The average cost of a day of skiing has skyrocketed in the last ten years and a single-day lift ticket now sells for more than ever. When you figure in the price of food, lodging and transportation up at the resort...forget about it. Without the self-styled discounts such as those found in this guide, it will cost well over $100 per person, per day. That's way too much for most people's vacation, let alone a ski bum on a tight budget. And everybody knows that a ski bum needs to ski or ride at least fifty days each year in order to satiate the addiction! That entails finding some way to get on the hill without paying full price for too many tickets. That’s mostly what you’ll learn in this guide – how to save money at the resort.

There’s actually a surprising number of ways to get cheap lift tickets and once you really know the deals, you start to realize there may be a way to ski absolutely free and maybe even make some bucks on the side.

One key is that there are a lot of vouchers and coupons available, so it is possible to collect enough vouchers and coupons via several venues to hold you for an entire season. Another key is cheap season passes. When you couple that with a little ski-bum savvy, you're well on your way to skiing or snowboarding for next to nothing. A few years ago we even found a way to make money by just parking in the right spot at our favorite ski resorts. You will learn some of our best secrets through the all-encompassing wisdom of the Ski Bum's Guide. In this guide we really do tell you about the stuff resort managers and others don't want you to know – the borderline legal stuff real ski bums do on a routine basis.

These are the true stories and secret ways of the ski bum. Thanks to the trial and tribulation of many, we have compiled and documented the dos and don'ts of obtaining discounted-to-free lift tickets, information on reselling those tickets and how to keep peace with the ski resorts when possible. These are all tips from people who have figured out just about every trick for getting up on a hill. Let us share these secrets with you.

Steven Steinberg and Darren Romar

Important Note

The Ski Bum’s Guide is for informational purposes only. If you choose to follow the information provided here, you do so at your own risk. We have no connection to the ski resorts, restaurants or hotels listed in this guide.

This guide explains the process and shows you the general places where you can find lift ticket deals, vouchers and coupons.

The Story

The Listerine Bottle and Schick Razor: A Ski Deal Breakthrough

Back in the late 1980s, Steve came across a major discovery:

“I was working at Safeway and one day I noticed there were these coupons attached to bottles of Listerine and packs of Schick Razors. The coupons were for a free lift ticket to Diamond Peak on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe.

“At the time, Diamond Peak had just made some improvements and they had previously changed their name from ‘Ski Incline’ to ‘Diamond Peak.’ They wanted to attract some attention and get more people out on the hill, so they were offering an incredible deal at stores in the Bay Area. Both of these products at the time retailed for under three dollars. I wondered, could it really be true?

“I borrowed $850 from my mom, bought an RV for $1,000 and moved up to the ski resort. Armed with 200 lift tickets, semi-clean breath and a five o-clock shadow (even though I had tons of new Schick Razors), I set out on my first mission to make money while skiing for nothing.”

Steve and Darren teamed up and started selling the tickets. Years later, Steve declared himself a professional ski bum living a life of luxury with his ski bum friends and their dogs. After years of refining the technique, we are now known as some of the world’s foremost ski bums, and we have a bunch of other ski and snowboard bum friends that cruise around with us, sometimes in the RV.

Today, we even have a sweeter motor home that, assisted by our income from third-party advertising, helps us through our ski bumming with several friends. When parked strategically in front of the right ski lift, the free flowing, built-in keg and tap serves to attract lift attendants who then become generously buzzed and allow our crew to go up the lift for free.

Obviously we love to ski and snowboard, and there is nothing better than skiing for free or at a reduced rate. We don't suggest or want anyone to break any laws but you must remember some of this information is borderline illegal, so be careful and don't get caught! You may want to stay away from the stuff that definitely is over the line (clipping lift tickets, trespassing on other people's property, and sneaking into hot tubs; or making yourself a guest at the local lodge without paying or having reservations, just to name a few).

The first thing you need to know is where to get cheap tickets, and with this guide we will give you a few ideas for where you can get them. Also, it helps if you know someone who works at a ski resort, such as a chairlift operator who will let you ride up for free. Then there's the very undesirable option of getting a job at a resort, for those who don't want to slide on through. But we think sliding works pretty well, so if you don't know anyone at the resort, just try bribing your way up any way possible!

Season Recap - A Day In the Life of A (Real) Die-Hard Ski Bum (based on real life examples)

Last Year I went to all the preseason ski and snowboard shows I could catch, along with the ski movies in the Bay Area and Santa Cruz, Calif. I got tons of free lift tickets covering all of the Tahoe Resorts. This year, I’ve gotten pretty sophisticated. After all, I consider myself a professional.

The fact is I’ve now figured out how to successfully ‘scalp’ a few tickets I pick up at shows. I finagle these into some pocket cash and I then convert that into a bunch more skiing and boarding. Now that I’m moving up in the world, I’m selling most of my tickets on eBay, though I keep a few back to sell at Tahoe, even though I don’t do much business at the resorts so as not to get nabbed.

Day 1 – Wednesday

It’s the middle of the week and all my tickets are good at this time, though some are not valid on the weekend. Around 4 p.m. I drive three hours from the Bay Area to Lake Tahoe and I park my RV (which is actually a mobile traveler that looks more like a van) at Squaw Valley. I sleep in the comfortable bed in back.

Day 2 – Thursday

I wake up at about 7:30 a.m. when I hear the people who work at Squaw arrive. I make some hot tea and eat a sweet roll.

After a few more minutes, cars begin to pull up on each side of me and I ask the passengers if they have their tickets yet. When they say they don’t, I offer to sell them two of mine for $80. I’m one of the first up the hill for fresh tracks and I get in a full day of great skiing.

At 4 p.m. I head down the hill to The Resort at Squaw Creek for complementary hot cocoa and cookies because they were giving them out that day and I noticed the cookies when I went in to check it out. I then headed to the Squaw Valley Lodge on the free shuttle. I love those hot tubs, and they are easy to get into. Plus, on every other floor they have two washers and dryers so I take some soap, shampoo, and my razor to the Lodge with me. I put a load of dirty clothes in the washer before hitting the tub, thus killing two birds with one stone. After a long soak and finishing up my laundry, I head to the RV to change. Later, I’m off to a Club on the North Shore where I have a $700 credit. I bought their gold packages for $199 per pack. Remember, I’m in Casino-ville, so I’m employing the proper ski bum tactics to adapt to the area’s specific offerings. Incredibly, the purchase gave me a $200 bar credit, a $200 coffee shop credit, a $100 Steak and Lobster House credit, a $100 gambling credit (that I later sold for $75), and 10 free pulls on Mega Bucks – a free slot machine for patrons where the worst thing you stand to win is two free drinks. I also had a $50 Gift Shop credit.

They offer dinner specials for $5.99, but it cost me one-third of that price with my coupons. I get $600-worth of food and bar credit for just $199, so 13 drinks are also one-third the price. This place has a really good deal, and now I have a ton of food and drink coupons that should last me the better part of a winter season. I stay up late that night, and after leaving the club I head to the next resort, Diamond Peak, located three miles from Incline Village. I spend the night in the parking lot in my RV.

Day 3 – Friday

Diamond Peak is the last resort on the North Shore of beautiful Lake Tahoe and has a small crowd almost every day, even on the weekends. It’s a very small place, but it has a decent hill with more than 1,800 of vertical and pretty advanced terrain. Plus, the views of the lake and mountains at this place are absolutely unrivaled by any resort anywhere in the world. Most of the people who ski there have season passes and live at up in Tahoe, so selling tickets is very hard at Diamond Peak – they don’t really sell that many themselves. But I met some people the night before who were originally planning to ski up at Northstar, a ‘mega-resort’ on the western side of the lake’s North Shore. I saved them $40 on two tickets, so they skied Diamond Peak instead and I made $60!

I saw those people on the hill and they kindly thanked me for the tickets. They had never been to Diamond Peak before and they loved it, noting they had never seen such a great view of the lake from a run before. They were so psyched, they even treated me to lunch. They asked me if I had any more tickets to other ski resorts in the area for sale. Duh – of course I have lift tickets to every ski resort because I’m a professional ski bum.

After another great day of skiing, this time at the little gem called Diamond Peak, I head to the Tahoe Biltmore Hotel and Casino to use their hot tub and get some free food. They have a bar upstairs and downstairs too, and they put out free food from 4-7 p.m. everyday for bar patrons to enjoy. The Tahoe Biltmore also has some great ski-package deals. It can be really inexpensive, and it’s close to several of Tahoe’s best ski resorts. A big late winter/early spring storm is coming in and I park my RV in the free parking lot. By nightfall it’s really dumping and doesn’t look like it will let up for awhile, so I decide that I’m probably not going to ski tomorrow.

Day 4 – Saturday

Instead of trying to brave the horrid conditions, I visit a timeshare that is giving out two free Northstar lift tickets and dinner for two at the Sol’ Domain, one of Tahoe’s best restaurants. I ate my free dinners that night and took a tub. I had a couple of drinks with some free coupons I found in the Ski Tahoe newspaper and headed back to Squaw to spend the night. Unfortunately, my Squaw tickets are not valid on Sundays.

Day 5 – Sunday

So I sleep in until around noon. When I get up, some people are leaving and I ask them for their tickets. Sometimes you can trade for a beer or a 420 product, but they almost always give it to you for free. At about noon they start checking tickets for half-day skiing, so I attach my clipped ticket onto my ski boot. From experience I know the mostly teenage ticket checkers don’t like to bend over to examine your boot and so they won’t be able to tell I clipped it.

The entire time I have been selling tickets on eBay for an income, and the tickets I sell at Tahoe provide me with plenty of pocket money to spend on things I don’t have a coupon for. I’m trying to graduate from parking-lot selling, which is a rather high-risk proposition considering that scalping ticket vouchers is illegal. Nonetheless, I do this all winter, going from resort to resort skiing and trying to find coupons and other deals that I tell people about.

Follow my advice and you can travel the world, chasing winter, skiing everyday, and making a living (sort of), especially if you can manage to get a laptop so you can sell tickets on the web (and you’re totally nuts).

Riding the cable car up to High Camp is just one of the many year-round activities available at Squaw, which offers some of the most challenging ski terrain in Tahoe.

Squaw certainly delights in wintertime.

www.squaw.com

Ski Resort Mailing Lists

Go to your favorite ski resort web site and register for their e-mail notifications. Find the websites at www.slide4less.com under the dropdown menu for North American Ski Resorts.

The resorts frequently offer contests where you can enter to win ski passes or even a free season pass just for joining their mailing list. They will also let you know about their discounts and specials only available to people on the mailing list. This is not a bad deal and you'll also be notified about good prices on discounted snowboards and skis during the sale of rentals and demos in the off-season.

Website Mailing Lists

There are also many ski and snowboard website mailing lists. At the end of this guide, we have provided a list of some of the more-visited ski and snowboard websites. Many of these sites advertise cheap and free lift tickets, or they may give out free lift tickets.

Season Passes

The last thing you are thinking about in June or July is skiing, but this is when some of the resorts advertise their biggest season-pass discounts.

If you ski a lot, buying one of the deep-discounted passes is usually the way to go. Sometimes it is worth it even if you are only going to ski five or six days out of the year. If you don't plan on skiing at just one place all season, most resorts still offer great deals during the off-season.

Season passé prices have plummeted at some resorts over the past few years. Nowadays, a season pass is usually the best way to go if you ski a lot.

Early- and Late-Season Specials

These tickets are often sold at a 20-percent discount or more. “Early season” is usually sold through the beginning of December and from the end of March through closing. These tickets are often sold at metropolitan, big-box sporting goods stores. Sporting goods stores may also have tickets available with a small discount in mid-season.

