Greetings Rocky Mountain/San Juan/Elk Mountain sliders!

Hidey-Hi, Hidey-Ho, come on up 'cause we've still got snow!

And information on Season Pass offers, ridiculously low end-of-season lodging prices and late season lift ticket deals is still pouring in! The late season deals beginning in April are unbelievable, so there's no reason not to abide, slide, and ride the snow tide! Many resorts are offering early 2002-2003 season pass purchase opportunities that include discounts on last-call lift tickets for this season. Get out your calculator and plan ahead for some great savings next season, 'cause you know the early bird catches the turn! Be sure to stay tuned in at www.slidingonthecheap.com. for this terrific mountain beta, and if you've missed any previous issues jam-packed with ideas on how to have fun on the slopes without losing your shirt (brrrr!), you'll still find them on the website!

Travel skivvies: If you're driving to any Colorado resort and traveling through small towns on your way, it's a good idea to obey the posted speed limit, 'cause the town Barney Fifes and State Patrol would love to give you a ticket and we're not talkin' the lift kind! As in Texas, small Colorado towns rely on revenues generated from "sales" of speeding tickets. If it says 35 mph, then go 35 mph and you'll save yourself brew buckaroos. Besides, what's your hurry? How often do you have the chance to see the snow-capped peaks of the Rockies?

Co' Sno' Repo': What's this about SUNSHINE and WARM TEMPS? I woke up to 4" of fresh yesterday morning and the same again this morning at 9000 feet on the West side of the Divide! Looks like much of the same in the mountains through Saturday, chance of rain on the plain, then dry and sunny Monday and Tuesday. But hey, I broke my crystal ball of weather predicting, so you'd better check with the experts at www.weather.com. or watch their 24-hour coverage on the Weather Channel!

Thought of the ski week: Even a bad day on the snow is better than a good day in the office (and "good day in the office" is DEFINITELY a contradiction in terms!).

Our featured resort this week is BRECKENRIDGE: Ride the wide open spaces on the groomers at this best-for-intermediates and family-style mountain, and if you've a mind to try the bumps, it's a great hill to learn 'em 'cause there's nothin' too steep to be scary! The behemoth Spring Massive Festival starts this Saturday 3/30 and runs through April 14. This weekend features the SnowActive Kid's Weekend, next is the Massive Slopestyle Competition, and 4/5-4/7 is the SNOWED OUT All-Star weekend. This annual Brecken-Fridge (one of the sponsors is Fridge magazine - did you like that literary device!?!) highlights jams, comps, parties, apres-ski, and a concert by Mistah Ludacris. Visit the official website at www.springmassive.com. for exactamundo info. Lodging deals are as spectacular as the festival - consider Beaver Run Resort Hotel rooms from $72/pp/pn 3/30-4/5, or Wildwood Suites from $125/1BR ski-in condo or from $185/2BR ski-in condo, valid 3/28-4/30. www.breckenridge.snow.com. Final runs April 21.

AHHHH-BASIN: The Basin just received four inches of fresh so take this into consideration: the 2002-2003 Bonus Season Pass is NOW ON SALE, for a limited time only and while supplies last, for (hold your bindings on this one) $199! The Bonus Pass can be used at A-Basin for the remainder of this season and includes unlimited access to A-Basin for the 2002-2003 season and five 2002-2003 lift tickets good at Key's Threes and Breck (one of which can be used at Vail or Beaver Creek). And you can pahhhhhhrty at the Basin on April 13 with the Sports Monster - $40 will get you a bus ride on the Colorado Adventure Mobile to and from A-Basin, breakfast snacks on the bus, BBQ lunch at A-Basin, all the FREE Jarre Creek Ranch beer you can drink, and a BBQ at the Basin t-shirt. Discount lift tickets available for $29 - check it out at www.coloradoadventuremobile.com, otherwise it's www.arapahoebasin.com. for the best beta on Colorado's Ski-Above-All resort. Final runs May 5.

