TRIP ON THIS

You’re from L.A. Just – wait. Ok? I didn’t research hotels and flights and food costs for you to stop reading this article. I know you’re a local. Or you’re from San Diego. Or Cleveland. 

Wherever. 

But right now, you’re from L.A. 

And you want to go skiing. You and a friend (or lover). 6 day trip. 4 days of shredding. 

You talk shop with your buddy. He says Mammoth’s the spot – close, easy, powder-ific. They have a mascot you can take pictures with, and hot springs – it’s the real unreal! 

But – you mention Park City. Isn’t there a Banksy there? Doesn’t it have more of a “ski-town vibe” everyone can get behind? The Utah license plate says “greatest snow on earth” for Christ-sake. 

How about Japan! They have sushi, and you can convert all your money into a different type of money, and then forget to convert it back when you get home. That’s always fun. 

There’s the Matterhorn – Big Mountain! Cool Mountain! Or, maybe Tahoe. Palisades? Where everyone’s beating cornices to death with their ski poles? Added bonus: Reno + gambling. You could pay for the whole trip in one night… 

Aspen or Vail? Psilocybin’s legal in Colorado. You could ski through shifting trees with woodland elves and then throw up. 

Hours pass. You can’t decide. Your friend suggests Sugarbush. You throw an empty beer can at him – some microbrew your brother made in his garage because, remember, you’re from L.A. But maybe Sugarbush could be fun? Ski some ice? Check out Vermont? Is it syrup season yet? And, Sugarbush would probably be cheaper, right? Because the skiing’s “worse”? 

You would think. But, after factoring in the cost of flights, additional shuttles, lodging, lift tickets, and food, your cheapest option just might be Tahoe Palisades. 

I say just might because – while I did research the cost of a 6 day ski trip to each resort (leaving Thursday and returning Tuesday) – things like flights and lodging can vary depending on when and where you book them. Plus, deals arise often, sometimes at random. You can get lucky. You can get unlucky. Food, too, is a loose category, because you can have some control over that end cost while you’re traveling (e.g. beef jerky and sliced cheese vs. sushi and charcuterie). 

All this to say, this research isn’t set in stone. Subject to change. But, taking a broad look remains worthwhile. 

Flight Cost

I decided each of these hypothetical vacations would start and end with a flight. Because who doesn’t love the wonder of flying? The TSA lines. Forgetting your headphones were in your pocket when you walked through security. Getting pat down. Free soda pop in the air. Spectacular. All of these round-trip flights leave out of LAX. Except Mammoth, which will have you flying out of Burbank. And remember, flight cost is subject to change based on when and how you book. I tried to book all of these about two to three weeks before departure. 

Flight from L.A. to Mammoth: $278, plus around $25/person for a shuttle. 

Flight from L.A. to Palisades: $334 to fly into Reno, then a $60 shuttle to Tahoe. 

Flight from L.A. to Park City: $176 to Salt Lake City, which takes the cake for cheapest flight. But a $100 shuttle to Park City will knock you back. 

Flight from L.A. to Vail: $480 to fly into Eagle, the closest airport to Vail. 

Flight from L.A. to Aspen: $510 to fly into Aspen’s airport. 

Flight from L.A. to Niseko United, Japan: $1,100. 

Flight from L.A. to Switzerland’s Matterhorn resort: $810 to Geneva, then a $91 train ticket there. 

Flight from L.A. to Sugarbush: $360 to Burlington, VT. Then, a $90 taxi to get to the hill. 

Cheapest flight goes to the Park City trip. 

Lift Tickets

Just looking at the prices for four lift tickets made my credit card jump from my wallet feet-first to a factory-grade plastic shredder. Each of these tickets are 4 day packs that you have to use pretty much consecutively after your first day. Aspen’s 4-pack gives you a 10 day period from first use. Park City, Mammoth, and Vail give you 6 days. Sugarbush says they have to be consecutive. Matterhorn’s just 4 days, whenever, and so is Palisades. However, none of that really matters for your ski trip because you’re gonna be skiing every day, four days in a row. Your two other days are for travel. 

4 Mammoth Lift Tix: $660.

4 Palisades Lift Tix: $579.

4 Park City Lift Tix: $900. So much for that cheap flight. 

4 Vail Lift Tix: $864.

4 Aspen Lift Tix: $676. 

4 Japan Lift Tix: $224.97. Cheapest lift tickets alert!

4 Matterhorn Lift Tix: $363.36. 

4 Sugarbush Lift Tix: $549.

*Obviously, the math may be greatly affected by whether one holds an existing season pass. 

Lodging

I tried. I really did. I gave my best effort to find similarly rated lodging at each resort. Hotels.com gets confusing. And some ski towns just don’t have that low-budget lodging option I was hunting for. This category – in addition to food – might be where you can find the most wiggle room. That being said, I tried to find rooms that had two double beds and were of similar ratings. If you do not like what I’ve done, please write a letter to the editor addressing my mistakes.

Mammoth’s “Motel 6”: a little over $246.39 a night. 

Lake Tahoe’s “America’s Best Value Inn Lake Tahoe”: $169 a night. Winner!

Park City’s “Holiday Inn”: $306 a night. 

Vail’s “Comfort Inn”: $316 a night. 

Aspen’s “Basalt Mountain Inn”, which requires a free, 30 minute shuttle to get to Aspen: $179 per night. 

Japan’s “Niseko Park Hotel”: $222 a night. 

The Matterhorn’s “Le Petit CHARME-Inn”: around $200 a night. 

Sugarbush’s “White Horse Lodge”: $221 a night. 

Food

This one’s tricky to nail down. I did some Googling. But, at the end of the day, cost on this category ranges depending on how much you eat, how much you drink, where you eat, where you drink, etc. So, like all things related to food, taking this with a grain of salt helps. The cost here is based on eating out for most, if not all, meals. 

Mammoth: about $60 a day per person, based on my own experience. 

Palisades Tahoe: Internet said $30 a day. I said no way. $45, and that’s stretching it. 

Park City: $52 a day. 

Vail: $60 a day. 

Aspen: $68 a day. 

Japan: $60 a day. 

Matterhorn: $45 a day. 

Sugarbush: around $60 a day. 

Again, this category’s the loosest. 

Total Cost of Trip Per Person

Mammoth: around $2,028. 

Palisades Tahoe: around $1,665. Winner!

Park City: around $2,253. 

Vail: around $2,494.

Aspen: around $2,041. 

Japan: around $2,239. Not even the most expensive. And you’re in Japan. 

Matterhorn: around $2,125.

Sugarbush: around $1,941. 

This whole story was initiated because somebody told Lunch, anecdotally, that people were going to Switzerland instead of Mammoth because it was cheaper. Based on an Average Joe’s research: not far off. Mammoth sits, pretty much, in the middle.