit partners.

At Eldora, the 4-Pass is $359 for four days, or less than $90 per day, with no blackout dates. The resort also hosts Play Forever Wednesdays, with 2026-27 dates and daily ticket pricing still to come.

These options are a good reminder that the best family choice isn't always a single-day ticket or a season-long pass. If you know you want several days at the same mountain, buying those days together early can change the price substantially.

Plan early, keep your options open

A Colorado family ski season can come together in all sorts of combinations. The Ski Passport and Gems Parent Pass are just two ways to make it happen. Free ski days, midweek rates, beginner tickets, kids-ski-free programs, multi-day products, and early-purchase pricing give families plenty of other options for getting out there.

The best place to start is before the snow starts falling. Check resort ticket pages throughout the fall and spend some time clicking around the calendar. A Wednesday can look very different from a Saturday. A ticket bought months ahead can look very different from one bought the night before. And depending on who's skiing, a beginner, half-day, or multi-day product may make more sense than the standard full-day ticket.

When you find a date and a price that work for your family, grab them. A snowy Saturday morning in January is a great time to be heading for the lift, but not necessarily the best time to start shopping for your ticket.