ASPEN/SNOWMASS: The 180 Spring Jam heats up Aspen with memory makers and absolutely NO wallet breakers. Catch this - $39/day lift tix, good 4/1-4/14. Swing at this one - lodging/lift packages starting from $140/pp/do include 3 nights lodging and a 2-day lift ticket. Run for the bases April 3rd with the hill's craziest ski race, the Wild Dash For Cash. Racers all take off at once in this no-rules event and make their way over bumps, jumps, sprints and vertical walls of snow as they scramble to grab over $7,500. For you lift ticket hounds, Aspen Classic Passholders have two ways to save this April - any current Classic Passholder can renew the Pass for next season between 4/1-4/14 at $99 for four days of skiing on any of the four mountains, no restrictions, and can purchase additional days for $29/pday. Current Classic Passholders can also purchase lift tickets for their friends this April for just $29 a day. The 2002/03 winter ski season begins at Aspen/Snowmass on 11/28/02, and runs through 4/20/03 (I love a mountain that thinks ahead!). There's more for you to score at the Aspen home plate website at www.aspensnowmass.com. Final runs for Aspen/Snowmass, April 14, for the Highlands and Buttermilk April 7.

COPPER MOUNTAIN: Day-trippers can look to late-season pass prices at $31 between 4/7 and closing. You also can't beat the Hill Metallica's lodging/lift package, good also from 4/7-4/21, $60/pp/do. Even if the lift tix were still full price, the room would figure out to cost $3! And that'll put you at the base during Sunsation 2002, where the sun is bright, the snow is lively, and the threads in the 17th annual Eenie Weenie Bikini Snowriding Contest are little more than imagination (and that goes for the guys, too!). This event promises to be a wowser 4/20 and 4/21! www.ski-copper.com. Final runs April 21.

CRESTED BUTTE: Bring your season pass from ANY resort 4/8-4/14 and ski your Butte off for FREE! If you're not a season-pass kind of dude/dudette, at-window prices from 3/30 to closing are only $20. For Lasties on the Butte, book two nights lodging and get a two day lift ticket for anytime between 3/29 and closing, and it's ridiculous that you wouldn't get off your Butte for $113/pp/do. And if you're the adventurous type, this weekend sports the Elk Mountains Grand Traverse - at the stroke of midnight on the 29th, competitors begin the 40-mile chase from Mt. Crested Butte through remote terrain and across two mountain passes to Aspen Mountain. And you thought the Discovery Channel Adventure Race was tough! www.cbmr.com. Final runs April 14 (sigh).

ELDORA: The Spring Madness Sale is on! Purchase your 2002-2003 Season Pass NOW (limited offer, limited quantities!) and ski FREE for the remainder of this season! Get Mora at Eldora with this: $299/Adult, $225/College, $225/Junior Season pass offers. www.eldora.com. Final runs April 14.

HOWELSEN HILL: Jeez, Jimmy Jack, you can get an $11/adult lift ticket and jump at the training home of 47 Olympians, and there's NO ONE on the hill! www.steamboat-springs.net/recreation/howlesen.htm. Final runs March 31.

KEYSTONE: At window last-chance lift tix prices $37/adult, 4/7 through closing. Ski FREE when you stay at the Inn at Keystone or the Keystone Lodge. Deluxe hotel accommodation and adult lift tickets from $59/pp/pn! www.keystone.snow.com. Final runs April 28.

LOVELAND: This information hot off the ether - beginning April 1, adult late-season passes will set you back only $31. Starting tomorrow, and I think it's the full-moon affect making them a little CRAZY in the office, buy a four-pack of tickets for only $79, good anytime between 3/29/02 and 11/22/02! Season Passes go up for grabs tomorrow as well - new season passholders pay only $299 and ride the Land of Love FREE for the remainder of this season; returning season passholders get 'em for only $269. Add in the discounts you'll receive on food, rentals, equipment tunes, ski school, day care, sport shop purchases AND lift tix for your friends, and it's silly not to join the fun-land at Loveland! www.skiloveland.com. Final runs April 14.

MONARCH: Late season lift tickets prices begin April 1 and go for $22/adults, $10/juniors. Just think, the crowds have packed up and gone home, the sun is shining, and ego snow abounds. www.skimonarch.com. Final runs April 14.

POWDERHORN: The Horn of Plenty Pow-pow is selling ALL lift tickets from now until closing for only $18. Final runs are March 31, and if you find the gold and silver eggs hidden on the mountain March 30 and 31, you'll win a FREE season pass for 2002-2003! www.powderhorn.com.

