wgo wrote:

The eternal question - when to buy plane tickets? My teenage son and I are looking to ski for a couple days at A-Basin at the end of April/Beginning of May. We live in Charlottesville, VA and will be flying out of our little regional airport. I can get a ticket now for $314 roundtrip. I have no idea what a good price is - I usually make the drive to one of the DC area airports when I fly so I have no idea what a decent price is flying out of a smaller airport. Can anyone offer any insight?

 For late season, there isn't much reason to buy months in advance.  Especially for a short trip.  How do you know that A-Basin will have good weather the weekend you have available?  There will be snow, yes, but how much open terrain are you hoping for?

For the next few months, any past experience with plane ticket prices may not apply.  The pandemic is not over and the airline industry might not go back to any sort of consistent pricing approaches for another year or more.  Same for rental car rates.

I pretty much agree with marzNC about when to buy the ticket. There's no need to do so now. Mostly nobody will be flying to Denver to ski end of April beginning of May so you don't need to worry about full planes. I'd say 4-6 weeks in advance would be plenty. 

As far as how much terrain A-Baisn would have open - the answer is pretty much everything - based on my 30 or so years experience skiing Summit County. Altitude and north facing is the key. A few weeks later and Pali might be closed for fear of slush slides.

As a point of reference, my best day of skiing EVER in Summit County was May 10, 1993 when the Basin got a 2 foot dump. I-70 was closed and Denver couldn't get there. I have a 5 foot by 2.5 foot pic of that day on my wall.

Thanks Bob and MarzNC. We have a narrow window between the end of indoor marching band (april 23) and the start of a series of AP exams, so the last weekend in April is the only time we can do a trip out west. Everything I have ever heard about A-basin indicates that it will be mostly open during that time.

Bob - any advice on where to look for lodging and for ski rentals?

wgo wrote:

Ok, cool. Looks like Dillon is the closest population center to A-Basin?

 What I learned SkiSE folks years ago was that Dillon and Frisco were the places to stay for bargain hunters.  Leadville is an option too but there are fewer motel options for a short stay I think.  At least that was my impression driving through last February.  My friends and I stayed in Dillon first, drove to South Fork to ski at Wolf Creek, and then went back to Dillon for to ski a bit more at Copper and A-Basin.

The drive from Dillon to A-Basin is relatively straightforward.  No need to get on I-70.

You're aware of the traffic situation on a Sunday afternoon on I-70 heading back to Denver, right?  Not as big a deal in late April but still worth taking into account depending on your flight schedule.

JohnL wrote:

Keystone, Dillon, Silverthorne.

Agree. Plenty of "cheaper" hotels in Dillon and Silverthorne. We've used the Days Inn at 1_70 and CO9 or the super 8 a half mile south of that Both are pretty basic .Snagging a place at Keystone might be good since Keystone will  be closed by then. Deals to be had?? Don't even think about Leadville unless you want an hour and a half drive (or more) - across Hoosier Pass and thru Breckenridge.

Rentals? The Basin will have them. Christy  sports  (many locations) one on the South side of Dillon on the way to the Basin is an option 

Ground transportation will be by far your biggest challenge. More so than flights. I’d maybe make that central to your planning.

As to snow/terrain, AB/LL, Tahoe and Mammoth are your best (just about only) options in the US during the end of April/early May timeframe. Snowbird also comes to mind.

If you are locked into that timeframe, I wouldn’t overthink the choices, especially if you find a deal or very convenient flights.

as an added point, Vail Resorts has developed an operating plan. Keystone is open early, and Breckenridge late. So unless the snow is really bad, Breckenridge will be open. Problem is only Peak 8 will be open. A Basin will have more / better terrain open. Since A-Basin is north facing and higher and Breck east facing, A-Basin's snow will be better.

Unless the snow is bad, Loveland is always  open thru the first Sunday in May.

I agree with JohnL about ground transportation. Rent car prices are pretty outrageous.. 

I guess I'd recommend occasionally looking at flight  and car  prices as time passes.  If something looks good price wise, just grab it.

Mt. Bachelor is also an option for late April.  But not as easy to reach as taking a flight to Denver unless you are willing to fly into Medford or Redmond.

Denver car rental prices were on the high side even pre-pandemic.  Meaning in comparison to other major airports that serve destination resorts.

Thanks all. I have a benefit from work that gives me a discount on car rentals, hopefully that can change the price from unbelievably outrageous to just outrageous.

I'll obviously be keeping an eye on the public health situation as well. Hopefully things will be ok by April.

