Everything You Need to Plan the Perfect Ski Trip – Where to Go and What to Pack
In this episode of Her Travel Expert, Kirsten and Meagan dive into everything you need to know about planning the perfect ski trip. They share their favorite destinations, from popular resorts to underrated gems, and discuss the pros and cons of different locations based on budget, skill level, and accessibility. Along the way, they swap personal stories—some adventurous, some cautionary—highlighting the highs and lows of ski travel, from scoring great deals to unexpected mishaps on the slopes.
Hi there and welcome to another episode of Her Travel Expert. And today we will be talking all things ski trip destinations.
Kirsten Maxwell
Welcome to Her Travel Expert. As you can tell, we are totally in the spirit today. Megan’s got her ski bunny clothes on. I have mine as well. We are going to tell you about some of our favorite places that we’ve been to ski that you might want to add to your travel list. Megan, kick us off.
Whistler, British Columbia
Meagan Wristen
Well, if we’re going to go with favorite favorite places to go, mine’s Whistler. I love to ski Whistler. Typically we go at Thanksgiving and they always say they’re not going to be open for Thanksgiving. They always are. So it’s cheaper because it’s like a preseason ticket. Then we’re able to ski typically both mountains because they, they really get slammed when they get a winter storm.
Taos, New Mexico
Kirsten Maxwell
Sounds like a good place. So I’m going to take off these so I can actually focus, but I’m going to keep the hat on. the So for us, one of the places that we’ve always liked to go is Taos. It’s kind of one of those underrated destinations. My husband and son did a last minute trip last spring break. They were surprised by how empty the slopes were, which probably they won’t be now since I just told everybody. But I think that it’s a great place since they have some great runa. They have some on-site condos, a hotel, and it’s easy to get to Santa Fe. They have great shopping and dining there.
The only problem is it’s a little bit difficult to get to because you have to fly into Albuquerque and drive. Yeah you can drive from wherever, Texas, Arizona, Colorado, or you can fly into the Santa Fe airport. Just note your ticket price is going to go up exponentially just for flying into a small airport.
But still.
Meagan Wristen
And Santa Fe, Albuquerque, and Taos are all in the state of New Mexico.
Kirsten Maxwell
Right, in case you didn’t know.
Meagan Wristen
I’ve never skied New Mexico, which is surprising considering I grew up in West Texas. We would always just get in the car and head to Colorado.
Kirsten Maxwell
Oh, really? OK.
So true story, confession time, I actually don’t love skiing because I got hurt when I went to Taos with my husband because he thought it’d be a good idea to take me down a blue ski run when I’m easily a green or even less than green skier.
And I swear, I thought every 50 yards, I was going to ski right off the edge of the mountain. So that kind of took me back on progress with my ski days. I do love being in the snow. I love everything, après-ski. So I look for the things like snowmobiling or dog sledding or cross-country skiing. Like I’d much rather do those kind of activities, hot springs, which we’ve talked about before.
Things like that in the winter are much more my jam. But I have a son who snowboards and a husband who skis. Actually all of my kids ski but one likes snowboarding more than the others. I think that we know our roles when we go on ski trips. Everybody kind of does their own thing.
Meagan Wristen
Yeah, so Eden and I ski and then my boys snowboard, they switched a couple of years ago. So that was one nice thing about Whistler is it’s great for both and they have a pretty good adventure park .
What’s it called when they they get on their snowboard, they can do all the different tricks and grind.
Kirsten Maxwell
Yeah. I feel like it’s an adventure park, but it’s not (it’s a TERRAIN PARK). That’s not what they call it, but know exactly what you’re talking about.
Meagan Wristen
Yeah, they have a really good one. When the kids were little, what was really neat is as we ski down the mountain, they had playgrounds too. So we could stop and they could play on the playground and then get their skis back on and would continue down.
Kirsten Maxwell
Oh, I love that.
Meagan Wristen
That’s the only place I’ve ever seen that.
Hills of Wisconsin
Kirsten Maxwell
I love that idea. We, uh, so my kids grew up in the Midwest and so their idea of skiing was the Hills of Wisconsin. We used to go every January. So Martin Luther King Day or before that? Yeah, I think that’s when we would go up.
So they learned to ski on the hills. They didn’t really know what real skiing was, but they all have good basics. And the reason we decided to teach in there, Jason learned in Colorado, that’s my husband. I learned in Arizona, which shouldn’t even count, but it was so much cheaper than taking them to the big expensive ski resorts out West and teaching them how to ski there. Because I will tell you, my husband and son just got back from a trip. They went up to Breckenridge. It was $250 a day. for lift tickets, it was $90 a day at Copper Mountain. I feel like Taos is about a hundred a day as well. So you have to kind of know that all these different ski resorts are going to have different price points. Maybe take that into account when you’re planning your trip. And how many kids you have to put into ski school is huge.
