Discounts offered for lifts, restaurants and other ski areas

By Lloyd Garrison

Butternut offers first timers a free one-day lift ticket, lesson an ski rental.

The struggle to attract skiers in hard times is prompting several ski areas near Norfolk to take a page from Walmart with specials on lifts and numerous other eye-popping discounts. Want to ski for half price at Smuggler’s Notch, Jay Peak or Okemo in Vermont? Just show your season pass from Butternut. Located close to Great Barrington, Mass., Butternut is the most aggressive of the four regional ski areas in offering what it calls “steals and deals.” These include discounted meals for season ticket holders at six nearby restaurants and 10 percent off at the Butternut ski shop. College students can ski weekends and holidays for $20 off the adult rate. Butternut offers the largest discount on lifts, rentals and lessons for the military and first responders, plus Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops and their families. First time skiers, whether adults or children, can find out if they like the sport by signing up for rental equipment, lift ticket and a lesson, all free. The offer, which normally costs $70, is good until December 22. Butternut has even struck a deal with nearby Catamount that gives visiting season ticket holders reciprocal 50 percent discounts on lift tickets. “We’ve had this agreement for two years now,” says Catamount Vice President Richard Edwards. “We are neighbors, after all, and if we can get our customers to enjoy the best of what each mountain has to offer, we’ll keep them in the area. If we don’t, they’ll drive up to Jiminy Peak and we’ll lose them.” Of the two areas, Catamount, just over the Massachusetts line in Hillsdale, NY, offers longer, steeper slopes. Butternut is best known for its wide intermediate cruisers. Both have 1,000-foot vertical drops and more trails than Mohawk and Sundown. Bucking the logic of economizing during a recession, Sundown, Catamount and Butternut have invested heavily in boosting their snowmaking capacity, with Butternut installing 120 new snow guns atop 18-foot towers. Catamount has also added a new Bombardier 350 snow groomer to its fleet. “Last year, because of the downturn, we thought we might do 10 percent less business,” says Butternut’s Marketing Director Matt Sawyer. “Turns out we did better than the year before. The recession has kept skiers close to home.” Because they are nearer major population centers, Mohawk and Sundown can charge more in almost every category and still attract a crowd. They also offer fewer special discounts. Breaks for kids can be found at Butternut, where fifth graders ski free. Mohawk gives fourth graders three free days with a $10 registration fee. Catamount has the edge over both, with fourth as well as fifth graders riding free. The pressure to stay competitive has kept daily lift rates unchanged at Butternut and Mohawk, with only slight increases at Catamount and Sundown. But huge differences remain between the four sites. At the upper extreme is Mohawk’s $599 for an adult anytime season pass, compared to $579 for Sundown, $359 for Catamount and $279 for Butternut, which also offers the best rate for ski and snowboard rentals. Butternut is especially good to seniors over 65. Season passes for seniors can be had for $99 and lift tickets on weekdays cost only $20. At Sundown, while seniors must pay $26 a day, 80 year-olds get a free pass, a first for the region. Catamount, which began lift construction in 1939, is offering two promotions to mark its seventieth anniversary. Born in 1939? You can ski free until December 20. For only $19.39, anyone can purchase a lift ticket coupon on-line for use every Monday, from January through March, holidays excluded.