Group Tickets

Most ski resorts will reward you for being a group leader and bringing a group of visitors to their resort. Such rewards are usually in the form of a free lift ticket for every 10 tickets purchased, which barely qualifies as a deal. Groups get discounted tickets depending on the resort at a rate of about 10 percent up to 20 percent in some cases. Group tickets really only make sense on busy days when other discount options are not available.

Special Events

Check the web pages at your favorite resorts to see if they have any special-event days. These special days can range from food drives to clothing drives for the needy, or even early-to-late-season resort trash cleanup. In exchange you will receive a discount on a lift ticket for that day.

Torchlight Parade. Volunteering for special events equals free lift tickets. (Photo provided)

Creative-Writing Jobs Relating to Resorts

You can get free lift tickets for working at jobs other than the ski resort itself. We have even invented jobs to generate free lift tickets.

First of all we made ourselves ski and snowboard critics for a couple of raggedy magazines and that “press pass” turned out to be a magic wand. Try taking pictures and writing a story about a resort and sending the pictures to a magazine. If you can get a story published in a magazine or other publication, such as a third-party website, you're almost there. You can get a Media Pass (which in most cases is just a piece of identification saying you write “professionally” for a publication), or just use the fact that you have a published article by showing the resort the magazine containing your article or photographs.

We skied for free at the Olympics by writing some stuff for some of the same type of grunge magazines we submitted articles to years ago. The media center at the Olympics gave us free passes good at a bunch of resorts. Trading an article for a pass is actually a remarkably easy way to get free skiing if you can fall into the right situation and have a little talent to pull it off. If you can publicize the resort in any publication, they'll generally give you free skiing as a reward. After all, the advertising value of the published article is probably a lot greater for them than the ski day they'll give you.

If you really wanted to push it, you could simply get a small, local newspaper (even a weekly) to agree to look at something you write up about a nearby resort. If you can include something actually newsworthy, that's a real plus and will help your cause immensely. Then go search press passes on the web and find an image of a press credential. Download the image into Photoshop or any photo importation/design program and make yourself an official-looking press pass. Then have it laminated down at the copy shop, attach a string and hang it around your neck. There…you’re a journalist! If anybody asks any questions, you point them to the newspaper for confirmation that you have already “struck a deal” with them in advance to consider your finished work for possible future publication. Go into the marketing department at the ski resort and explain that you are submitting the article. Tell them you hope the resort might let you up on the hill for free to take pictures or gather more information for the article.

Believe it or not, there is nothing horribly illegitimate about this scenario, even when the reality is you have not yet written any article or taken a single picture. Most press passes, especially ones coming from small publications, are simply a laminated card that identifies you as a writer or photographer for the publication. Of course, in some cases a press pass is a lot more than that (particularly those issued by government entities such as the state police), but for your purposes it's just an identification card. There's nothing that can really happen to you except for the resort saying it doesn't want the “free” coverage, which is possible, though it would be quite short-sighted on their part.

It's highly recommended you first get the publication to agree to let you submit the article/photos. But even if you didn't tell the publication in advance, the fact is most editors would probably find it rather humorous and consider it a demonstration of your initiative and desire to become a journalist if you were to complete and submit the article afterward. Once you get an article in print, you can optionally use the article as a “clip”, or evidence to show the resort you've written stuff before and had it published. Remember, you have to start somewhere and the real ski bum takes advantage of all ski deals and is always thinking of the next big ski “scam” ($$$)!

Writing an article is a pretty innovative way of getting free skiing and it's also one the resorts like because display advertising is very expensive. You are potentially giving them good advertising by getting something positive about the resort in print. But there's probably something similar you could do in exchange for a ticket if you really wanted to put some thought and time into it. And for a lot of people, submitting articles is not an easy way to ski for free because it requires a mix of creativity, desire and an out-going personality to make the necessary contacts. It’s a lot of legwork for one free lift ticket, but the rewards will certainly increase if you are in it for the long run. In fact, you are never really going to be successful with something like that if you are simply trying to just “scam” your way in, even though that's how it starts for some people. Nonetheless, there should be the intent to try to publish an article if you expect it to work.

Websites and newsletters are often easier than other media avenues for getting your work published. A website like slide4less, for example, sometimes gets solicitations from people who want to “cover” a certain resort area for us and they'll offer to provide content we can use. You might be able to make an offer to a website as a content provider regarding a few select resorts in your area, then go to the resort managers and tell them you are providing this content. If you do it right, it can be pretty easy and you might even be able to get this done through email alone. If you can get the website to call the resort(s) to tell them you're coming, you are really in good shape and now, in effect, all you may be doing is taking some pictures and trying to feed the website some content they can use without much revision, which is also relevant to the website and helps publicize the ski resort.

Resort Employment (The Last Resort!)

One of the best ways to ski for free – legally – is to work or volunteer at a resort. Both daily tickets and season passes are given out for free for doing either. In fact, why would you work as a full- or part-time employee at a ski resort if you didn't get a free season pass? It’s not like you’re going to make any money…just ask anyone who’s done it.

Regular Employment

Northstar-at-Tahoe often offers perks for both full- and part-time employees. Perks include free ski and snowboard season passes for employees and their dependents and discounted lift tickets for their guests. Also offered are free lessons, free golf, free mountain biking, discounts on ski and snowboard rentals; 50-percent discounts on food and beverage outlets, 30-percent discounts on retail items, 10 percent off gas prices at the resort gas station and skiing and riding privileges at all Booth Creek resorts nationwide. Check out the ski resort’s own website for resort jobs in September every year. They'll post their job fair on the website and you can access a link for North American Ski Resorts from www.slide4less.com for additional assistance.

Volunteer Employment

Volunteer instead! Work less and just do it for the pass. In doing so, you might also find it is something you enjoy and feel good about. Help out at a handicap ski school, which are springing up everywhere, or volunteer for another function at the resort. Alpine Meadows in Tahoe gets quite a few volunteers throughout the season and gives out tickets to keep the volunteer program going. It works well because Alpine gets a lot of people helping out. Alpine has a really well-known handicap ski school and has taken on qualified volunteers in the past, as well as employing people at the ski school. Volunteering for special-needs skiers and boarders is becoming a more popular thing and is certainly a worthy cause. We project that more resorts will start coming up with ways of trading a pass for some “volunteer work” in the future, as the benefits of such an arrangement become obvious. However, volunteer positions are still rare at resorts and things change from year to year, so you have to check it out on a case-by-case basis.

Knowing the Locals

This is absolutely key if you're really going to hang around one place a lot. We have met quite a few local people over the years. Nowadays we often arrange to stay with these local “contacts” for free. We give them tickets and they usually ski with us.

We've also met people with cool jobs and they have let us cruise with them a couple of times. We got some great skiing in the easy way, but of course it helps to know people who can let you up on a lift for free, or let you up before the resort opens to take some fresh tracks.

One year we got to fill-in for a demolitions and weather-data crew and we rode up early every day to get the first precious runs. They had a ridge they were blasting to keep the avalanches down and they had also set charges. They had a guy whose job was to cruise over the area after the blasting before they would allow anyone into the avalanche area. Plus, these guys were in charge of the weather stations and other technical equipment the resort had on the top of certain peaks. Some of those avalanche and weather-data guys had it down because they didn't really do much work, plus they got to ski over the fresh stuff before anybody got out on the hill!

The best thing is to get up on the hill a couple of hours before the place even opens. A lot of times the snow is at its very best about a half hour after the sun hits it. Since most resorts don't open until nine o’clock, you can get two and a half hours of skiing in before anybody else even gets up there. The problem is, you need to know the guy who opens the place and gets out on the hill first and a lot of times it's the guy who serves as the avalanche “guinea pig.” We like to make sure that guy is doing his job really well before we get out on the slope with him, so we make sure he goes over his checklist a bunch of times every morning.

You also might need to ask some locals about the basics, such as: Where are you going to stay? Where is a good place to eat? Where do you and your friends hang out?

Motor Home

We found that an RV parked by a lift at a ski resort is the best setup going and it works well at a lot of resorts. Going the rental route with a motor home can also work big-time, depending on where you're going and assuming you're just out for a short winter vacation and not planning on living at the resort. Just imagine if you could park your motor home right in front of the lift line… That's pretty convenient if you want to get out on the hill early. Now we want to work up to where we have two or three super-sized “Madden Cruisers!”

You can get away with it at a number of resorts and it’s a whole lot of fun when you do it right. Driving a motor home in the snow is probably a little crazy and it's not something everyone is going to want to try, but it works pretty well most of the time. It's really not as tough as it seems, either, but just the same, this may be better for a later-season adventure because you generally won’t have to worry about trying to put chains on the tires. Up at Tahoe, we've done it for a month or more at a time in peak season, but we've also tried it in Colorado, Utah, Idaho, Montana, British Columbia and several others places.

Tahoe is a little warmer than most other areas, but in midseason the storms can be intense. We have been hanging out in Tahoe for years so we have it down, like where to park. The Lake Tahoe area is a good place to go for cheap food and economical rooms and it is highly workable in a motor home. In Colorado, it's sometimes a lot tougher when it comes to cheap food and hotels because the resorts are generally situated a long way from anything and they’ve really “gotcha.” On the other hand, there are several resorts in Colorado relatively close to civilization, and some towns like Crested Butte are not too expensive if you know how to slide on through. But with other places there really is nowhere else to go and you end up paying top dollar for everything.

Utah resorts are pretty easy because they are mostly around Salt Lake City. Park City is a pretty big mountain town and Utah’s largest. Salt Lake has become a big ski hub and the ski/snowboard resort industry is by far the biggest tourism draw in the area. They've built some huge, first-class resorts and they are rewarded with terrific natural snow, which usually falls in greater quantities than in Colorado. Utah has a poor reputation because some people believe it offers less-challenging terrain than Colorado or Lake Tahoe or resorts in the Pacific Northwest, but this really isn't true. Utah's resorts generally stack-up well with other resorts in terms of average snow quality/quantity and accessible terrain.

Inconvenience Passes

This is something some ski resorts prefer to keep quiet about, while other resorts give out inconvenience passes very freely, so it's a tough thing to gauge until you actually try to get a pass.

If anything should disrupt your day on the mountain, many resorts will give you a free pass that allows you to return at another time. Inconvenience, for example, might include getting injured at the resort or experiencing some sort of day-ending equipment failure, or it could be for reasons as simple as extreme weather conditions.

Often weather isn't a good enough excuse at most resorts, and many post notices saying they will not refund your money due to weather. However, on strange bad-weather days, resorts often give out vouchers if you ask (even if they say they don't refund for weather).

If you're injured at the resort and have to be assisted by the ski patrol, most will give you a free pass to come back at a later date. Keep in mind the resort will often not offer this to you up front, even with an injury. It's up to you to initiate the conversation with the medical officials on the spot. They will probably send you to the guest services department. At that point, if you're aching badly, this is probably the last thing on your mind. But remember, if you're an avid skier or snowboarder you will surely be back and the free pass is sweet. In general, an injury on the slopes is good for a free lift ticket. Just ask.

Go to the guest services department and insist they issue you a free pass if you have to sit stopped on a lift for more than a half hour. This is pretty standard and can be a common occurrence. The fact is that NO resort should leave you dangling from the chairlift for 30 minutes or more. Ten minutes on a lift can seem like awhile by itself, but it's normally not enough to justify asking for a pass. However, it is pretty common to have longer stoppages on lifts. Half an hour is a long time to wait on a stopped lift and resorts are readily prepared to deal with this.