Meagan Wristen
What was great for us for years was that we got a military discount in almost every ski resort, especially in Colorado, because they’ve got multiple bases there, plus they’ve got the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.
And so used to, you could get like one ticket. It was pretty cheap and it was good for all of the main ones within blocks of Keystone. What else is right there? Breckenridge, Copper Mountain. So it was pretty great.
Kirsten Maxwell
Yeah, and and you now they have those season passes, they have the Epic pass and IKON pass, so you can use it at different resorts if you know you’re going to ski a lot during the winter.
Meagan Wristen
It didn’t cost us that much.
Kirsten Maxwell
I mean, I think it makes more sense if you live in maybe Utah and Colorado, but you know, if you are somebody who likes to travel and ski, definitely look into those kind of passes to save you some money.
Meagan Wristen
Well, and I think Vail bought Whistler. So if they offer a pass, it’s probably good for all their mountains.
So that’s something to look into as some of the mountains have consolidated in ownership. That’s why I like to go into Whistler before the season started because the tickets were so much cheaper.
I mean, you know, and with a family of four, I mean, at $250 a pop, that’s $1,000 a day.
Sun Valley, Idaho
Meagan Wristen
You have to really be into it to justify that cost. I know when we went to Sun Valley in Idaho, that was a huge splurge. It’s very expensive to ski there.
Really good skiing, really steep. It was, it was shocking. Like we would ride the gondola up and then you could go for half the day before you ever needed to get on another lift. I mean, you could ski for hours before you were down the mountain, at least for us.
Southern Idaho
Meagan Wristen
But then Idaho has super. super small, super cheap resorts, too. Soldier Mountain is super close to Sun Valley, as is Pomerelle Ski Resort and Magic Mountain, and those are all well under $100 a day.
And they’re much smaller, but they’re great. They’re really good skiing, and there’s less people there. I know we loved Palmorel.
Kirsten Maxwell
Pomerelle And that’s in Idaho?
Meagan Wristen
Yeah, it’s in southern Idaho. So you would stay probably in Twin Falls. It’s not really a tourist destination, but if you’re looking for something affordable, I highly recommend skiing southern Idaho because you could ski multiple resorts.
Kirsten Maxwell
Wow.
Meagan Wristen
You probably be out less than one, one ski ticket in Colorado will probably get you three days on Idaho.
Kirsten Maxwell
Wow that’s crazy.
So you know I was thinking about different, I’ve been to a lot of ski resorts off season as well. I think that I’ve kind of seen the ins and outs of different seasons. So I went to Palisades in Tahoe, Lake Tahoe, and we went for skiing. It was one of their banner years, they had close to 90 plus feet of snow or something, and it rained for four days straight. So there was no skiing. Just something to keep in mind.
It’s such a fickle sport. It’s like, yes, it sounds amazing, but you’re not always going to get the snow. And I think that’s why, like you said, they have more of the discounts on shoulder seasons, like December and March, because it’s less of a guarantee that you’ll actually have snow.
So that’s a great way to to kind of save some money when you’re planning
Timberline, Mt. Hood in Oregon
Meagan Wristen
When we lived in Oregon, at the top of Mt. Hood is Timberline and we would get the spring pass. It was good from like mid-March through June because a lot of the Olympic athletes come up there to train because they often have snow all year. But I mean, by the end of May, beginning of June, it’s pretty slushy. So I mean, you’re working out hard to keep skiing, but we would ski all through March, April, May, before it got too bad.
And it was crazy cheap. I mean, I would buy all four of us a spring pass for probably the same price that would have cost for just one pass in regular season. So huge savings.
Ski Trip Packing Tips
Kirsten Maxwell
Okay. So what are some of your other tips for ski trip? Like do you have any any packing tips for a ski trip? I know it’s a lot of gear to bring. So like, do you, how do you limit it or how do you control what everybody’s bringing?
Meagan Wristen
Okay, so I don’t even try to pack light for a ski trip because the reality is you’re going to have a lot of stuff, especially if you own your own equipment. We own our own snowboard boots, ski boots. Even if we’re renting other equipment when we get there, we want our boots. We’ll take those and that right there is one checked bag.
