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Savvy Seniors Ski Snowmass

Aspen and Snowmass Offer Good Deals to 65+ Skiers, Snowboarders

Feb 2, 2008 Grace Lichtenstein

Even if you just want to sightsee, there are excellent discounts available to anyone over 65 at the celebrated snow playground in Colorado.

You don’t have to be a celebrity to get a good deal at Aspen and Snowmass, the renowned ski and snowboard resorts in Colorado. In fact, you don’t even have to be a skier or snowboarder.

The mountain playpen for the rich and not-so-rich, famous and anonymous, is having a banner year, with a record breaking snowfall as of the start of February of over 225 inches.

For those 65 and older, Aspen, which features four mountains – Aspen itself, Aspen Highlands, Snowmass and Buttermilk – sells lift tickets for $78 per day, a discount of $9 off the standard adult rate of $87. Those 70 and older who come for a multiday holiday or even for a long weekend have the option of buying a season pass for just $259. Ski for 4 days, and you are really paying less than $65 per day to ski or ride these legendary hills. Hit the slopes for 5 days, and a 70+ senior pass reduces the cost to just over $51 per day.

Because of the record-breaking snowfall, the resort is trumpeting special deals on lodging for the rest of the season. There are rooms available starting at $65 a night (per person double occupancy) at the Snowmass Inn, or $95 pp. quad occupancy at the Chateau Blanc condo in Aspen through 2/17.

What if you or a friend or spouse doesn’t ski but wants to get away for a winter-wonderland vacation? For $18, anyone over 65 can buy a foot passenger day pass to go snowshoe-exploring, sightseeing or dining atop a peak via the Elk Camp gondola, now in its second year in Snowmass, or the famed Silver Queen gondola on Aspen Mountain.

Take the Snowmass gondola and have a croque monsieur (ham and cheese sandwich) at Café Suzanne, a bustling cafeteria with country French cuisine. Cruise up to the Sundeck on the Silver Queen at Aspen Mountain, and you can sample a stir-fry bowl, pizza or other tasty fare in what advertising folks like to call “rustic mountain splendor” – with a fireplace, a terrace, and some of the most attractive and accomplished seniors on the planet.

“Aspen has the fittest seniors you’ll ever meet,” Jerry Epstein, 72 years old, who divides his time between Aspen and Philadelphia, declared as he rode a chairlift toward the Sundeck recently. He ought to know: Epstein and his wife Debbie usually ski more than 40 days a winter here.

The copyright of the article Savvy Seniors Ski Snowmass in Senior Travel is owned by Grace Lichtenstein. Permission to republish Savvy Seniors Ski Snowmass in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Snowmass powder