Long lines and bad weather conditions can also be taken care of at the guest services department. It is very important to tell them you are a frequent visitor and you usually enjoy their conditions. Tell them you would like to keep coming back, instead of going to their nearest competitor and you would like a free pass to return. After all, they shouldn't have even tried to open that day due to the conditions. Maybe the reason is the lifts that were advertised as being open were practically impossible to ride and were shut down quickly. Use your imagination if you really feel slighted. Weather is the toughest excuse and many resorts will flat-out refuse to give you anything in return for inclement weather.

For all of the above inconveniences, make sure you voice your complaints loudly and forcefully. In many cases, they will not hand you a free pass or lift ticket for inconvenience unless you sound off.

Ski Shows and Promotions

For free tickets, go to all the pre-season ski and snowboard shows. Sometimes they limit the number of lift tickets you can get, so you must be creative and really work the shows. In the past, we've taken the Boy Scouts and various church groups to the shows and worked out a deal with them allowing us to come away with hundreds of tickets. That's really going to the extreme, but we've done it! We would have them go to the ski expo or show and we paid for all their entry tickets, but we made them give us the free lift ticket in return. At those expos/shows, if they wanted a lift ticket for themselves, they could buy an entry ticket from us, but if they used our free pass, they gave us the lift ticket. We worked a snow-and-skate expo with the Boy Scouts a couple of times and a number of the Scouts were into the skate stuff and other activities not related to winter sports. They didn't really want the ski lift ticket and were more interested in getting into the show for free. We paid for them to go in exchange for the lift ticket. It was a win-win situation.

Many people will find that ski shows are a real key to obtaining cheap or free lift tickets. These shows have different names, but they are usually promoted locally as “Snow Expos” or “Snow and Skate Expos.” Most of these shows give out promotional lift-ticket vouchers. They are off- or early season (October through December), but they can be the best way to collect ultra-cheap tickets. These shows are used by resorts and the industry to get the season going. You'll usually find all kinds of giveaways at these shows, so there are more reasons to go in than just a free lift ticket. Season passes are usually a lot cheaper at these shows, plus they sometimes have a ski/snowboard equipment blow-out of the previous year's gear.

Other lift ticket giveaways include working Warren Miller shows and other ski movies. Every year for the last 52 years, Warren Miller has made a new ski movie and everyone who watches it gets a magazine. At many shows they also give out free lift-ticket vouchers, or sometimes a sporting goods/ski resort ‘combo’ discount coupon. For example, in 2002 they gave out $10 off a purchase of $100 at a local sporting goods store, along with a free lift ticket for some of the best resorts in the country. At most shows in California there was a $10/$100 voucher for Heavenly Valley and the coupons are given out in October and November just in time for Christmas shopping. This is a very typical scheme for a ski/snowboard movie promotion.

What we have done in the past is go to the movie and collect our coupon and sometimes we'll pick up extra coupons off the floor. Not everyone who sees the movie wants the coupon so you might try asking the people around you for theirs. You can also trade beer or “420” products for the coupon. The trade is worth it.

Redeeming Movie Coupons

The best way to go is to get into the sporting goods store to redeem your coupon when they are very busy. If you're really bold/crazy you want to get in line at the sporting goods store and ask the person in front of you and in back of you if they want 10 percent off their upcoming purchase. The discount comes from the coupons you picked up off the floor at the ski movie. You tell them they get the 10 percent off and you want them to give you the lift ticket in return.

One year, for a stretch of about three weeks between the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, we went to Berkeley’s Any Mountain store almost every day and came out with a total of 79 tickets to Heavenly Valley, which we then sold for $40 each. It only took about 15 hours of time at the stores. We made a lot of new friends while saving people money at the same time!

Those were some pretty desperate times for us, though, and we wouldn't want anybody to necessarily repeat that because you probably would get yourself into trouble. On the other hand, those ski movie coupons are often valuable and they might give a few ski and snowboard bums out there another way to get up on the hill.

There are several movies and shows that give out promotional stuff before the ski season begins. Warren Miller has the giant movie circuit that's pretty much worldwide and they always have some kind of coupon or something, although you don't usually get a free lift ticket, and the movie ticket is usually pretty expensive. But in some movies you do get a free ticket, so we recommend you go to ski movies anyway. Even though they're expensive, remember that the lift ticket promotions are sometimes pretty good.

One year, if you logged onto www.warrenmiller.com, put in the code number of the movie coupon and printed out the store coupon, as a bonus they let you print out free late-season lift tickets to Snow Summit in Southern California. It was a long ride from the San Francisco Bay Area, but when you have 60 tickets in your hands the ride doesn't seem so long and ski trips are always an adventure.

The ski and snowboard movies almost all run through December, but it's the beginning of the season when the vouchers are really plentiful. Go to the movies, because they have some good promotions and sometimes the show is pretty worthy too.

Amassing Vast Quantities of Tickets, Vouchers and Coupons

You can't really get that many tickets by going into ski shows and collecting them from other people, can you?

At some ski shows you can go in more than once and you could easily get a friend to go with you. Ski shows usually run all day over multiple days at one location. Some ski shows won't stop you from going in numerous times because they're just trying to sell tickets. Other shows may allow you to buy a bunch of tickets at once and redeem them all for lift tickets.

Generally, you're probably going to be able to redeem only one or two vouchers at a time, which means you have to go into the show a few times and you have to buy an admission ticket each time. Or you might have to go over multiple days and in this case, you’ll definitely need to find some friends to go along.

Of course it's a pain and it takes a little effort and you have to completely humiliate yourself, but it's pretty surprising in some locations how easy it is to collect a bunch of lift-ticket vouchers at once. Often, they really don't care if you just buy 10 admittances yourself and redeem them all because, again, they are trying to sell the admission and don't care if you buy a bunch yourself. It can be a great way to get some tickets for yourself for a bunch of different resorts, or you can trade the tickets for something else consumable, edible or redeemable later on.

Heavenly is a decent place to park the RV. (Photo provided)

www.skiheavenly.com

Selling Tickets

Selling In The Parking Lot

We used to sell tickets in the ski resort parking lots all the time. A long time ago, there were not really many people doing it. Now there are more, but the reason it’s impractical is that a lot of resorts have cracked down on parking lot selling. This method is on the decline in a lot of areas.

True ski bums know that selling vouchers in the parking lots is a way to make some cash. Some even try to clip tickets from people who are leaving the resort early. They then re-sell the clipped ticket or use it themselves. But there are a number of more-effective methods than clipping a ticket. The name of the game is coupons and vouchers, season passes, and skiing and snowboarding a lot. This five-days-a-year business has got to go!

You need a little bit of cash in your pocket so you can buy and sell, but by going to ski shows you can find some vouchers that are truly valuable. There are also the two-for-one coupons that occasionally come along at fast-food restaurants. It's possible to make quite a bit of cash selling tickets by buying for less and selling for more.

We've had a number of fiascos and some amazing successes over the years. Bumming from resort to resort on two-or-three-week ski treks and selling lift tickets can be a job in itself, but a very, very fun job.

Mammoth Story

One year we went to a show in the Bay Area that was supposedly giving out Sierra-at-Tahoe tickets. They gave out a voucher for a midweek ticket with every paid admission, which was a great deal. They also stapled a coupon good for two-for-one ski tickets to June Mountain to the Sierra ticket, but the June coupon was also good for a totally free ticket if you went before December 15th.

June is way out in the middle of nowhere; undoubtedly California's most remote ski resort. But it's close to its larger sister and owner, Mammoth.

Not many people are going to drive from the Bay Area to June Mountain. Nobody really knows anything about the place and the only way most people would even consider it is if you tell them it's near Mammoth. So there were a lot of June Mountain coupons on the floor at the end of the show. A lot of people did not even realize the June coupon had any value at all.

On December 1 we headed to June Mountain in the motor home, armed with a couple hundred June Mountain coupons. The problem was that nobody bothered to call June to see if they were open, so when we got there we found it a ghost town with nobody around and lifts that hadn't even been cranked up yet.

So we went to Mammoth instead, but it was expensive and so we just spent one day there. We had a coupon, but it was only for a few bucks off and Mammoth didn't have much snow either, so we just hung for a week and got to know the locals. We went on some backcountry ski hikes instead, which were a lot of fun.

There's all kinds of backcountry around Mammoth and June. There's this one backcountry ski run called the Banner-Ritter Saddle that's a saddle between two massive peaks behind Mammoth and June mountains. It's kind of like the Holy Grail of ski runs in the area, but it's pure hell getting there. It looks like you could reach out and touch it from June, but if you try to walk there you had better be prepared for about a week-long trek through the frozen tundra, creeks, ice walls, granite faces and thousand-island lakes. If the trail is totally snow covered, forget about it.

Mammoth itself is one of the classic U.S. ski hills and towns. It's a little different from others in the area. Just like most Colorado resorts, it's out by itself with it's own self-contained mini city attached. In fact, it reminds you more of a Colorado resort than a Tahoe resort in many ways, even though Mammoth isn't that far south of Lake Tahoe.

Fortunately we found the Mammoth RV Park, with lots of places to park the motor home on the June Lake loop, plus we met a couple of new people and got their phone numbers. Then we regrouped and decided the next time we might try a little advance planning before heading out on a ski trip.

By February we were fairly certain that June did have snow and was open, so we went back there with our hundreds of coupons. This time we arrived in the middle of the week on a Wednesday and we staked out a good place in the lot. The next day was bright and sunny and the hill looked pretty inviting in the pink morning sunlight. At June the slope rises pretty much straight up from the lot and looks steep and dangerous (i.e. ‘appealing’).

Unfortunately, it seemed that June was just too far out in the middle of nowhere to attract any people. There weren't that many people there and to sell any tickets, we had to go up to the ticket window. We would collect two tickets and then try to sell them. Since there were so few people there, it was pretty obvious we were doing it so we really couldn't get away with much. The selling ticket thing wasn't going so hot at that point.

Fortunately we did manage to sell a few and generate some bucks and we also finally got up on June's hill. Luckily June has some good skiing. It doesn't have much inbounds acreage, but it makes up for it with 2,600 feet of continuous vertical and it has untracked runs with spectacular views. It also had very good snow when we were there. The lower mountain is very steep and doesn't attract many skiers, but it offers good expert terrain and some excellent conditions. The upper mountain has fewer steeps, but is mostly wide-open fast stuff and this is where most people ski and snowboard.

June Mountain is definitely one of those rare “little tiny” resorts that has super big-time skiing. It is very reminiscent of the old Berthoud Pass (Berthoud doesn't have lifts anymore; cat-skiing only) or Arapahoe Basin in Colorado, or Diamond Peak and Homewood at Tahoe.

The next day we went back to the Mammoth RV park. Mammoth turned out to be one of the best ski resorts for a motor home we have found in our travels. It has a specialized RV park, which is key, but there are also a lot of options for camping in the lowlands around Mammoth. It is basically surrounded by National Forest and parks that are loaded with campgrounds. In the middle of winter, the Mammoth RV park is one of the only legal options at higher elevations and it costs money. But it is open in the winter, with a sauna, washers/dryers and other facilities, so it's worth it to occasionally stop at the RV park.

Fortunately we did have a few quality Mammoth vouchers this time around and so we were a little more prepared. We hadn't even planned on using the vouchers and going to Mammoth, but because of the June vouchers we decided to go again.