We always check several bags when we’re going on a ski trip because I get super cold. I want thermal underwear underneath my ski jacket, ski pants. Whereas my kids grew up in a colder environment than I did. So they don’t, they don’t need as much coverage as I do. But then you’ve got gloves, hats, scarves. I’ve got hot hands. I’ve got hot feet. I’ve got, all kinds of stuff. Sunscreen, sunglasses, chapstick. I ski with the backpack on. So I’ve got water bottles on us, snacks, I’ve got granola bars. And for the room, I like to have hot chocolate packets. Here’s my ski trip packing list.
That way, after the end of a long day, if the hotel doesn’t have anything, then I can at least make hot chocolate in the room for us and warm up. And yeah, so that’s kind of…
Kirsten Maxwell
You just thought it thought of everything. So you covered it all.
Meagan Wristen
We’ve done this a lot.
Kirsten Maxwell
Yeah, I can tell.
Ski Butlers
Kirsten Maxwell
It’s funny because I was thinking so this last time that I arranged for Jason and Ronan to use this company called Ski Butlers. They show up at your hotel with all your gear because we don’t own our gear.
I mean, like I said, Midwest skiing, living in Texas, there’s really no need. So they came in, the hotel actually had pickup there at the hotel and they had lockers there for them to store their gear. So the guy met them at the hotel, fitted them, sent them on their way. I mean, it really was such a time saver from that standpoint. They didn’t have to go into a ski shop or go to the lift and find the the little chalet where you try on all the gear with everybody else and it smells really bad, but whatever.
That saved them definitely room in their luggage, but we always bring our own helmets because I just think it’s hard to use everybody else’s helmets.
Meagan Wristen
We did too. Should never ski without a helmet. I got hit so hard by a snowboarder, he almost broke my leg.
Kirsten Maxwell
Oh geez Louise.
Meagan Wristen
But what if it hit me in the head?
Kirsten Maxwell
Yeah. Right. Exactly. Safety first, you know, you’ve got to make sure you have everything with you. I think like you said, the snacks are key because I mean, I just I can’t get over sometimes what they want to charge you for food at the ski resort. Also, another thing we learned this last time is look into parking. Sometimes it behooves you to take public transportation to the slopes, kind of like at Vail. I know they have free public transit. You know, you can take it to and from your resort to the slopes.
But other places you have to drive yourself. They drove to Copper Mountain for the day. It was $55 just to park there. I mean, kind of ridiculous things like where you’re thinking, how could we have done this differently?
Meagan Wristen
Wow, that’s crazy. I’ve never paid for parking, I don’t think, at a mountain.
Kirsten Maxwell
I think it’s to cut down obviously, people coming in and traffic wise, I know they do it in Park City as well.
They have a huge parking lot, like a grocery store parking lot, and you catch the lift in the parking lot and you can take the lift all the way up to the mountain. I mean, I think they’re just trying to get smarter about how many people you’re bringing to the mountain every day, weekend, whatever.
Meagan Wristen
I mean, that’s good to factor in because let’s say you’re at $55 a day parking over however many days. How much extra is it to get a hotel that ski and ski out? I mean, you’re paying an extra price, but if you’re going to be out a couple hundred bucks in parking, then it might not be that much more to upgrade.
Kirsten Maxwell
Right, right. So just something to look into. I know that they had also looked at taking a shuttle from Denver Airport into Breckenridge, and it was cost prohibitive, so they ended up renting a car you know for three days.
There’s also, I know you can take a ah shuttle straight from the Denver Airport to Winter Park. I think you can go straight there. I know our friend Rob just was up there skiing with his boys, and it’s super easy. I mean, it’s literally you get on the train, you go straight to Winter Park. No extra transportation needed.
Meagan Wristen
I could be wrong but I’m pretty sure his kids hadn’t skied before and I know he was nervous. Winter Park is actually where I learned to ski many decades ago and it’s got a great terrain.
Kirsten Maxwell
Correct. Yeah, they’re all. Oh, okay. Yeah.
Meagan Wristen
I mean it is a massive ski resort and they’ve got greens for days. So in bunny hills, extensive bunny hill system. I was able to learn to ski and in a day there, I taught my kids to ski on Mount Hood, which is not ideal.
Kirsten Maxwell
Nice.
Meagan Wristen
I told my kids, I was like, because you’ve learned to ski on Mt. Hood, which is so steep and so icy, you’ll be able to ski anywhere you go for the rest of your life. So that’s something to keep in mind if you If you are trying to, if you have a kid in lessons, I remember we did a lesson for Eden at Mount Bachelor in Bend.
I love Mt. Bachelor. It’s a small local mountain right there in the Sunriver/Bend area, which is such a cute, kind of really tourist area in Central Oregon. But man, that weather can get bad.
They ended up shutting down the mountain during her lesson, which is part of the reason I ended up just teaching her myself.
Kirsten Maxwell
Oh wow.