I've stayed near Dillon-Keystone in a small 1 bdrm Queen bed with sleep sofa condo for low 100s per night using VRBO at that time of the spring.  Airbnb ought to be pretty cheap too.  You are going when most lodging will be low tide, but skiing can still be real good.

PS:  be sure to price out flying to SLC and total cost for car and lodging.  LCC and BCC can be very good in late Apr and you might get free guiding from moi :-)  These pics are from Apr 27, 2021:

The risk with Georgetown is snow. To get to the basin you have to drive over Loveland Pass -- not an issue when things are good, but big issues if they are not.

Plus There used to be only one legitimate hotel in town. Has B&Bs though.

jpetraiuolo wrote:

I went to A-Basin just before the pandemic hit and it was one of my favorite experiences. Dillion is kind of annoying because you need to drive past A-basin to then drive east on I-70. It’s nice cause it has more of a town but you can also look at Georgetown. It’s about a 15 minute drive. I always pick rentals up in Idaho springs because it’s cheaper and right off the highway. It’s the same major company they have at all the resorts. Hope this helps!

bob wrote:

The risk with Georgetown is snow. To get to the basin you have to drive over Loveland Pass -- not an issue when things are good, but big issues if they are not.

Plus There used to be only one legitimate hotel in town. Has B&Bs though.

 

jpetraiuolo wrote:

I went to A-Basin just before the pandemic hit and it was one of my favorite experiences. Dillion is kind of annoying because you need to drive past A-basin to then drive east on I-70. It’s nice cause it has more of a town but you can also look at Georgetown. It’s about a 15 minute drive. I always pick rentals up in Idaho springs because it’s cheaper and right off the highway. It’s the same major company they have at all the resorts. Hope this helps!

 Agree with Bob. In general, even that time of the year, dont rely on going over Loveland Pass. I’ve skied AB 4-5 times in that timeframe.

Stay in Keystone, Dillon or Silverthorne. If you are heading back to DIA for an evening flight back - or staying in DEN for morning flight, can consider taking LL Pass if conditions are right. But don’t count on it.

wgo wrote:

Late April/Early May - historically, has A-Basin still been fully open at that time?

 Sometimes, but not sure what has happened in past seasons is really that useful to know.

A-Basin is always open for Mother's Day, but the amount of terrain open has varied quite a bit in the last decade or so.  Most people are done skiing by noon and then just stay to party with friends at what's called the Beach.  Can reserve a spot to set up chairs, a tent, and generally settled in to enjoy the sun.  There are times when they push snow around so that there is enough near the base for people to get back down.  The backside gets so much sun a friend who has an A-Basin season pass says it's not worth skiing after mid-March.

A few years ago, my ski buddy who lives in NM drove to A-Basin after he dropped me off at the Las Vegas airport on May 11.  We'd been skiing Bachelor and Mammoth.  He had a good time but I don't remember what terrain was open.

A tip for finding the best fares : cheapest days to travel are generally Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Wednesday can be hit or miss, but it's more often than not good.

Sundays, Mondays and Fridays are more expensive due to higher business travel.

That doesn't mean you can't get good deals on business days - a flight I just bought was just as cheap on a Monday as it was Tuesday. It's just less likely.

Also look alternate airports, like BWI vis Dulles and Reagan, or Denver or Colorado Springs vis the smaller regionals close to the resorts. Price differences can be quite substantial.

It usually comes down to what you value: cost vs time and convenience.

Back from A-Basin - we needed to move the trip up to the first week of April due to a conflict with a school event at the end of April. It was great! First couple days were cold and very windy but with a good amount of drifted snow to play in. 3rd and final day was a gorgeous bluebird spring day. We hit a good deal of the mountain - Lenawee face, runs below the East Wall traverse, trees in the Beavers, Montezuma Bowl, Pallavicini area. I have posted a few pics over on the Photo of the Day thread.

Couple non-skiing notes: The food was good - brisket sandwiches and bison stew at the Black Mountain Lodge

We took the red eye flight home Friday into Saturday morning. I don't think I will be doing that again...

Most prices remain pretty flat. Airlines sell tickets in fare buckets, or tiers, and allocate so many at each price point. That's why you'll see different codes like T, S, H, etc for your fare code. Each one has different sets of rules for changes, dates, routings, advance purchase, etc.

ALWAYS READ THE FARE RULES BEFORE YOU BUY THE TICKET!!!

If there are distant fare buckets combined into a ticket, the most restrictive set applies.

Best days to travel are midweek (generally T-W, often TH) and Saturday. Fares are almost always higher on Sunday, Monday and Friday and that's when business travel mostly happens, so they raise the fares.