The half-pipe at Mammoth pretty much rules. The hill is totally wide open, is big, and great on a good day. But because it is so open with so few trees, it has a lot of bad days with poor visibility and wind. And on those days, June swells in numbers because it doesn't get belted by the wind quite as bad. It is way better than Mammoth on a stormy or particularly snowy day. Also, about one-tenth of Mammoth's business is probably enough to fill June to maximum capacity.

When all the elements came together in our favor, we ventured back to June. It was cloudy and looking like a storm early when we woke up in Mammoth, so we headed over to June early in the morning. Just after we got there a church bus pulled right up next to the motor home.

That was some time ago and the fact is that now we don't sell in parking lots like we did back then. Some of the resorts just can't handle it when you stand right in front of their ticket window and sell vouchers. They will repel you with something about taking dinner off their children's table and causing poverty in Africa.

Selling Tickets and Vouchers at the Resorts

We used to sell the lift tickets in the parking lots at the resorts. But nowadays there is a lot of competition out there, so try other spots like the local bars and clubs. Better yet, try finding someone who lives near the resort.

We met someone living at Homewood on the west shore of Lake Tahoe who has rentals. He buys all of our Homewood tickets every year. We get these tickets for less than $10 at the ski shows and sell them to him for $22 – less than half the regular price, and everyone's happy, even though Homewood has actually been $25 from Monday to Thursday over the last couple seasons, so it's pretty cheap no matter what.

You can only see four percent of the actual resort’s runs from the parking lot and that’s probably accurate. This is another place that appears to have just one really steep, treacherous and short hill. Homewood’s disadvantage is that even though it's right on the west shore of Lake Tahoe, it isn't very conveniently located because it’s equidistant from the two larger towns of Truckee and South Lake Tahoe. But of course, once you get up on the hill the disappointment goes away because the place has the very best views in Tahoe. Homewood is the closest resort to the lake, with only Diamond Peak and Heavenly coming close and it has an almost unbelievable 1,500 acres of varied terrain, which is a major shock after being down at the very small base lodge and looking up the hill.

It’s hard to beat Homewood’s spectacular views, hidden acreage of pristine pine forest and old-school charm. (Photo provided) www.skihomewood.com

One day, after the police were called in to supervise our removal from the premises of a resort, we realized how much the resorts really didn't like us selling tickets in the parking lot. Even selling in the area was a little disappointing for them, so we turned to eBay.

Selling Tickets and Vouchers on eBay

We have found the best place to re-sell lift tickets and vouchers is www.ebay.com. Look for lift tickets in the eBay search – key word “lift tickets.” Thousands of people look for lift tickets every hour in the peak season. We don't really start posting them on eBay until November or December and that's when you'll normally start to see other ticket postings. It's no mystery that eBay is one of the busiest commercial sites on the Internet and now lift tickets are best sellers in December and January. You can set up eBay to deposit payment for lift tickets right in your bank account 24 hours a day, so you can sell lift tickets while you sleep and rack up some big bucks at the same time.

Some resorts have put in a business center where you can get online right there. You can get into your email and send out your tickets, so technically you will be selling your tickets at the resort but not in the parking lot. Now you don't even need to buy a laptop computer! You can find a lot of creative ways to sell your tickets. Maybe you won't sell them all and then you'll have to use them yourself! What other business opportunity offers such a win-win situation?!

www.eBay.com

More on Selling Lift Tickets

Again, remember that ski resorts give out lift tickets at several venues throughout the country. During the fall especially, promotional tickets are given away at pre-season ski events, especially at ski shows.

Pre-season ski shows offer customers the opportunity to see exhibits by ski industry companies including the resorts and manufacturers. Many shows nowadays are promotional events that draw crowds by showing new gear and equipment and by promoting the resorts.

Although it does take some effort, in many areas of the country you can collect quite a few vouchers just by going to the shows, if you find out where they are. To some extent, you just have to keep alert during September, October and November for lift-ticket giveaways.

Many shows and expos run for several days at one location. They'll typically charge around $10 for admittance, but there are discount coupons in local papers weeks before the shows, so the idea is to get a lot of coupons and drive your ticket prices even lower. We often get ours for about $7-8 apiece. The show will usually give out a voucher good for a midweek or limited-season adult all-day lift ticket. But in past years they have given out tickets that are good all season long. Plus they have tickets good for first-time packages that include skis, lessons and tickets. These beginner-package vouchers are really worth more than a regular full-day lift ticket.

Most of these vouchers state that they are not transferable and have zero-cash value. But of course the vouchers do have value, as they are often redeemable for a ticket that would otherwise cost you up to $60. Further, the reason that most people go to expos is to get the voucher. The voucher is advertised on radio or in the newspaper when the ski expo is advertised and it is the voucher that usually draws people into the event.

The smaller shows and swaps often do not give out lift tickets but they will sometimes have a discount coupon for some resorts. Even discount coupons have a value if they save you over $10 per person. So look for every coupon and voucher you can find. The newsletter at www.top10lifttickets.com posts all kinds of coupons during the ski year, so keep checking back during the season for an up-to-date list.

These vouchers have become a commonly traded item over the years. They are peddled in parking lots at ski resorts with tremendous frequency, even though it states right on the back of the ticket or voucher that it can't be re-sold. Then people started trading them elsewhere, at ski clubs, or even in classified ads.

Where It's Illegal To Sell

Re-selling any event ticket is generally illegal at the venue itself anywhere in the country, no matter what the event is. This is often controlled by ordinances that empower local police to stop unauthorized ticket selling out in front of the ticket window (while the ticket window is also trying to sell). Of course, it doesn't stop this from happening, as scalpers and third-party ticket sellers still sell in front of venues in virtually any jurisdiction in the country (although it's usually across the street instead of right in front of the window).

Technically, “scalping” is selling a ticket at any amount above its “face value.” Many laws concerning ticket sales are primarily concerned with the issue of selling above face value. With lift tickets, it's questionable as to what the face value is since they come in the form of free vouchers redeemable for the tickets themselves. However, you are probably in the same sort of situation as you would be with the re-sale of any other event or experience ticket and in the case of lift ticket vouchers, you are generally selling for above what you bought the ticket for, so you are, in effect, “scalping” them.

Four states essentially do not allow ticket re-sales and selling tickets in those states is illegal, and there just really is not an easy way around it. Additionally, selling tickets for any event/venue/experience held in those states is not a good idea, even if the sale occurs outside that state.

eBay's ticket-selling rules contain an in-depth description of rules pertaining to event and experience ticket states and it’s one good source of information for selling tickets.

There are a lot of people out there who will tell you that it is illegal to re-sell any event or experience ticket, regardless of what you might see in classified adds or on eBay, etc. Laws are often not so hard-fast as to provide a really clear answer because latitude and flexibility in the system is necessary to help assure free trade and free competition. Keep this in mind as you begin your foray into this fringe activity.

Note that none of this is intended as specific legal advice and if you sell a voucher you do so at your own risk!

Trading Tickets

The Internet has revolutionized ticket selling and trading. To a large extent, lift-ticket vouchers are sold/traded on eBay directly between skiers and snowboarders. Buying vouchers you want and trading the ones you don't want is an important underlying activity to this phenomenon.

At ski shows and related venues, people trade the vouchers right on the spot. This is where the real “action” happens and you should try to trade at the show for tickets you want whenever it’s reasonable to do so. Everybody wants to get the right tickets for them, and sometimes the ski shows give out random vouchers good at several different resorts. Some even have you draw the tickets at random, so you have no idea which vouchers you'll get. This is especially valuable when you are trying to collect a few tickets for your own ski vacation, but not so much when you’re trying to get hold of a very specific ticket to trade or sell.

If you look on eBay during the season you'll notice ski lift tickets are now traded for almost all resorts across the country. It’s sometimes a great way to pick up some cheaper midweek tickets and it's definitely the place to look. You'll probably be buying a voucher that the seller picked up or traded for elsewhere, but who cares as long as you get the lift ticket for a bargain deal?

If you planned your travel around the trade shows and lift-ticket giveaways, you could trade with people in other countries for their tickets. The Internet has made this possible and we often trade tickets with people who email us. This way you could get a lot of tickets for one state and trade worldwide for tickets everywhere. You’ll never pay full price for a lift ticket again and you won’t be scalping the ticket either.

That's our back-up plan in case somebody gets nasty and spoils our current eBay selling strategy!

Food and Lodging

Almost everywhere we go, we inevitably find a lot of free food because at some resorts it's given out at the end of the ski day, plus we hunt down all the coupons we can find. We know the happy hours of all the local bars and casinos, when applicable, and we'll often come armed with some zip lock baggies and a big ski jacket so we can sneak out some food for the next day.

One year we got a bunch of tickets to Mt. Rose on the Nevada side of Lake Tahoe for free and at the end of the day we'd go to a local bar. At 3 p.m. they put out tortilla chips and dip plus some other Mexican appetizers for everyone who comes off the hill – show your lift ticket and get free food! We'd take a zip-lock bag and stock up for later. Then we'd take the shuttle back to the motor home and drive to the Cal-Neva resort on North Shore across from the Biltmore, where they both had free food at happy hour from 4-7 pm everyday.

You could live on the food they gave out there. There are also drinks and they often cost only $1-1.50 and the beer is $1-1.50 also, but one time we found coupons that made the drinks about 33 cents each. Then we realized something important: In the areas where there are a lot of resorts all together, such as Salt Lake and Tahoe, we found a bunch of happy-hour freebies and coupons for local restaurants. Not all resort areas offer these super deals and the offers seem to rotate, but we're usually able to scout-out super cheap restaurant and food deals, and we don't even have to rely on Safeway.

At resorts there are usually a lot of happy hours and other appetizers being given out. Most people are not going to do what we do, such as carry along their own plastic “doggie” bags. On the other hand, there are a bunch of legitimate ways to stretch your dollar and in the resort areas that are not so isolated you can find some ways to get really cheap food and drinks, even though resort areas are notoriously expensive when it comes these staples of the ski trip.

All resorts tend to appeal to a wealthier crowd, but there is a difference. The absolute fanciest resorts in the United States are generally found in Colorado, with a couple of others in Utah and the Northwest/Northeast. At some of those “most expensive” resorts, you are going to pay a lot and there is no way out. If you go to Deer Valley in Utah, you probably are not really trying to get a great deal anyway. It is significantly more expensive than it’s neighbors at Park City and the Canyons. It is very fancy and lodging is extremely expensive. It offers unparalleled service and facilities for a high-class crowd. If you were going cheap and staying in Salt Lake and driving to the resorts from there, you’d want to go to the Brighton or Solitude, or perhaps even the Canyons, Snowbird, Park City or Alta. Deer Valley’s hill isn’t even that great – we prefer neighboring Park City because we think it has more varied terrain. Deer Valley is an awesome mountain, but it’ll cost you.

Likewise, some resorts in Colorado are tough to get deals for – other than packages – and some of them are quite expensive, featuring better service and facilities and more remote locales. For example, you can't just drive to Steamboat for the day. In fact, Steamboat doesn't even sell single-day tickets, the last time we checked. It's so far out there, they figure there's no point in even going unless you ski for at least two days. So these kinds of places are not where you can get a deal...... unless you go off-season. Then the rules sometimes can change.

This is our own humble opinion here, but of your big, prime-time western ski areas, Salt Lake and Tahoe pretty much rule when it comes to cheap lodging and free or discounted food and drinks. If you want to go first class, Whistler in Canada’s British Columbia deserves honorable mention. Things are cheaper in Canada due to the exchange rate and you can't beat Whistler’s services and mountain. It's simply one of the best ski resorts in the world and it’s cheaper than other top-flight resorts. You also need to consider some of the Pacific Northwest ski areas, some of which are the very best. Mt. Bachelor in Oregon can be a great deal, as can Switzer. Overall, you'll undoubtedly find the greatest abundance of relatively cheap ski package deals coming from Tahoe and Utah and they're both places where you can get stuff pretty cheap due to stiff competition found in the surrounding metropolitan areas.