Meagan Wristen
I feel like if you’re a really good skier, it’s still a good idea to put your kid in a lesson, even if it’s just for one day, because they’ll, a lot of stuff you might get frustrated on, they’ll be able to pick up. Essentially my kids all did maybe one ski day and then I taught them the rest. That worked really well for our family.
Kirsten Maxwell
Yeah, and I think that’s a great point because for us, like I said, our kids all learned in the Midwest and it was learning on smaller you know mountains. So that they got to learn the basics and ski school didn’t cost us an arm and a leg. To your point, though, like my sister’s kids, they all learned out on the East Coast. Placees like Lake Placid, Mont Blanc, they went up there to, you know, outside Montreal and they learned more like the ice skiing, like you’re talking about. It gets super icy versus Colorado which is more powdery and fluffy. It is a harder way to learn, but then like it does translate and it makes it easier for them going forward, like you said.
Meagan Wristen
It also makes them so happy. I can pretty much take them anywhere to go skiing. And they’re like, wow, the snow is so good. Wow, this is such a such a great terrain. And I’m like, you’re welcome.
Kirsten Maxwell
Yeah, exactly. So have you found any hotels like that you would recommend that are ski in ski out like along the way that are like, Oh, these are these are really good location wise.
Meagan Wristen
So in Whistler, I’ve never done a ski in, ski out. I know that they do have some on the backside of the mountain.
Kirsten Maxwell
Okay.
Meagan Wristen
The main section though dumps into the village, but they’ve got the shuttle system like you’re talking about. I liked that when they were little because I could still get super close using the shuttle, being a single mom, carrying all their equipment.
Kirsten Maxwell
Sure.
Meagan Wristen
I’m trying to think how old Jonah was. I mean, when they’re little and I’m having to carry three sets of skis, mine plus two of the kids, I mean, it was really hard to like get going. I do see in that scenario ski-in, ski-out would have been so nice.
Kirsten Maxwell
Sure.
Meagan Wristen
But no, I can’t i can’t think of anywhere where we’ve stayed ski-in, ski-out. I feel like in Sun Valley I saw some units there, but we didn’t actually stay in Sun Valley. We were just there for the day, so we didn’t experience that.
I know in Colorado that’s way more extensive than it is at some of the other places.
Kirsten Maxwell
Yeah, it’s interesting because I feel like I was going to mention Utah. So in Park City, there’s Pendry Hotel. It’s really easy. It’s like walk across the street, and then you get on the lift.
I mean, in The Canyons. So it’s very easy access on the slopes. Pendry has a courtyard area with fire pits and restaurants and everything. So it makes it super accessible.
Vail has a similar feel with a lot of different hotel options to get on and off the slope or be as close to it as possible.
Other ones I thought about were Snowbird and Alta outside of Salt Lake City. Both of those have some good, easy to get to ski on, ski off properties.
Meagan Wristen
I know as they build newer resorts, which Tamarack and Idaho and and McCAll is a really new.
It was being built in like, 2005, 2006, and 2007. They have a ton of ski in and ski out because it was master planned.
Kirsten Maxwell
Okay. Anything else that you think that we should be talking about? I feel like we hit all the main points, saving some money, some packing tips, where to stay, how to how to get discounts on your life tickets.
Meagan Wristen
I mean, I’ve never been anywhere that didn’t have equipment that we could rent. For the most part, I’ve always been able to rent equipment everywhere we’ve ever been.
Not necessarily helmets, though. So that’s why we own all of our own helmets. I’m sure y’all are the same way. Gosh, I am. You know, another money saving thing is if you do live in an area where there’s a mountain somewhere in the state, they likely have a once a year snowboard and ski sale at like a convention center and people can bring their equipment and sell it.
That’s a great way to pick up equipment. There’s also most ski shops have used equipment. So that’s the way, especially when you have growing kids and you know, they’re going to grow out of the equipment. You don’t want to invest a lot. Buy used equipment.
Kirsten Maxwell
Yeah, that’s that’s great advice. I was gonna say, if you’re traveling with little kids, make sure they all use the bathroom before you put them in their snow gear. That is my my tip of the day, because I learned that the hard way so many times. It was just like, why didn’t I think to ask them before we got all bundled up, all the layers?
Meagan Wristen
And then also a lot of patience and grace if you’ve got little kids because some kids need to hit a certain age before they get it. I’m lucky all of mine picked it up pretty easily.
I think for the most part, most kids do. But then I know other kids that would would hang out with their family. I ended up teaching my friends kid to ski because I’m like, can she ski? Oh yeah, she can ski.
