The Rockies on a Budget!

Here is the ultimate skiing experience. Though the Swiss Alps may match their grandeur, the powder snow of the Rockies - through which you seem to float as you descend, as if in a slow-motion movie - has no equal anywhere. Your heart quickens as you arrive in the area, and gaze up at these towering slopes; and then your mood sinks as you see the first signs announcing $60-a-day ski lifts, $30 meals, and rooms priced each day for what you'd spend on a fancy wristwatch or an advanced new camera.

This article is an attempt to finesse those costs, to enable you to ski the Rockies for a reasonable sum. And that means finding the area's low-cost exceptions, or the special little-known discounts that can reduce what are usually the world's highest costs for skiing. SAVE WITH SKI CARDS For as little as $9.95 a ...