The reason Tahoe and Salt Lake offer such good value is that there are a lot of resorts next to one another, so competition is more fierce. They also have that direct access to large metropolitan areas where you can get stuff cheap, such as Salt Lake City, Reno and Sacramento. They also offer world class mountains with great natural snow and a lot of terrain. They are destination areas where people come from all over the world to ski, but they can be pretty cheap anyway. Denver is also close to numerous ski resorts, but it's a much bigger metropolitan area and presents challenges different to staying in Salt Lake City. Salt Lake is more centrally located to several resorts than Denver and is easier to get around in.

Tahoe and Utah resorts are certainly not the cheapest out there, but they are cheap if you're considering only destination resorts where people travel a relatively long way to take a ski vacation.

Zip Locks and Buffet

The zip-lock theory is kind of a Tahoe thing because there are many casinos and they always provide huge buffets. Everyone has got cookies or something in their pockets on the way out. We wouldn't necessarily recommend the zip locks in the non-casino buffet environment and if you drink, Utah can be trouble. You'll need to drive your car first, because you'll want to fill it with brew before you go to Utah due to its stringent drinking laws.

With a big ski jacket and some zip-lock bags, you can fully take advantage of the all-you-can-eat and the free happy-hour food and deserts the area has to offer. Remember that a slice of prime rib makes a great sandwich the next day and all that fruit they put out at the buffet is going to be thrown away anyway, so our theory is, don't let that food go to waste. Take it with you!

Other Places to Get Free Lift Tickets

The Real (Desperate) Ski and Snowboard Bum

Today we ski and snowboard all over the place, but our ski-bum stuff was recruited mostly at Tahoe. So most of our good stories come from the Lake Tahoe area. We also have a lot of familiarity with other western and northwestern resorts, and we've skied and snowboarded at hundreds of locales. But Tahoe is where we were a little more innovative due to a more desperate desire to ski and snowboard without paying anything.

Lots of people know “of us” up at Tahoe, but we're known pretty superficially and sometimes we get the feeling most people think we’re really “out there.” But they get used to us eventually and tend to just ignore us if we do anything really stupid.

We actually were on the forefront of a lot of the really good ski-bum tricks and you know there are a lot of people out there who will vouch for us in this department. But we tried to quickly move away from some of these more subversive tactics, unless the situation was simply insurmountable using traditional methods. Like using your car heater or a DC blow drier to un-stick the clipped ticket from the wire so you can re-apply the ticket to a new wire and perfectly re-apply the ticket, or using JB Weld to bond a clipped wire back together so you can't tell it was clipped. How about bringing several colors of tie straps in case the resort uses the tie strap ticket system, or bribing lift ticket operators with beers and 420 products. This last one is always a good “ace up the sleeve” in case you've exhausted the more conventional tactics.

When you are really good at this, you never get caught. It takes years of technique refinement to really get these kinds of tactics down, so we recommend nowadays that you stick with the more sophisticated approaches like selling on the web. We think the clipped ticket thing and that other stuff has kind of run its course, but who knows? We have such faith, we think the clipped ticket could be developed into a very valid way of getting the less fortunate up on the hill.

The hot-tub poaching scam can also be key for a skier or snowboarder. Generally there are a lot of hidden hot tubs to be discovered around resort areas. We found some time ago that hot tubs were not used much during the ski season, but they're generally open at the resorts because some guests who are skiing and snowboarding do use hot tubs, even when they are located outside and it's extremely cold.

So we'd pick a few key ski resorts throughout the west and try to infiltrate the resort. One place we favor is the Squaw Valley Lodge.

Squaw Valley Lodge has one of the best hot tubs anywhere. It's not quite like Banff or Sol Vista, or the slope sides at the Park City Marriot, but the Squaw Valley Lodge has a couple of big tubs right under the tram at Squaw Valley, and they are absolutely awesome because you've got an adjoining exercise room and a conveniently located bathroom complex. Now they're building an entirely new complex at Squaw and they're upgrading on a big scale so they can get their facilities up to the level of the very best resorts in the country.

We convinced someone to give us a key for the place because it's mostly condos and one of the owners needed some extra lift tickets. At first we just totally poached the thing, but after awhile we decided we liked it so much, we used some lift tickets to bribe our way in on a more permanent basis.

We used the same tactic at Park City. If you're into a hot tub by the slope and you want something that is really nice and first class, then we highly recommend the Park City Marriott. After taking a look at all of the slope-side hot tubs in North America, we decided this one was a must, so we acquired the necessary magnetic identification card and then checked in our ski equipment downstairs. We old them the equipment would be there a long time and we'd be in and out throughout the season because we had a condo there.

www.marriott.com/dpp/PropertyPage.asp?MarshaCode=SLCPC

www.parkcitymountain.com

One day during the Olympics at the Park City Marriott, some guy on the lift was telling Steve that he was Steven Speilberg and he had a condo at the Marriott. We don't think it was the real Steven Speilberg, but the Park City Marriott is the kind of place where we meet a bunch of people who tell us they are these famous people and we really don't know whether to believe them or not. Everybody believes he IS someone famous at this resort, which makes it so special. We always feel we have to tell them some kind of story about how we're famous ski and snowboard bums, too, known the world over for our expertise in getting up on ski lifts for little or nothing! Actually, that part is true.

So we decided hot-tub poaching was a great way to meet other crazy people who like to claim they're somebody famous. It’s the Napoleon complex of 2004.

Ski Movie Promos

Remember to attend ski/snowboard movies featuring extreme backcountry steeps, etc. at the beginning of the season. At several of the films, free lift tickets or vouchers for discount lift tickets are given out.

Sporting Goods Stores

Sporting Goods Stores across the country give out ski lift tickets as part of various promotions. Usually tickets are given away when you buy something at retail value. In other cases, tickets or vouchers are given out just for being the first in the door or some such nonsense. They advertise on modern rock stations during October, November and December. Stay alert and go get these tickets when they announce them – it works!

Websites

The major snow-sport websites occasionally run promotions and give out lift tickets, especially during the ski season. Major ski/snowboard promotional websites that give out tickets are listed later in this guide.

Radio Stations

Radio stations (especially modern-rock stations) give away ski lift tickets during the season. This may be kind of a “shot in the dark” but it never hurts to tune in, especially while you’re visiting a ski area.

Bars, Restaurants and Clubs

Bars, restaurants, and clubs (especially those in and around the resort areas) give away ski lift tickets as part of contests, parties and promotions. Listen to the local radio stations while you're up there. RSN (a cable channel available in Tahoe) is piped into most resort areas and they advertise these kinds of values, so watch RSN in your hotel/motel room for more deals.

Auto Dealerships

Sometimes auto dealerships will give out lift ticket vouchers if you take a test drive or buy a new vehicle. This is difficult for a lot of people, but for others it can be a relatively easy way to get a voucher or two. Also, it never hurts to make friends with some Jeep salesmen who can turn you on to free vouchers that may be left over following promotions.

Off Peak is the Only Way To Go

One major problem is that all the discount options require you to ski or snowboard in off-peak times. Weekends and Christmas vacation are tough and aren’t usually available through promotions and giveaways. There just are not that many deals to be had, but most skiers and boarders don’t care as these times tend to be pretty much packed anyway.

Even if you try using all the vouchers yourself, a lot of times you'll get stuck with some oddballs and those you can try to sell online.

When you sell online, getting 60 percent of what the tickets cost at the resort is sometimes pretty good. Big resorts can sell for a lot higher and sometimes you get just a few dollars less than normal price, but it's tougher to find the free vouchers for many of the bigger resorts, so you are often selling at half price.

Ski Shows, Venues and Links

Some shows may not give out vouchers, but they still give out discount coupons. Call ahead to be sure the show you are planning to attend is giving out vouchers and investigate to find specific arrangements.

Below are contacts for the major ski show venue sites in the U.S. They may not have information until shortly before the event itself (they all run in the fall). See the web links below for links to the major providers’ websites.

Ski Shows and Venues

(Check www.slide4less.com’s "Free Lift Ticket" page for updates to this important list).

*Ft Lauderdale, FL South East Sports Show, Broward County Convention Center: (945) 484-7800, (954) 484-7800.

*Scranton, PA Wyoming Valley Mall: (703) 912-9332.

*RI Rhode Island Snow Show, Warwick Mall: (401) 831-3900

*The New Jersey Snow Show, Rockaway Town Square: (973) 328-0600

*Sacramento, CA Snow and Skate Expo: www.snowskateexpo.com, www.sacsnow.com

*Harrisburg, PA Capital City Mall: (703) 912-9332.

*Philadelphia, PA National Ski & Snowboard Expo / Plymouth Meeting Mall: (703) 912-9332,. www.zedeckassociates.com

*Seattle, WA Stadium Exhibition Center: www.bewisports.com, (206) 381-7500

*Quebec Ski and Snowboard Show, Quebec City, Canada: (418) 651-4290, gexco@sympatico.ca

*Long Island, NY: (703) 912-9332, www.zedeckassociates.com

*Connecticut, Danbury Fair Mall: (800) 477-7669, (203) 743-3247, (203) 794-0600

*Chicago, Donald E. Stevens Convention Center: Skidazzle, (773) 622-4905, skichgo@aol.com

*Denver, Colorado Convention Center BEWI: www.bewisports.com, (303) 228-8000

*Albany, NY Empire State Plaza: (518) 383-6183 edlewi@global2000.net

*Portland. Expo Center: (503) 736-5200, www.bewisports.com

*Calgary Ski and Snowboard Show, Sale and Swap Calgary, Alberta, Canada: (403) 294-0977

*Rockaway, NJ Town Square Mall: (800) 477-7669

*Minneapolis Convention Center: (612) 943-2002.

*Hartford Civic Center, BEWI Connecticut: (860) 249-6333. www.bewisports.com

*Washington, D.C. Dulles Expo Center Fairfax, VA National Ski & Snowboard Expo: (703) 912-9332, www.zedeckassociates.com

*Dallas Market Hall: (800) 831-3976. 17th Annual Dallas Morning News SkiFest, Dallas, TX (818) 707-3600, emmshows@msn.com

*San Diego Del Mar Fair Ground: (866) 766-9526.

*Bayside Expo Center, Boston: (617) 825-5151, www.bewisports.com

*Cleveland Convention Center: (216) 619-7469, ext 118

* Orange County, CA Fair: (866) 766-9526.

*Houston, TX George Brown Convention Center: (800) 831-3976, (818) 707-3600, emmshows@msn.com

*L.A. Convention Center: Skidazzle, (949) 497-4977, www.skidazzle.com

Websites for Major Snow Expo Providers

*BEWI Productions, www.bewisports.com, producers of consumer ski/snowboard shows in Seattle, Portland, Denver, Boston and Northern California.

*Ski Dazzle, www.skidazzle.com, large-scale consumer ski/snowboard show in Los Angeles.

*Zedeck Associates and Eagle Productions, www.zedeckassociates.com, consumer ski/snowboard shows in New York, Detroit, Pennsylvania and Washington D.C. areas.

