Well, as you can see, I am back from my trip to Colorado. Omg y’all… I had so much fun! This was my first time ever going to Colorado/the mountains/snowboarding/even seeing real snow, so let’s just say I was amazed! Since I had never been snowboarding or skiing before, I wasn’t sure how much money it would cost me for the week-long trip. So I’m here to tell you how much money a ski or snowboarding trips costs!
We drove from Texas to Pagosa Springs, Colorado, which is in the southern tip of the Rocky Mountains. It was about a 13 hour drive when we drove through the night and it was about 15 hours when we drove during the day. I would definitely suggest driving through the night!! We got there so quickly and there were hardly any other drivers on the road so we didn’t have to worry about traffic. Just make sure that you carpool so you can take turns driving! 🙂
We saved a ton of money by not flying and the road trip was pretty fun also. We drove one of our own cars and we all pitched in for gas. We stopped 3-4 times each way to fill up gas, so it really depends on your vehicle’s gas tank, what gas mileage you get, and how far your drive is. Since we had four people in our car and we stopped 4 times each way, it was about $60 per person for gas. Not bad right?!
When we got to Pagosa Springs, we had rented this massive, beautiful, awesome house that cost everyone $225 each for the whole trip. The house was styled and built like a cabin. Like if you imagine a cabin in the snowy woods, this would be that house. It was gorgeous! And it slept 12 people plus had a hot tub, wifi, cable, and was super close to town.
We also went grocery shopping and cooked food at home sometimes but we also went out to eat quite a lot also. We went to a breakfast place called The Rose Restaurant in town twice for breakfast. We also went to a Bar & Grill style restaurant, a Mexican food restaurant, and a pizza place. And on the mountain, we ate at the ski lodge for lunch. Overall, food, snacks, and alcohol on the trip cost me $128.92. Of course this varies by person. You can only buy groceries and eat at home for every meal and spend less money, or you may want to eat out for every meal and that will cost more. My boyfriend and I took turns buying food because I didn’t want him to pay for for everything, but I think we broke about even!
The day passes for the ski lift was $72 per day, and I snowboarded for two days so that cost me $144. You can also buy the 3-day pass which was $213 (only saved $1 per day…) but I didn’t know if I would snowboard for 3 days in a row (which I didn’t) so I paid by day.
And I had to rent my snowboard and the boots. Since I have such small feet (size 5) and I’m only 5ft tall…. I got to use a kid’s snowboard and boots, which was a lot cheaper than the adult, and since it was “off season” (end of February) everything was another 10% off. So, I got my snowboard and boots for 3 days for only $49!!! I thought it was going to be hundreds of dollars… Whew!
And since I had never been skiing or snowboarding before, I had to buy the ski jacket, ski bib, goggles, gloves, gaiter, etc. But, I bought everything from Amazon and it only cost me $155! But of course, if you already have ski clothes or you can borrow some from someone, that will save you some money as well.
So in conclusion, this ski trip cost me $762. If I would have borrowed clothes it only would have cost me $607. But going on an amazing vacation for only $762 is awesome! I’m pretty sure most other vacations cost A LOT more considering flight prices, Ubers/cabs, bag checking fees, etc. I’ll definitely be saving up money to go on another ski trip next year, and every year after that!
