Spring flings

By now, scrambling for spring break accommodations at the West’s larger Rocky Mountain ski resorts may seem like a Sisyphean task.

But most resorts not only have outstanding ski conditions these days, they also have lodging packages available for last-minute planners.

While Sisyphus didn’t ski (so far as we know), he would appreciate the ease of finding spring deals.

From Sun Valley and its Utah sister, Snowbasin, to Wyoming’s Jackson Hole and Montana’s Big Mountain and Big Sky, officials fess up that their resort communities have plenty of vacancies. That can equate to sizable lodging discounts and late-season dips in lift ticket pricing.

“Price drops for lifts and lodging are demand-driven,” says Jack Sibbach, Sun Valley’s marketing director.

“Sun Valley’s reservations office can package a week of skiing and lodging at the premier resort, throw in free skiing for kids,” he says, “and you pay only $70 a night per person in a room that is $250 a night at midseason.”

That’s the Spring Ski Package, which begins April 9 and runs through the end of the resort’s 71st ski season.

One night’s lodging at the resort – at The Inn or The Sun Valley Lodge – and a lift ticket is available at that reduced price for one night or many nights (double occupancy; tax not included). The single occupancy rate is $113.

A la carte lift tickets drop from a high-season $74 for an adult to $50 beginning April 1 at the Ketchum, Idaho, mountain.

And, notes Sibbach, it’s the best time of year to leave your skis and boards at home.

“The ski shop has a huge selection of demo equipment, and it all goes on sale in the spring,” he says.

Following is the lowdown at other regional resorts. Pack your sunscreen, golf clubs and spring jackets – but don’t forget the down parka, because spring in the mountains can blast snowstorms and sun all in the same day.

Montana

More than 20 feet of snow has fallen on northwest Montana’s Big Mountain Resort this winter, and spring storms keep the new fluff building up.

March’s Ski-and-Stay Special at Big Mountain Resort features two nights of hotel lodging and two days of skiing for two people at $129 per person, double occupancy. The package includes on-mountain accommodations at the Hibernation House and free breakfast.

For an Edelweiss condo, also on the mountain, the cost goes to $179 per person (promo code MMT).

In town at Grouse Mountain Lodge, spring-snow lovers find an indoor pool, outdoor spas, high-speed WiFi, Nordic skiing and the Montana Adventure Co. to help to plan off-slope activities, including dog sled rides and snowmobile tours.

Lift and lodging packages start at $125 per person per night, including breakfast and shuttle service to Big Mountain. That rate drops to $111 per night in April. Children 12 and younger stay free.

Perhaps more than any other resort, Big Mountain knows how to spring break in style. End-of-winter fun includes the Nate Chute Hawaiian Classic snowboard race next weekend; the first Big Mountain Skier-Cross competition, March 24-25; Ski-Golf Tournament and Rites of Spring Party at the Summit House, April 1; and the finale, the Pond Skimming competition on April 7.

End-of-season rates at Southwest Montana’s Big Sky resort include 30 percent off packages at slope-side Huntley Lodge, April 1-15, and more savings at Powder Ridge Cabins with 35 percent off lodging.

Lift ticket rates dive with the “Ski with a Buddy” deal, where the ticket purchaser can buy a friend a $69 day ticket at the half-day rate of $59 for the 3,812 acres, 4,350 jaw-dropping vertical feet and more than 150 trails.

So what does Big Sky do but offer special lift tickets that include even more terrain. The Lone Peak Pass combines Big Sky and Moonlight Basin Resort for a largest-skiing-in-America total of 5,512 acres.

Utah

Snowbasin, near Ogden, Utah – the 2002 Olympic venue for the men’s and women’s downhill, super G and combined races – offers $60 lift tickets, and kids 6 and under ski free.

In 1984, Sun Valley’s owner, Earl Holding, purchased Snowbasin and began decades of upgrades, both slopeside and in the village area.

While the ski area once attracted day-trippers, it’s now a full-fledged resort, yet exudes family friendliness and attracts a variety of Carhart-and-blue-jeans riders, university students and long-distance travelers.

The Ogden visitor bureau offers numerous ski-and-stay packages such as the Moose Hollow Luxury Condominiums’ Winter Snow Blast. A two-bed, two-bath condo (sleeps six) is $150 per night for stays of three or more nights.

Discounted lift tickets are available when callers mention the CVB Web site, www.ogdencvb.org.

If pocket change allows some luxury, Snowbasin’s partner, The Grand America Hotel in downtown Salt Lake City, specializes in spoiling its customers: chandeliers from Murano and Milan, French cherry-wood furniture, English wool carpets and Italian marble bathrooms, not to mention indoor and outdoor pools, spa treatments and fitness facility.

Ski package rates begin at $310 single or double per weekend night. Lift tickets are good at Snowbasin or riders may choose the Superpass, which includes Alta, Brighton Snowbird or Solitude, all Salt Lake-area mountains.

At Salt Lake City’s numerous resorts, mountain riders and skiers can thank competitive pricing for spring-break deals such as those at The Canyons at Park City, where March was greeted with weather advisories and 52 inches of new snow in one week.

Spring Break Spring Fever deals begins with ski-and-stay packages at $85 per day per person, which run through season’s end, April 8. The package requires a minimum two-night stay and purchase of a three-day lift ticket per person. Price is based on quad occupancy of a hotel room at selected off-site lodgings.

After skiing the 3,700-acre mountain (Utah’s largest resort) and enjoying the $10 million in upgrades (new lifts, new terrain, retro-fits and remodels, and more rails, hits, and boxes in the Terrain Park), there is a full line-up of free concerts and events with spring-break performances by Mofro (Saturday) and Joan Jett (March 24).

“One nice feature you should know about which is available via the Park City Chamber is the Quick Start program,” says Elizabeth Dowd, The Canyons’ director of public relations.

“In short: Bring your airline boarding pass to the ticket window along with your ID and a voucher found on the Chamber’s Web site and you ski for free the same day you arrive in Utah.”

For information, go to http://parkcityinfo.com/ skiing/quickstart/.

Wyoming

At Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, “it has not stopped snowing for three weeks,” Anna Olson, the resort’s communications director, recently said. “The mountain is in terrific shape. You can ski everywhere.”

The Wyoming resort is running the second annual JH Mountain Festival from March 24 through closing on April 8. The two weeks of events and music are free to all and include family activities.

Olson says that country-pop band The Wreckers will probably draw 4,000 people for its show March 31, “and it’s all free.” (Details available at www.jacksonholemountain festival.com.)

The resort’s central reservations offers packages that vary from budget to Four Seasons deals. For example, at the swanky Four Seasons Resort, lodging includes a complimentary third night, April 1-8.

And there’s always the super-cheap, super-convenient Hostel X in Teton Village at the base of the lifts. Rates are an astonishing $58 for one or two people in a room – any style, king or bunk – or $70 for three or four people in a room.