Websites Where You Can Find Ski Resort Jobs

Remember to check the resort websites and go to the resort job fairs in September. Check for resort website links at www.slide4less.com. Generally, your best opportunity for a resort job are the many area job fairs in September.

www.jobfox.com

www.highcountryjobs.com

www.monster.com

www.jobsinparadise.com

www.coolworks.com

www.jobsforcolorado.com

www.skiingthenet.com

www.canada.plusjobs.com

www.jobsintahoe.com

www.craigslist.org

www.journalismjobs.com

www.dice.com

Remember

Ski resort jobs are an important avenue for people who want to find a way to get on the hill for free and get paid to do it. Almost every resort gives out free passes and other discounts for employees and may also provide housing, food and other benefits.

Ski Deals Links

*www.passwagon.com - offers Colorado Season Passes for Less

*www.snowbomb.com – offers the Tahoe Card. The Tahoe Card gives you discounts on lift tickets, rentals, tune-ups, package deals and restaurants in the Tahoe area. You can also get a free lift ticket for Sierra or Northstar. Snowbomb also offers terrific deals on Kirkwood season passes.

*www.beyondwork.com – Beyond Work offers discounts for leisure activities through businesses. Your company has to join Beyond Work before you can become a member. Beyond Work has ski deals and ski-related information, including promotion of discount ski lift tickets.

*www.toski.com/skemail/index.html – A sign-up newsletter with ski deals for Colorado.

*www.colorado.net – More ski coupons and deals for Colorado resorts.

*www.slidingonthecheap.com – Provides an accurate listing of ski deals for areas across the country.

*www.toski.com/discount – Colorado deals for lodging and lift tickets at most Colorado resorts.

*www.skicoupons.com – Listings of coupons and ski deals at major North American resorts. Offers some printable coupons.

*www.sportmart.com – Gart Sport and Sportmart have the widest selection of discount lift tickets of any sporting goods stores. There are over 120 stores in 16 western states.

*www.ski.com – Aspen Ski Tours, Inc. has package deals for ski vacations at premier resorts throughout the United States.

*www.colorado.rezrez.com – Resort Reservations Inc. has a great listing of Colorado ski deals and Colorado resort information.

*www.alluradirect.com – Allura Accomodations offers an extensive listing of lodging and ticket package deals for Whistler/Blackcomb, British Columbia, Canada.

General Info / News

*www.goski.com – A super-sized listing of resorts throughout the world. Allows visitors to critique resorts while providing extensive information about resorts and surrounding areas.

*www.skibumnews.com – Your guide to great skiing and snowboarding.

*www.dualmountain.com/report – The complete Whistler Report.

*www.xgirlsport.com – News coverage of female extreme-sports athletes.

*www.snowboarderreview.com – The most complete listing of reviews for resorts. Also has listings for gear, travel packages and numerous other features for skiers and riders.

*www.skitown.com – One of the oldest and most visited ski sites. Provides data on ski resorts and has expanded over the years to include reports and extensive listings for lodging, restaurants and other facilities around resort areas. The Ski Resort Guide is part of the larger Ski Town Ski and Snowboard web center offering the largest conglomeration of ski and snowboard resort information.

*www.skimaps.com – Largest on-line collection of ski maps. Also has shopping, gear, travel packages and news.

*www.snowlink.com – Links to other sites and extensive information library.

*www.weather.com – The Weather Channel, the No. 1 web-weather site.

* www.accuweather.com – The No. 2 web-weather site.

*www.snowreport.com – The actual snow phones from your favorite resorts.

*www.skiernews.com – Skier News is a newspaper providing national coverage for major events. in the ski industry in North America. It is published 4 times during the ski season. The website has information from skier news, and tells you how to subscribe for free.

*www.skinet.com – A Times Mirror Interline site, this is the parent company for Ski and Skiing magazine and allows access to a large volume of ski news and ski-related information. This is a ski super site.

*www.rsn.com – Resort Sports Network. This is a cable television network that produces coverage for ski resorts and other resorts areas. RSN pipes in reports to ski lodges and hotels throughout the world and provides the most extensive network of web cams showing current real-time shots of ski resorts. It provides terrific action footage for local TV stations around the world.

*www.onthesnow.com – On the Snow is operated by AMI News, Inc., which has provided reports on skiing and the ski industry since 1968. It has extensive news coverage of the ski industry and offers a broad range of data related to ski resorts. They have one of the most extensive ski report services in the world. Conditions for all resorts are almost continuously updated.

*www.warrenmiller.com – Warren Miller Entertainment offers an extensive library of extreme skiing footage.

*www.usskiteam.com – The U.S. Ski Team's website.

*www.skisocal.com – Southern California's most complete ski and snowboard site for news, information and links related to So-Cal resorts.

*www.mountainzone.com – Information about all things mountain related. This is an especially strong site for real backcountry information. Extensive worldwide coverage of hiking trails and “out of bounds” areas. The site also has lots more ski and snowboard information.

*www.skimag.com – Ski Magazine’s website.

*www.skiracing.com – Ski Racing’s website.

*www.skiingmag.com – Skiing Magazine’s website.

*www.snowboardermag.com – Snowboarder Magazine’s website.

*Yahoo! or Google category: Skiing

*Yahoo! or Google category: Snowboarding

Go to School, Ski for Free, and (sort of) Get Paid for It!

By Ronald N. Schwartz

I met Steven Steinberg and Darren Romar in 2002 when I responded to one of their wacky Ebay listings soliciting people to make a ski video, a sort of Warren Miller-meets-Jackass ski video. I don’t know if that clip was ever made, but it doesn’t matter because my initial inquiry was the catalyst that got us in touch with each other. These guys hipped me to the “go to the ski show and cycle through the admissions line as many times as you can” strategy, which I did and managed to get a bunch of ski passes for various Tahoe resorts at a pretty damned low dollar.

As the season progressed, we would hookup and stay at the Tahoe Biltmore. The ‘Bilty’ offered a screaming Internet deal, selling nice rooms (with big twin beds) for $22 a night with breakfast included. We would split the room and live fairly nicely for like $11 a day, right on the lake-front highway in Crystal Bay, Nevada (a primo Tahoe location). The offer was only good Sundays thru Thursdays, so on weekends I would stay at the employee hostel at Squaw Valley USA, where I worked as a ski instructor.

During the time I taught at Squaw Valley and I was also attending California State University, Fresno, working on a B.A. degree in preparation for a California teaching credential. I was receiving federal financial aid while doing this.

You see, I had a personal Star Trek transporter that allowed me to materialize between Tahoe and Fresno State. Naw, that’s a lie, but I was concurrently attending college in Fresno and working in Tahoe and getting money from the feds at the same time. How, you ask? That’s what Steve and Darren both wanted to know when we first met. When I told them how I did it, they badgered me to write a chapter for their Ski Bum’s Guide, explaining that my moves were completely in the spirit of their literary masterpiece you now observe.

So how did I do it? First of all, I am a 50-odd-year-old man who is a re-entry student making a mid-life career course correction maneuver. I am an old guy back to school, sort of like the Rodney Dangerfield character in the film “Back to School.” I am not rich like the character in the movie, but I definitely empathized with Rodney’s character with respect to dealing with some of the professors (actually more than half of them). If the Prof was a person who had “failed retirement” and teaching became the next logical career move, or if the Prof became a teacher later in life, as a second or third career (after having lived a real life first) then we got along fine. But with few exceptions, if the Prof came “right out of the college gate,” I was the student from hell and they also drove me crazy. Usually if I just read the books and did the assignments, I could ‘ace’ any class; but many Profs insisted on class attendance, meaning a student who didn’t attend faithfully couldn’t do better than a ‘B’, or in some cases not pass at all. Often times, the misinformation dribbling out of their inflated egos was some tripe that usually went like this: “Not everything is covered in the book, so if you miss the lectures you won’t get all the necessary information.” But what I discovered was that this nonsense usually meant their lectures paraphrased the book, ironically allowing students who did not read the book the possibility of passing the course anyway.

Then, back in 2000, I got a Prof who really drove me and the whole class nuts. He had a complex about competing with another Prof who had a reputation for being an “intellectual’s intellectual,” so to show his department chair he was on the ball, he loaded us down with a ridiculous amount of class work, thus proving he was “just as smart” as the other fellow. Crap!

I had to do something. I did two things. First I devised a method of using the Internet to create sort of “cyber-study” groups. I am not going to get into the details of this, other than to say my idea worked like a champ and if you want to know what I did, it will cost you extra! You can send me an e-mail at RNS01@csufresno.edu if you want to find out more on this little deal. The other thing I did about the situation forms the basis of this chapter. The issue back then was how does a student take a course from a professor who isn’t a pain, when that option didn’t exist on campus? The answer is to go to another campus! To that end, I discovered that in the California State University system there is a protocol called “concurrent enrollment status.” Concurrent enrollment allows a student to attend two schools at the same time. There is also a similar “visiting student status,” that allows a student to be enrolled in one California State University campus during one semester and another school in a subsequent semester. Usually the concurrent variant involves two CSU schools, but not necessarily. A person can be enrolled in a CSU school and another school “out-of-system.” The big difference here is that usually federal financial aid (in the form of loans, grants and scholarships) can only apply to “in-system” schools. This is because of something called a “Consortium Agreement” in place between CSU schools.

These unusual enrollment ‘schemes’ were designed to accommodate students with unusual situations. For example, a student may want to attend two campuses in the same semester to accommodate scheduling conflicts; or it may be that a course necessary for graduation is not available at a student’s home campus in the last semester before graduation. The “Intrasystem Concurrent Enrollment” form, the “Concurrent Registration Request Form” and the “Intrasystem Visitor Enrollment” form available through the California State University system require a student to identify the necessary course related to his/her degree aspirations, identify the equivalent courses available at the alternate school and then have the appropriate academic advisor sign off on the form certifying the proposed off-home-campus course is acceptable as a substitute. The form is then registered with the home school and forwarded to the ‘away’ school for final processing. So there are some signatures the student must obtain at his home school and some “hoops to jump through.” The home campus is referred to as ‘home’ and the non-home school is called the ‘host’ school.

Presuming the host school is ‘in-system,’ the successful processing of the concurrent or visitor application is supposed to integrate academic records, registration and financial aid (commonly referred to as FAFSA money, an acronym for Free Application for Federal Student Aid). My experience has been that this integration does not automatically happen. So if you do this, it is probably prudent to be prepared to take a few trips to the campus financial aid office when the paperwork gets jammed up. For example, I registered for 12 units a few years ago, but the financial-aid check was hung up because the CSU-Fresno computer thought I was only enrolled in three units at CSUF. The system had failed to really integrate everything, but with some wrangling, I got my school to override their own software shortcomings and get all the paperwork pushed through. I would advise anyone who attempts this strategy to really stay “on it” because processing delays can make unavailable the classes you think you can get into. You have to be right on top of it because you have to be certain you will be admitted to the courses you select. After completing the courses, I sometimes had to dog the host schools to send my transcripts to Fresno. They were supposed to do it automatically, but since so few people do the concurrent enrollment thing, sometimes the host schools didn’t do what they were supposed to. Even when CSU-Fresno got the transcripts, I sometimes had to dog them to factor in the courses into my ‘DARS’ (Degree Audit Report System) report. Under the CSU Consortium Agreement, the host school is obligated to accept the payment schedule for the appropriate home course. This makes California State University, Fresno a particularly good deal because it charges less than most other CSU schools.

Okay, so I had figured out how to protect myself from dweeb professors (if I could find out who the dweebs were ahead of time), but it involved traveling and a lot of hassle. Then I had the epiphany! I realized these options had been in place pre-Internet, thus when a concurrent enrollment form was processed, it would have almost always involved just one host school. I realized that most CSU schools offered only a limited amount of courses online, but within the entire CSU system the entirety of online courses covered by all the schools represented a not-so-limited number. Since physical location is not a factor with online courses, I realized that theoretically a person could find, say, 12 units of coursework (i.e.: four standard, three-unit courses) from up to four different schools and register for those four different classes by filing four concurrent enrollment forms! I realized with pleasure that there was no prohibition to this. So I tried it with my home school and two host schools for the 12 units, and sure enough, it all went through.

