A LITTLE SKI-DAD EXPERIMENT
I'm trying to make it a little less so.
I'm Ben, a ski dad in Vermont. I started digging into all the weird kids programs, grade-school passports, pass deals, resort discounts and other ways families can save, and realized this stuff is scattered all over the place.
So I'm testing something simple:
Tell me a little about your family and how you ski. I'll start digging and tell you if I find meaningful savings.
For free.
Takes about 5 minutes. No spammy sales nonsense.
WHAT COMES BACK
For one test family, the digging turned up $1,240+ in potential ski savings worth looking into.
Not generic “ski on weekdays!” advice. Actual programs, pass options and family-specific opportunities that appeared relevant to how they ski.
$1,240+
Estimated potential savings
🔥 3 Jackpot opportunities
Likely savings of $250+ each
🟢 4 Strong opportunities
Likely savings of $50-$250
🟡 5 Useful opportunities
Smaller or more situational savings
🔔 2 programs worth watching
They don't apply yet - but something could change.
The free scan gives you the big picture: whether I found worthwhile savings, roughly how much, and where the biggest opportunities appear to be hiding.
It's not a giant coupon dump. The whole point is figuring out what looks relevant to your family.
WHY THIS EXISTS
It's that they're scattered everywhere.
There are kids-ski-free programs.
Grade-school passports.
Cheap little-kid passes buried on resort websites.
Resident deals.
Pass-holder perks.
Reciprocal mountain access.
Lesson and rental offers.
Early-purchase deadlines.
And a bunch of weird little programs you'd probably never search for because you don't know they exist.
Individually, none of this is rocket science.
The pain in the ass is figuring out:
Which of this stuff actually applies to my family?
That's the part I'm trying to solve.
PRETTY SIMPLE
1
Things like:
Basically the stuff that changes which deals actually matter.
2
I dig through the current programs, passes, resort offers and other savings that seem relevant to your family.
Right now I'm doing these mostly by hand because I'm still learning where the good stuff hides.
3
You'll get a simple readout showing:
And if I don't find much?
I'll tell you that too.
THE RABBIT HOLE
Kids-ski-free offers, age-based passes, grade-school passports and family programs.
Whether there are cheaper or less-obvious ways to cover the mountains you actually plan to ski.
Reciprocal benefits, partner resorts and access you may already have without realizing it.
Local programs, resident offers, advance pricing and other alternatives to buying regular day tickets.
Youth programs, bundles, seasonal rentals and other ways those costs can sometimes come down.
Existing pass access, destination programs, transportation or other trip-specific savings.
Deadlines, price jumps and programs where when you buy matters almost as much as what you buy.
One important rule:
I don't want to pretend I “found” money you already knew about.
The interesting stuff is the savings you probably wouldn't have found on your own.
IS THIS ACTUALLY FOR YOU?
It's probably especially useful if:
You ski one inexpensive local hill, already know all of its family/kid programs, don't really travel, and have your setup dialed.
There just may not be enough hiding there to make this particularly interesting.
HI, I'M BEN 👋
I live in Vermont with my wife and kids, and skiing and snowboarding are a big part of our winters.
I started looking into all this for my own family and kept finding these strange little programs, discounts and pass options buried in different corners of the internet.
At the same time, I kept hearing other parents talk about how insanely expensive skiing with a family has become. And once you add together passes, lift tickets, lessons, rentals, trips and trying to figure out which kid qualifies for what, the whole thing can feel like a total clusterf*ck.
And eventually I thought:
How much could I save a family if I actually looked through all of it for them?
So that's what I'm testing.
There isn't some giant Ski Family Savings corporation behind the curtain. It's me.
I'm personally looking at these scans, building up a database of what I find, and figuring out whether this is useful enough to turn into something bigger.
Sometimes I'll probably find a lot.
Sometimes I won't.
Either way, I'd rather tell you the truth than manufacture a giant “savings” number just to make this look impressive.
And if this whole experiment eventually goes nowhere?
Hopefully at least a few ski families spend less money this winter.
That seems like a pretty decent outcome.
QUESTIONS YOU MIGHT REASONABLY HAVE
Yep.
There's no credit card required to have me look at your family and tell you whether I find meaningful potential savings.
I'll tell you whether I found savings worth pursuing, give you an estimated savings range, and show you the general areas where the biggest opportunities appear to be hiding.
It's meant to answer:
“Is there actually enough money here to care about?”
The free scan is not a giant list of every exact program, eligibility rule and source link I researched.
Because otherwise I'm just making a generic list of ski discounts. Your ZIP code, kids' ages/grades, passes, mountains, trips and other plans are what let me figure out which opportunities might actually apply to you.
The form takes around 5 minutes.
I'm currently aiming to get scans back within 2 business days.
If a bunch of ski parents suddenly bury me in submissions, it might take a little longer. I'll keep you posted.
I'm starting heavily in Vermont and New England because that's where I live and ski.
But if you're a New England family taking trips elsewhere, definitely include those. Some of the biggest savings can show up around destination trips.
Nope.
Programs change, inventory disappears, dates matter and eligibility rules can get weird.
I use current sources and try not to count anything that looks shaky, but the number I send you is still an estimate of potential savings, not money already sitting in your bank account.
Then I'll tell you.
Tell me how your family skis and I'll go poke around.
Worst case, I don't find much and we both learn something.
Best case?
There's a surprising amount of money hiding in there.
Free • About 5 minutes