Nothing is etched in stone as fare sales and demand can impact pricing.

Best bet would be T/W-Sat for a short trip or Sat-Sat for a week trip.

wgo wrote:

I asked this over on skitalk but figured I would do so here as well. Has anyone rented from either Virgin Island ski rentals or Columbine ski and sport? Thoughts?

 It's after your trip and maybe doesn't matter now, but yes I rented some powder skis from Virgin Island rentals and had a good experience.  Good skis at a good price.

Glad you had a good trip. I've never skied at A-Basin. I was skiing at Copper on that trip with the rental and considered going to A-Basin for a day but the road and resort were closed because of all the snow that week. I-70 was a mess and closed at times. Great snow at Copper that week.

We did end up going with Virgin Island. There was a minor issue where I needed to get one binding recalibrated after the first day but overall I liked them and would rent from them again. 

billroa wrote:

 It's after your trip and maybe doesn't matter now, but yes I rented some powder skis from Virgin Island rentals and had a good experience.  Good skis at a good price.

Also of note RE: A-Basin - last day for the Pali chair was this past Sunday, May 8. Here is a list of closing dates for the Pali chair over the last decade (taken from a thread over at skitalk). Overall closing date this year is scheduled to be June 5.

2011: May 30
2012: April 2
2013: May 15
2014: May 20
2015: May 25
2016: May 22
2017: May 14
2018: May 9
2019: June 2
2020: Covid (did run the chair a few days during the limited reopening but not the terrain)
2021: May 16
2022: May 8

 Yes - my understanding is that it has been a particularly windy spring. Our first day there (April 6) the backside lift was not running (and nearby Loveland resort was not open at all). Next day all lifts were open but there were some pretty heavy gusts up top to contend with. Advice from the regulars on skitalk is to stick with the lower lift and Pali lift on those days, but with our limited time there we decided to brave the winds (and were glad that we did).

marzNC wrote:

My ski buddy who lives in NM had a good time skiing ABasin May 6-8.  The snow was still good apparently.  Only issue was wind hold for a couple lifts on Sat meant the liftlines got a little long on the open lifts around midday.

It seems Southwest has changed the way it prices things. Thru the end of November flights for the first 6 weeks of 2023 were pretty outrageous --  3x the 2022 rates.  About the middle of December they dropped to about 2x the 2022 rates. Starting about a week ago they dropped again to about 1.5x the 2022 rates.

If SW continues that pattern, you might not see reasonable fares for early April for another 6-8 weeks.

The most common traditional advice is 30-45 days out.  However, now with flights being more chaotic I book as early as I am comfortable with the price.  Our 2 flights from Raleigh to Denver March 16 - yeah pretty high spring break - are about $330 each for reference; I booked those in late November. 

We also have flights to Montrose in 4 weeks that I booked very early since that is such a small airport with sporadic service.  Fortunately Denver, or SLC, are major hubs.  

 Ok, thanks. I have been looking on and off since late November - if I can get something from DC to Denver for around $330 I will book. So far no luck.

pagamony wrote:

The most common traditional advice is 30-45 days out.  However, now with flights being more chaotic I book as early as I am comfortable with the price.  Our 2 flights from Raleigh to Denver March 16 - yeah pretty high spring break - are about $330 each for reference; I booked those in late November. 

We also have flights to Montrose in 4 weeks that I booked very early since that is such a small airport with sporadic service.  Fortunately Denver, or SLC, are major hubs.  

Frontier Air:  DCA to SLC departing Jan 7, returning Jan 14 is $159.16 right now.  Crappy airline and probably doesn't include any baggage except a personal bag under your seat, but it is what it is :-) 

Flying is not very fun these days.  Fortunately, the car works for pretty much all my ski trips now.

I looked into frontier. For the dates/times we wanted, list price was $920 for 4 tickets. Great! But the following costs extra:

- selecting seats (so we can sit together)

- One carry-on each

- One checked bag for helmets, ski pants, jackets, etc

After this, price came to around $1600.

Just came back from our Xmas/NY road trip with the family to ski Summit County, and it wasn't a bad drive at all (with good trip planning based on the gelreat advices from forum members).  I was very glad that we made the decision to drive instead of flying given the air travel chaos over the holidays. 