Now I had no reason to actually go to a campus to attend classes and the FAFSA funds still came to me. When I met Steve and Darren in Tahoe I was enrolled at CSU-Chico as a visitor from CSU-Fresno, taking six units online. Six units is considered a half-load, and a half-load is the minimum requirement to keep loan-repayment responsibilities deferred. When we stayed at the Biltmore, I would use the phone line in the room to hook-up to the Internet for class. By using a major Internet Service Provider like MSN or AOL, I could connect to Reno, which the Biltmore considered to be a local call, so it was free. The phone modem was not as good as a DSL or cable hook-up, but it was good enough. The greatest thing about the Chico courses was they were automatically digitally archived, so if I didn’t log on into the web cast in real-time, I could time-shift the class and still manage to attend. This feature of the Chico course offerings makes online classes superior to traditional non-cyber courses.

If you navigate to http://www.calstate.edu/search_find/campus.shtml you will find a list of every CSU school, the name being a hyperlink to the homepage of every institution in the system. From those homepages, a person can access the online course offerings of each school, thus creating a master list of all online classes. Unfortunately, the nomenclature used to reference online courses is not standardized. Terms like ‘distance education,’ ‘online classes,’ ‘extended education’ and others all refer to courses offered on the Internet. I found the two delivery platforms that the various campuses used to deliver the courses are called “Blackboard” and “WebCt.” I also discovered CSU-Chico’s “WebCt with Horizon Live Archiving” was technically the best delivery mechanism for classes.

I have reproduced the referenced forms at the end of this article. Notice the backside of the form stipulates a student must have already taken a minimum number of units at the home campus before the concurrent or visitor status can be invoked, but the minimum is pretty low. When considered in the context of a four-year degree, this is a minimum of 12 units with a 2.0 GPA or better. So a person should plan on doing at least his first semester in the ‘traditional’ manner at his home school. Also, even after I created a master list of all the in-system courses, sometimes I could not find the necessary equivalent host courses I needed to package a 12-unit semester. By going out-of-system, a person could probably find any course he needs because the potential menu of courses is not limited to CSU system offerings. FAFSA money would not cover out-of-system enrollments, even if such enrollment is academically acceptable to the host school (in the absence of a Consortium Agreement between the schools). That said, I believe I may be the only person in the world who was able to get FAFSA funding for an out-of-system course, so I can’t say it’s impossible to do this. I do believe, based on my particular experience, that it may not be worth the trouble to try to get FAFSA funds for out-of-system courses.

My particular story may be unique. In my case, the first time I fielded multiple concurrent forms, the head of financial disbursements at CSU-Fresno tried to defeat my attempts. I had correctly reasoned the submission of multiple forms was not in violation with any CSU policy and all the forms did go through. However, I received a letter from the financial aid office at CSU-Fresno stating there was a hold on disbursement of FAFSA funds because I was only enrolled in three units, whereas I told FAFSA I was in for 12 units. I went down to the office and explained that, “No, I was actually enrolled in 12 units, CSU system-wide.” At first, the financial aid people thought it was not possible because that would have entailed an insane amount of travel, but I pointed out the only traveling I planned to do was to the nearest computer screen. Then the financial aid director, a venal administrator, declared that my scheme was not possible and “I couldn’t do it,” to which I responded: “What do you mean I can’t do it? I already have.” She replied, “It has never been done,” to which I retorted: “So what, it’s not prohibited.” That only ticked this administrator off, and she proceeded to defeat my efforts by lying to me, among other things. She told me she was awaiting confirmation regarding my acceptance by host schools (or something like that) and when and if the host schools returned her calls and e-mails, she would continue the process, which should unlock the funds. But I suspected she was ‘bullshitting’ me. I determined that she had, in fact, never contacted the satellite schools as she claimed (I called and e-mailed them to check out her story). Apparently, her strategy was that if the process was blocked long enough, the hold on funds would force me to give up. But I ‘aced’ her. By keeping a file on her e-mails to me (I purposely communicated as much as possible in writing) and getting e-mails from the satellite schools, I was able to show she was not following through, but made statements to me to the contrary. I then sent this written evidence to the Provost of CSU-Fresno who ordered her to quit messing with me and just process the forms. I presume (but I don’t know) that this administrator was afraid if she did something unusual, she might get in trouble; or maybe she was just lazy. The Provost took an entirely different approach to me; he praised me as a pioneer and creative thinker who was forging a contemporary approach to modern education. In fact, with the exception of this financial aid administrator, all the school administrators and educators who came to know what I had done liked the idea and some even went out of their way to be helpful (especially the Chair of the Political Science Department where I am a political science major). But I really had to nail the financial aid director to the wall to turn the situation around. After that first semester, after establishing my method, everyone realized there was no problem and subsequent semesters became a cake walk in terms of set up. It didn’t hurt any that my department head was fully tripping on my game and was eager to approve hosted classes. In fact, he let me search for them on his office computer while he was in his office so that if I found some course matching my educational goals he could quickly give me the thumbs up or down without delay. But remember, I noted earlier the importance of getting into a course on time after it is identified and approved. Say, if you need a course, and you are late registering and don’t get in, there is a high probability that a person can’t find an acceptable cyber-alternative in time (because there are far less fewer cyber-class options compared to traditional classes). The conditions stated on the back of the forms indicate the form itself should be completed not less than four weeks before classes start. I was usually able to avoid problems by carefully noting the first moment registration opened for various courses at various schools and I was online or on the phone the minute registration opened, so I was always able to put my schedule together. However, one time I located an online math course through CSU Pomona, but it turned out that the particular course was listed in error as a Pomona online course offering. What had happened was that a particular Prof had taught the course online the prior school year, had determined he did not want to repeat the course online the following year (when I tried to enroll), but the course was not de-listed from Pomona’s online courses offering catalog which, it turned out, had not been coordinated through their normal general catalogue (also viewable online). Although the listing of the course was in error, the paperwork went through, so at the very last moment I discovered their was no course and I could not find an acceptable alternative in time within the CSU system.

I was able to find an alternative “out-of-system” course (through the University of Colorado, Boulder extended education department), but then there was no FAFSA money for that course, or so I thought. I wondered if both universities involved were federally FAFSA approved and the home school accepted the alternate course as academically acceptable, then why wouldn’t the FAFSA money be forthcoming? The answer was that in the absence of a Consortium Agreement between the two schools there was no administrative guarantee a concurrent enrollment would be co-coordinated. In response to this problem, I lobbied the U.S. Department of Education and they ruled there was nothing preventing the two schools from electing to form a Consortium Agreement between them, even across state lines and educational systems. So in my case, a special Consortium Agreement was entered into just for me and for the specific course. As far as I know, I am the only person who has ever done this, but it was a lot of trouble, it burned a lot of my time and I think it happened only because of my relationship with my department chair and the provost. Based on my experience, I would not recommend anyone trying to repeat an out-of-system arrangement, but who knows? The point is, these strategies are in untested waters, so who knows what is possible?

The single biggest “legitimate argument” (and I really didn’t buy this) came from the education business people who noted that by cobbling together a bunch of courses, a certain continuity in coursework could not be obtained. I found this argument to be fallacious because, at least in my experience, there isn’t much control over teacher quality exerted within the university. I was able to pretty much deflect this argument, especially in respect to general education courses.

Just as the quality of teachers varied, the quality of the courses varied as well. However, I maintain that if an online course is properly designed, it will almost always be superior to a traditional course. In fact, I am so sure of this, that even if a person did not have to take cyber courses, they would want to. I will explain. CSU-Chico had the best cyber delivery system of all the online courses I attended (and they have a relatively large number of course offerings). They use “WebCt” with “Horizon Live”. The courses were webcasts in real time. (It was best to use a broadband connection, but the software had been designed to work via a 56K phone connection. In a pinch, the phone hook-up worked). Just prior to the webcast, the student logs on, the course starts and the upper two-thirds of the computer screen is a “cyber chalk board” on which notes and illustrations appear. The student can take screen shots or cut and paste from this display. In the lower third of the screen, a rolling cyber chat box scrolls. This scroll is also visible to the instructor in the classroom. The images of the instructor appear in the right hand lower one-third section of the screen as a streaming audio/video image in real-time. That means a person in cyberspace can type in a question and the instructor can verbally and visually respond in real-time through the computer screen (you obviously need a sound card and speakers or a headset). Also, the student can call a toll-free number, but there was a little time delay that made this feature a little bulky. The delivery system allowed tests to be taken online and if these tests did not require essay answers, results and scores could come back to a student instantly, or with minimal delay. Assignments could be submitted as ASCII text or in the form of attached files. In addition to all of this, the entire webcast was digitally recorded such it could be called back. If a student did not attend in real time, they could log into archived classes and play the whole movie back; the lecture, the notes, the comments of the other students, the entire experience. This cannot be done in a traditional class. Also, I believe an unintentional but positive effect of the interface was that it forced the teachers to not be lazy. They had a website to maintain and if they slacked, a record illustrated the fact. The only thing I couldn’t do in this environment was chase girls!

It was explained to me that the web casts and archived classes were set up only to stream to a satellite computer. The inability to save the entire class session as an a/v file was intentional. This is for copyright reasons, according to the tech help desk at Chico. But by downloading free software, this prohibition can be overcome. CamStudio is an application that makes a “movie” of the desktop events as an .avi or .swf file. By manipulating CamStudio in conjunction with Windows Media Encoder (also a free download) I was able to record the class sessions and burn discs. This made class sessions viewable even without an Internet connection. (Like when eating lunch using a laptop at High Camp at Squaw Valley between ski instruction classes!) However, these fancy computer tricks required powerful computers and some diddling around (if anybody out there figures out a better way, let me know). Just time-shifting the class session to the early morning or evening was enough for me. Still, it is worth mentioning that it is technically possible to record the class sessions for Internet-free remote viewing. If anybody can figure out a slicker way to record the classes, let me know. Check out: http://www.csuchico.edu/~bevans/WebCT2001/ for a full-on geek explanation of how it works.

A sample illustration of the WebCt interface is available at http://rce.csuchico.edu/online/faq.asp#courseexample.

The Chico method was the best I encountered, but not the only system. My math course from University of Colorado was basically a correspondence course with web pages.

My experience was with California State University at Fresno, but I presume the basic architecture is the same in all the CSU schools and beyond. Although the forms provided here contain the word “Fresno”, they identify themselves as general CSU procedures.

For the last three years I have been able to get federal financial aid, attend school and work at ski resorts, all at the same time. If I can do it, you can too. You can get “paid” to go to school and ski!

The forms are reprinted here, so don’t forget to read them thoroughly.

For Slide4less and all you gravity junkies out there, I am Ronald N. Schwartz at RNS01@csufresno.edu.

