What's it all about?

Simple: It's about wanting to snowboard or ski as much as humanly possible, without going broke.

Hence our motto: Pay less, slide more.

We obsess over finding every discount out there, and letting you in on it.

1. Buy your own equipment. Snowboard rentals have been around $30/day for at least the last three years. I bought my first board with bindings for a measly $199, boots for $100. I only had to go 10 times to make it worth my money.
2. Don't rent at the resort. If you're still not sure whether you want to make the big plunge, at *least* save yourself anywhere from $10-$30 by renting at a shop. Prices get cheaper the further you are from the resorts.
3. Don't ski Saturdays. Good discounts are nearly impossible to find for Saturdays, typically a resort's busiest day of the week. Not to mention the fact that resorts are always most crowded that day.
4. Take a free lesson or guided tour Many Some (one?) resorts offers free lessons or guided tours to skiers or snowboarders that are intermediate level or higher. (At Bear, Northstar and Sierra, this is known as their "Vertical Improvement Program" "Intermediate + Advanced FREE Lessons".) Sign up for the morning sessions to avoid the crowds. Apparently only Northstar is still offering this excellent program, and they've scaled it back to just 1:30pm and 3pm Sun-Fri, non-holiday. I'll be contacting Sugar Bowl to see if Kirby or anyone is still giving free tours.
   As far as guided tours go, we got an *excellent* tour of Sugar Bowl from a "Mountain Host" named Kirby. The history of the resort was interesting, *and* he knew exactly where to go to avoid the icy patches during early season. Great way to get an "insider" view of the mountain. Same with those lessons I was talking about.
5. Bring your own lunch. I know, your mom isn't there to pack your lunch for you anymore. But even if you just bring a couple of bananas, PowerBars or my favorite (until we found out how much MSG there was in it), Cup O' Noodles, at least you won't have to spend so much at the lodge (with their $7.00 hamburgers and $5 fries).

Another tip (not money-saving, but still good): Take the beginners package. If it's your first-time, you'll get your rental and a lift ticket that may be limited, but really, on your first day you shouldn't be on anything but the bunny slopes anyways. You'll also get a lesson, and your friends won't resent you.