PURGATORY MOUNTAIN [at] DURANGO RESORT: The $67/pp/pn Spring Fling at Purgatory Village Condominium Hotel includes lifts & lodging, rate available 3/30 - 4/7. Free your heels, let down your hair at the Wolverton Telemark Festival, THIS weekend during the annual celebration of all things Nordic. Events include the uphill/downhill race, BBQ, après parties, costumes and more. Check out the Tele Fest Clinic as well, open to all ability levels - only $20 for the half-day clinic, or $60 for the clinic including a full day lift ticket. www.ski-purg.com. Final runs April 7.

STEAMBOAT: End of the Season lift tickets will drop 4/5 to $48/adult, all-mountain, and $33/adult, lower mountain, and kids 5 and under still ski FREE! www.steamboat.com. Final runs April 14.

SUNLIGHT: You can still pick up your discount lift tickets through this weekend in Denver at Gart Brothers, King Soopers, and Safeway or at Gart Brothers, Gene Taylor's, and City Markets in Grand Junction. And Spring Break Ski, Swim and Stay packages start as low as $75.00/pp/do - what a deal considering they've gotten over two feet of snow since March 10!. www.sunlightmtn.com. Final runs April 7.

TELL-U-RIDE: If you're feeling a bit cheeky and are proud of your buns, enter the Ski-A-Thong competition for men and the Bikini Slalom for women this Saturday. The first place wins $250, second walks away with $100 and third place receives $50. Prizes are awarded for Best and Worst Tan, Barest If You Darest, Best Yard Sale, Most Creative, Best Overall, and more, and boy I hope it's not snowing! (Maybe we could get the winners at both Copper and Tell-U-Ride together for a Kodak moment!?) Continue to Surf the Rockies with your Telluride Card -if you've got one, bring three friends to town this weekend and next and y'all pay the same rate - on March 31, the price drops to $30/day. Guests can stay and ski for $69 pp/pd from 3/31-4/7 at Resort Quest Telluride (some restrictions apply, based on four people in a 2 BR condo). www.tellurideskiresort.com. Final runs April 7.

VAIL: Colorado's largest Skiway on the Freeway is offering the Mountain Madness Spring Special - between April 1 and closing, you'll receive 4 nights lodging, a 3-day lift ticket, a lesson/guided tour, an Adventure Ridge gig, dinner at the Larkspur or Wildflower, 2 brews at the party on Saturday, and a T-shirt, all for $399! If you're not into all the Stuff, they're offering two ways to just plain ski for less. Buy a $99 pass and ski the entire week at Vail or Beaver Creek from 4/7-4/14, or ride for $29 per day when you purchase ONLINE only. Better read the restrictions at www.vail.snow.com/madness.asp. At-window rates otherwise are $49/adult daily. Now's the chance to learn - FREE 1-hr adult ski or snowboard group lesson. A-Vail-able at beginning at 10am, 10:30am and 11am and valid 4/8-4/14. And the Colorado Adventure Mobile still has room on this Saturday's trip to the Vail of Heavenly Glades - www.coloradoadventuremobile.com. will give you all the scoop. www.vail.snow.com. Final runs April 14.

WINTER PARK: Colorado's Favorite is favorite for a lot of reasons, but you'll really understand why with this: 2002-2003 season passes are on sale NOW, and if you're a new purchase, it's only $255 plus you get to ski FREE between April 1 and closing. If you're renewing your pass from last year, it's only $225, 'cause they're glad to have you back! Have a V2 card? Have 3 buddies? Bring your bodies and your V2 card to the ticket window between April 1 and closing and y'all ski for $17/pp! So why be in a hurry to leave? Stay at the Timberhouse Ski Lodge, just around the corner from Parkside, for $55/pp/pn, full breakfast AND dinner included, offer good 4/1-4/9. www.winterparkresort.com. Final runs April 14.

WOLF CREEK: Listed as one of the top powder rides in the US, get those last laps in on Wednesday, April 3, for Locals Appreciation Day ($21 lift tix) and on Sunday, April 7, for College Day ($21 lift tix with valid ID) and End of the Year Costume Contest where the winning creative spirit receives a FREE 2002-2003 Season Pass! www.wolfcreekski.com. Final runs April 7.

Till next week, stay low, stay smart, and stay luz,
Your Robin Hood of the Rockies,
Martha
skibabeage [at] hotmail.com