Ski/Snowboard Sponsors

Below is a list of the top United States professional sports corporate sponsors:

Amount	Company	2000 Rank	1999 Rank
$190M-$195M	Anheuser-Busch Cos.	1	1

$175M-$180M	Philip Morris Company.	2	2

$150M-$155M	General Motors Corp.	3	3

$115M-$120M	The Coca-Cola Co.	4	4

$110M-$115M	PepsiCo, Inc.	5	5

$95M-$100M	Nike, Inc.	6	6
$95M-$100M	DaimlerChrysler	7	8

$80M-$85M	Eastman Kodak Co.	8	7

$70M-$75M	Ford Motor Co.	9	14

$65M-$70M	McDonald's Corp.	10	10
$65M-$70M	AT&T Corp.	11	9

$60M-$65M	IBM	12	11
$60M-$65M	MasterCard Int'l, Inc.	13	12

$55M-$60M	Visa Int'l	14	13

$50M-$55M	The Quaker Oats Co.	15	15

$45M-$50M	Motorola Inc.	16	17

$40M-$45M	R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings, Inc.	17	16

$35M-$40M	Worldcom, Inc.	18	18
$35M-$40M	DuPont Co.	19	19

$30M-$35M	Bank of America, N.A.	20	20
	American Airlines, Inc.	21	22
	Federal Express Corp.	22	23
	John Hancock Financial Services	23	24

$25M-$30M	Delta Airlines, Inc.	24	21
	The Procter and Gamble Co.	25	26
	Sprint Corp.	26	25
	Verizon Communications Inc.	27	61*
	Sara Lee Corp.	28	28

$20M-$25M	Pennzoil-Quaker State Co.	29	27
	SBC Communications, Inc.	30	40
	The Home Depot, Inc.	31	29
	Texaco, Inc.	32	32
	Kmart Corp.	33	30
	Xerox Corp.	34	42
	Shell Oil Co.	35	31
	Reebok Int'l Ltd.	36	34
	Bell South Corp.	37	41
	Coors Brewing Co.	38	35
	United Parcel Service, Inc.	39	43
	Qwest Communications Int'l, Inc.	40	-
	United Airlines, Inc.	41	33
	Sony Corp. of America	42	-
	Exxon Mobil Corp.	43	37
	The Gilette Co.	44	44
	Sears, Roebuck and Co.	45	46

$15M-$20M	Lucent Technologies	46	39
	Dayton-Hudson Corp.	47	36
	Hewlett-Packard Corp.	48	38
	Mars, Inc.	49	45
	American Express Co.	50	47
	Nestle USA, Inc.	51	48
	Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A.	52	62
	Charles Schwab & Co.	53	-
	General Mills, Inc.	54	51
	Yahoo!, Inc.	55	-
	American Honda Motor Co.	56	-
	Time Warner Inc.	57	49
	MBNA Corp.	58	50
	The Valvoline Corp.	59	53
	Microsoft Corp.	60	56
	The Chase Manhattan Bank	61	54
	Nissan North America, Inc.	62	58
	Ericsson North America	63	55
	Compaq Computer Corp.	64	60
	Hershey Foods Corp.	65	64
	Gateway, Inc.	66	65
	Intel Corp.	67	66

Contact Information

Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc.

One Busch Place
St. Louis, MO 63118

Phone: (314) 577-2000

Fax: (314) 577-2900

Philip Morris Companies, Inc.

120 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10017

Phone: (917) 663-5000

Fax: (917) 878-2167

General Motors Corp.

300 Renaissance Center
Detroit, MI 48265

Phone: (313) 556-5000

Fax: (313) 556-5108

Coca-Cola Bottling Company

4100 Coca-Cola Plaza
Charlotte, NC 28211

Phone: (704) 551-4400
Fax: (704) 551-4646

PepsiCo, Inc.

700 Anderson Hill Road
Purchase, NY 10577

Phone: (914) 253-2000
Fax: (914) 253-2070

Nike, Inc.

One Bowerman Drive
Beaverton, OR 97005

Phone: (503) 671-6453
Fax: (503) 671-6300

DaimlerChrysler AG

1000 Chrysler Drive
Auburn Hills, MI 48326

Phone: (248) 576-5741
Fax: (248) 512-2924
Email: ir.dcx@daimlerchrysler.com

Eastman Kodak Company

343 State Street
Rochester, NY 14650

Phone: (585) 724-4000
Fax: (585) 724-0663

Ford Motor Company

One American Road
Dearborn, MI 48126

Phone: (313) 322-3000
Fax: (313) 845-7512

McDonald's Corporation

McDonald's Plaza
Oak Brook, IL 60523

Phone: (630) 623-3000
Fax: (630) 623-5700

AT&T Corp.

900 Route 202/206 North
Bedminster, NJ 07921

Phone: (800) 257-7865
Email: attir@att.com

International Business Machines Corp. (IBM)

One New Orchard Road
Armonk, NY 10504

Phone: (914) 499-1900
Fax: (914) 765-6021

Gart Sports Company

1050 West Hampden Ave.
Eaglewood, CO 80110

Phone: (303) 200-5050
Fax: (303) 832-4738
Email: president@gartsports.com

Motorola, Inc

1303 E. Algonquin Road
Schaumburg, IL 60196

Phone: (847) 576-5000
Fax: (847) 576-5372
Email: invest1@email.mot.com

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Holdings, Inc.

401 North Main Street
Winston-Salem, NC 27102

Phone: (336) 741-5500
Fax: (336) 741-5511

E. I. DuPont de Nemours and Co. (DuPont)

1007 Market Street
Wilmington, DE 19898

Phone: (302) 774-1000
Fax: (302) 773-2631
Email: info@dupont.com

Bank of America Corp.

Bank of America Corporate Ctr.
100 North Tryon St., 18th Fl.
Charlotte, NC 28255

Phone: (800) 299-2265
Fax: (704) 386-8486

Southwest Airlines Co.

P.O. Box 36611
Dallas, TX 75235

Phone: (214) 792-4000
Fax: (215) 904-5015

FedEx Corporation

942 South Shady Grove Road
Memphis, TN 38120

Phone: (901) 818-7500
Email: ir@fedex.com

John Hancock Financial Services, Inc.

John Hancock Place
Boston, MA 02117

Phone: (617) 572-6000
Fax: (617) 572-6451

Delta Air Lines, Inc.

Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport
P.O. Box 20706
Atlanta, GA 30320

Phone: (404) 715-2600
Fax: (404) 715-1400
Email: 829investrel.dl@delta.com

The Procter & Gamble Company

One Procter & Gamble Plaza
Cincinnati, OH 45202

Phone: (513) 983-1100
Fax: (513) 983-4381

Sprint PCS Group

P.O. Box 11315
Kansas City, MO 64112

Phone: (913) 624-3000
Fax: (913) 624-3281

Verizon Communications Inc.

1095 Avenue of the Americas, 36th Floor
New York, NY 10036

Phone: (212) 395-2121
Fax: (212) 921-2971
Email: kevin.r.tarrant@verizon.com

Sara Lee Corporation

Three First Nat'l Plaza, Suite 4600
Chicago, IL 60602

Phone: (312) 726-2600
Fax: (312) 726-3712

SBC Communications Inc.

175 E. Houston
San Antonio, TX 78205

Phone: (210) 821-4105
Fax: (210) 351-2071

The Home Depot, Inc.

2455 Paces Ferry Road N.W.
Atlanta, GA 30339

Phone: (770) 433-8211
Fax: (770) 431-2685

Chevron Texaco Corporation

575 Market Street
San Francisco, CA 94105

Phone: (415) 894-7700
Email: invest@chevrontexaco.com

Xerox Corporation

P.O. Box 1600
Stamford, CT 06904

Phone: (203) 968-3000
Email: christa.carone@usa.xerox.com

BP plc – Shell, Inc.

Britannic House, 1 Finsbury Circus
London, EN EC2M, UK

Phone: (800) 638-5672
Fax: (312) 856-4883
Email: shareholderus@bp.com

Reebok International Ltd.

1895 J.W. Foster Boulevard
Canton, MA 02021

Phone: (781) 401-5000
Fax: (781) 401-7402

United Parcel Service, Inc.

55 Glenlake Parkway, N.E.
Atlanta, GA 30328

Phone: (404) 828-6000
Fax: (404) 828-7666

Qwest Communications International, Inc.

1801 California Street
Denver, CO 80202

Phone: (303) 992-1400
Fax: (303) 992-1724

UAL Corporation

1200 East Algonquin Road
Elk Grove Township, IL 60007

Phone: (847) 700-4000
Fax: (847) 700-2214
Email: investorrelations@ual.com

Sony Corporation

7-35, Kitashinagawa 6-Chome
Shinagawa - Ku
Tokyo 141-0001, Japan

Phone: (800) 556-3411

Exxon Mobil Corporation

5959 Las Colinas Boulevard
Irving, TX 75039

Phone: (972) 444-1000
Fax: (972) 444-1348

The Gillette Company

Prudential Tower Building
Boston, MA 02199

Phone: (617) 421-7000
Fax: (617) 421-7123

Sears, Roebuck and Co.

3333 Beverly Road
Hoffman Estates, IL 60179

Phone: (847) 286-2500
Fax: (847) 286-7829
Email: invrel@sears.com

Lucent Technologies Inc.

600 Mountain Avenue
Murray Hill, NJ 07974

Phone: (908) 582-8500
Fax: (908) 508-2576
Email: lucentir@lucent.com

Hewlett-Packard Company

3000 Hanover Street
Palo Alto, CA 94304

Phone: (650) 857-1501
Fax: (650) 857-5518
Email: investor_relations@hp.com

American Express Company

World Financial Center, 200 Vesey Street
New York, NY 10285

Phone: (212) 640-2000
Fax: (212) 619-9230
Email: ronald.stovall@aexp.com

Toyota Motor Corporation

1 Toyota-Cho, Toyota City
Aichi Prefecture 471-8571

Phone: (212) 815-2042
Fax: (212) 446-2617

The Charles Schwab Corporation (CSC)

120 Kearny Street
San Francisco, CA 94108

Phone: (415) 627-7000
Fax: (415) 627-8538

General Mills, Inc.

Number One General Mills Blvd.
P.O. Box 1113
Minneapolis, MN 55440

Phone: (763) 764-7600
Fax: (612) 540-4925

Yahoo! Inc.

701 First Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94089

Phone: (408) 349-3300
Fax: (408) 349-3301

Honda Motor Co., Ltd

1-1, 2-chome, Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku
Tokyo 107, Japan

Phone: (033) 423-1111
Fax: (212) 541-9855

AOL Time Warner Inc.

75 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10019

Phone: (212) 484-8000
Fax: (212) 489-6183
Email: aoltimewarnerir@aol.com

MBNA Corporation

1100 North King Street
C/O MBNA America Bank NA
Wilmington, DE 19884

Phone: (800) 362-6255
Fax: (302) 456-8541

Microsoft Corporation

One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052

Phone: (425) 882-8080
Fax: (425) 936-7329
Email: msft@microsoft.com

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (J P Morgan-Chase)

270 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10017

Phone: (212) 270-6000
Fax: (212) 270-1648
Email: marketing.amd.communications@jpmorganchase.com

Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.

17-1, Ginza 6 - Chome, Chuo-Ku, 104-8023
Tokyo, Japan

Phone: (212) 572-9100
Fax: (212) 572-9120

LM Ericsson Telephone Company

Telefonplan, SE - 126 25
Stockholm, Sweden

Phone: (212) 685-4030
Fax: (212) 213-0159
Email: lme.lmekaq@memo.ericsson.se

Hershey Foods Company

100 Crystal A Drive
Hershey, PA 17033

Phone: (717) 534-6799
Fax: (717) 534-7873
Email: jedris@hersheys.com

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (Goodyear)

1144 East Market Street
Akron, OH 44316

Phone: (330) 796-2121
Fax: (330) 796-2222

Intel Corporation

2200 Mission College Blvd.
Santa Clara, CA 95052

Phone: (408) 765-8080

Fax: (408) 765-9904