I am a lifetime Gold member with United so our bags fly for free; however, lately, getting the skis at the destination is becoming very iffy.  Last February, my skis didn't get there for my trip to Alyeska Alaska until the last skiing day; and last month, the same thing happened again for my Mammoth trip.  By car, we just threw our six pairs of skis onto the rooftop cargo box and not have to worry about them again until we get to the resort.  Also of note, unless you are renting a capable AWD or 4WD when you get Denver, the drive to Summit County can be a little bit dicey if there is any sort of snow accumulation.  Loveland Pass and Vail Pass closed down on two separate occasions while we were there.  We observed quite a few spin-outs and crashes between Vail and Silverthorn on the two days that the the area received 6-8 in of snow overnight.

JimK wrote:

Frontier Air:  DCA to SLC departing Jan 7, returning Jan 14 is $159.16 right now.  Crappy airline and probably doesn't include any baggage except a personal bag under your seat, but it is what it is :-) 

Flying is not very fun these days.  Fortunately, the car works for pretty much all my ski trips now.

pagamony wrote:

The most common traditional advice is 30-45 days out.  However, now with flights being more chaotic I book as early as I am comfortable with the price.  Our 2 flights from Raleigh to Denver March 16 - yeah pretty high spring break - are about $330 each for reference; I booked those in late November. 

We also have flights to Montrose in 4 weeks that I booked very early since that is such a small airport with sporadic service.  Fortunately Denver, or SLC, are major hubs.  

 I think that's about what I paid for a March flight to Denver in 1999. I had to go all the way to BWI too.

bob wrote:

It seems Southwest has changed the way it prices things. Thru the end of November flights for the first 6 weeks of 2023 were pretty outrageous --  3x the 2022 rates.  About the middle of December they dropped to about 2x the 2022 rates. Starting about a week ago they dropped again to about 1.5x the 2022 rates.

If SW continues that pattern, you might not see reasonable fares for early April for another 6-8 weeks.

 I've noticed this as well. If you fly southwest with any frequency whatsoever though it may be worth booking when you see something you deem as "affordable" and then just monitor the cost of the flight frequently. If the price drops, just modify the flight and book the same flights and you will get a credit that does not expire. 

It wasnt long ago that I was the master of cheap travel.  Before, it was because I had to then it was because I wanted to saaaaaaaaaaaaaaave and yet experience a good time.

Ive found some good true BnB whereas there was a party every night with good people, and Ive found good deals literally ski in/out.   

I find it interesting that people rent pretty far from where I live right now to ski 7S, yet I own a cabin up there and think where it's at is pretty far lol.    For a 'real' resort out west, I like to be as close to on premise or in the nearest 'ski town' then start looking at my options from there.  

As far as airfare, I book that SH** as SOON as I lock in my dates, unless Im unsure and know that I may not get to go or may pay 5x what I would have if I locked in earlier.  At times I will get travel insurance depending on circumstances, and others I will get a refundable/transferable flight for alot more than a bargain basement ticket.  

I was a staunch Delta, Southwest guy when I traveled alot.  They had the least disruptions and predictable no surprise prices I could rely on based on when I booked.  Now I have no idea.  

If I had my preference, I would drive an hour to fly out of a better airport than a local puddle jumper.  Puddle jumpers and the airports do not have the same safety. Those pilots are there for a reason, either they are earning their wings or they had 'issues' in the past.  When you see the plane you are on is named with another company "flying as XYZ Major Airline" you know you are in trouble.  They are contracted small air groups that either lose their contract eventually due to corners being cut to try and make a profit or because the contracted group realizes they are losing money w/ that deal.  When it comes to air travel, I try not to skimp.  

I have a small regional airport near me, that can fly out large commercial jets.  The runway is almost as long as the international airport. BUT, that doesnt stop some local learning to fly yahoo from taxing out onto the runway when they shouldnt as we are trying to take off (and this has happened - ligonier PA). 

rbrtlav wrote:

it may be worth booking when you see something you deem as "affordable" and then just monitor the cost of the flight frequently. If the price drops, just modify the flight and book the same flights and you will get a credit that does not expire. 

This bears repeating.   I have also done this with SW and with rental cars.  Check every week. 

Good advice, all. Thanks.

pagamony wrote:

rbrtlav wrote:

it may be worth booking when you see something you deem as "affordable" and then just monitor the cost of the flight frequently. If the price drops, just modify the flight and book the same flights and you will get a credit that does not expire. 

 

This bears repeating.   I have also done this with SW and with rental cars.  Check every week. 

 Yep.  I've rebooked a few SW flights for ski trips later this season more than once.  Really applies to rental cars these days.

wgo wrote:

Good advice, all. Thanks.

 For what it's worth, a friend who lives in DC just booked a trip mid-season long weekend trip for her family of four on Frontier because the fare to Denver was too good to pass up.  They were planning on heading to the northeast originally.