She could not ski. She could by the end of the day, but, you know, it’s, it’s not the easiest thing. It could be super intimidating. You know, there’s no shame in getting back on the lift and riding it down.
Know Your Limits
Meagan Wristen
If you feel uncomfortable, do not put yourself in an uncomfortable situation. I know when we were at Whistler the last time my sister was with me and she’s got, I forget what’s wrong with her knee, but she has one knee that, you know, she got up there, she looked down the mountain and she’s like, Oh my gosh, I’m used to skiing in New York. I can’t get down this mountain. She did go back and she rode the lift down. And that was 100% the right decision.
Kirsten Maxwell
Yeah, don’t push your your body to do things. Which is probably why I don’t ski that much. I just don’t want to risk the what ifs, you know, like, I know my body, I know I don’t have great knees. So why would I risk it for, you know, a day out in the snow, I would rather go play in the snow, then you know, try to, you know, go down the mountain on ski.
Meagan Wristen
And you know what, I think it’s super important at the end of the day, you better have a hot tub at your hotel or your vacation rental unit because your body is beat and you’re going to love that hot tub so much. Even if you’re not a hot tub person, you’re going to be like, today I am.
Dealing with High Elevation
Kirsten Maxwell
And the other thing is the oxygen thing. So i that was a problem for for us, for my youngest coming from Texas and going to Colorado, just having some little respiratory issues. Just so give yourself a day to acclimate to the altitude difference so you don’t have altitude sickness.
They do sell the oxygen canisters. Usually you can get them at it like a 7-Eleven or convenience store and just use those. Just kind of help you get used to breathing the thinner air.
Meagan Wristen
And drink more water.
Kirsten Maxwell
Yes, less alcohol, more water.
Meagan Wristen
Yeah, I even had I had a friend that went to Colorado a couple of weeks ago, and she said that they quit drinking alcohol like two or three days before the trip so that it would help it there.
And then they didn’t drink while they were in Colorado. I was like, oh, I’ve never heard that.
Kirsten Maxwell
Oh, yeah.
Meagan Wristen
Of course, I remember the first time like I was at a ski resort that had a bar at the bottom of it. I was like, you people drink and ski like I’m not athletic enough to roll those kind of dice. So that’s also why we wear helmets.
Kirsten Maxwell
Yeah, exactly. Well, and because there’s have the bars at the top of the slopes and, you know, versus the bottom.
Meagan Wristen
Some of the people are drinking.
Kirsten Maxwell
That’s always good advice where those helmets practice safety, keep a good safe distance from everybody.
Have a Physical Map
Meagan Wristen
And then another issue that I’ve had a few times is my cell phone won’t work at some places on the mountain. If all if possible, have that paper map with you if they’re passing out paper maps. If they don’t have paper maps, take a picture of the map or have already downloaded it to your phone so that you need no internet service in order to look at a map and see where you are. So, yeah, especially at some of these bigger mountains.
Kirsten Maxwell
Great, great advice.
Meagan Wristen
The Whistler Blackcomb is huge. Keystone, huge, I mean.
Kirsten Maxwell
Yeah, ah ah no, that’s a great tip. It’s something that everybody should probably do regardless.
Have a Designated Meetup Spot
Meagan Wristen
And before you go up, yeah, before you go up the mountain, have a designated meetup spot in case you lose one kid.
Kirsten Maxwell
Make your kids do it too.
Meagan Wristen
So I’ll never forget, well, I might not should tell the story, but I’m going to tell it. My son calls me. They’re with my ex-husband. They’re with their dad on a ski trip to Park City. And I can’t remember if they’re at Park City or nearby. They’re somewhere around the area. And those are some big resorts. And so they lost Jonah. Jonah’s cell phone is dead. So Jonah knows my phone number, not his dad’s. So Jonah calls me and tells me where he is and to tell his dad where he is. And I’m just like, that’s just what a mother wants to hear while she’s back home in Texas, having a nice relaxing weekend off.
Kirsten Maxwell
Yeah, dad lost me.
Meagan Wristen
I’m like, what? He lost you?
Kirsten Maxwell
Wow. Well, obviously they found him or he wouldn’t be here today. So that’s good. That’s good. But Oh, good Lord.
Meagan Wristen
They found him after an hour and a half.
Kirsten Maxwell
Okay. Yeah. Well, I’m glad that had a happy ending. Because I was a little worried about it when he started off. I’m not gonna lie.
Meagan Wristen
No, that’s, you know, had they had a meetup point, they might have been able to figure it out. It is such a big mountain. Maybe they would not have been able to figure it out, you know, but making sure your kid’s cell phones are charged. So on that note, don’t lose your kids and have a great ski trip. See y’all next week.
