5 Affordable Ski Resorts In America Under $200 A Day For An Epic Winter Getaway

Finding your wallet in your ski pants is hard enough. The sticker shock of pricey lift tickets makes it all the worse. Things have become even more confounding lately, with some resorts literally changing prices with the weather. Resorts seem well aware of the situation and are using deep discounts to incentivize advance bookings. Markdowns aside, there are still some affordable ski resorts in America offering an epic winter getaway for under $200 per day.

The cost of lift tickets has become a perpetual bugaboo for the online skiing commentariat, which balks at price tags crossing the $300 threshold. Yet it's a catch-22, according to veterans. "Too many people want to go skiing, such that the resorts can charge these ridiculous prices and still have huge lift lines," one Reddit user wrote. "People are complaining about overcrowding at the same time they are upset about super high ticket prices, which normally would have the effect of reducing the crowds. Just shows you how in demand the resorts actually are." Fortunately, one can have a fun day carving down a mountain without breaking the bank.

Lift tickets can still be found for under $200 a day across the country, some in the most affordable ski resort towns across America. Granted, there's a balance between price and quality. You can, theoretically, find a place to ski for $5, but with serious tradeoffs in quality, size, and location. Here, instead, are five mountains that offer epic skiing for your buck.

Ski resorts have a knack for odd names, ranging from quirky to a bit on-the-nose (Look at Bogus Basin for the former and Idaho and Canada's Big White Ski Resort for the latter). Other resorts have blatantly counterintuitive names, like Durango, Colorado's Purgatory Resort. Unlike the poet Dante's actual Purgatory, you can leave relatively easily. But will you want to? The resort's 10,000-foot elevation and 200-plus inches of annual snow offer a ridiculous fun-to-cost ratio for skiers of all experience levels. With six terrain parks, 107 trails, and 11 lifts criss-crossing 1,600 acres of the San Juan Mountains, skiers can wear themselves out over several visits.

Purgatory's variable pricing on lift tickets translates to beaucoup bucks left in your wallet. Day passes can be found for under $100. Early birds who book a few weeks in advance can pay as little as $31 per day. The truly methodical can find passes that barely cross the $10 threshold if they buy months in advance. It's a stark comparison to Telluride Ski Resort, a better-known pile of powder on the western side of the San Juan Mountains, which charges $257 for a lift ticket. The tradeoff comes in the form of facilities, which get a lower rating, according to peakrankings.com. Yet the mountain's views and abundance of greenery make it a worthwhile run.

"Purgatory is still a family-friendly resort with lots of charm, good snow, and kid-approved groomers top to bottom," according to Carrick Buss at the travel blog Along for the Trip. "It's small enough to be comfortable and not overcrowded, but has enough amenities to keep you coming back."

Setting up shop in a designated National Forest is a surefire way to keep prices down. Mount Baker, in Washington's Mt. Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest, offers top-tier skiing in the Pacific Northwest without top-tier prices. Resting just under the Canadian border, the mountain's also very powdery. During the 1998-1999 ski season, 1,140 inches of snow blanketed Mount Baker, a world record in single-season accumulation that still stands today. With an average annual snowfall of 458 inches, there's a chance you'll be careening down fresh powder during your visit. You don't have to spend your time just going downhill, either. Baker also offers something for more extreme skiers and snowboarders: "The Sticks", a Freestyle Feature Zone which offers rails, pole jams, and more.

All that can be had for the pittance of $105 per lift ticket during peak season for adults, with beginners getting a steep discount. "The mountain has a true old-school vibe with a focus on great skiing rather than crowds or commercial hype," one guest wrote in a review on Google. "Friendly staff, stunning views, and a welcoming atmosphere make this place special. A must-visit for anyone who loves authentic mountain skiing!" Unlike other mountains on this list and elsewhere, Mount Baker only sells lift tickets day-of. The mountain's knack for unreliable weather makes planning ahead a potential recipe for disappointment anyway.

"Mount Baker isn't perfect — but it really isn't trying to be," according to Peak Rankings' Sam Weintraub. "For those looking for crazy chutes, easy-to-reach backcountry, and stupidly wet late-season refills, this resort is really hard to beat. While it can be quite a pain to reach the mountain, ticket prices remain refreshingly low, undercutting every major destination resort in the state."

If you're looking for your best bang-for-buck, you'd be hard-pressed to beat a former Olympic venue. Whiteface Mountain was home to the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Games' alpine skiing competition, and continues to give budding Olympians a playground, averaging 138 ski days per year. The Adirondacks skiing mecca's sporting heritage shines through in its collection of expert-only drops called The Slides, a series of steep drops and chutes that cover highly technical grounds meant for experts only. It's hard to overstate Whiteface's diverse and complex 299 skiable acres. That adds up to 25 miles of skiing spread across 94 trails with 11 lifts and a 3,430-foot elevation, making it the highest mountain in the east. The resort's terrain park lets skiers and snowboarders do their best Olympic slopestyle impression.

Whiteface offers lift tickets at a discount for early birds who buy in advance, bottoming out at $80 for those who buy well ahead of time. Yet even last-minute buyers fall well under the $200 threshold, with day-of tickets costing $134 as of writing. The bargain price doesn't lead to bargain-bin skiing, though. Quite the opposite.

Regulars claim what passes for a black diamond trail at Whiteface would often rank as a double black elsewhere. "If the ratings at your local hill have been feeding your ego, make the necessary mental adjustment," Karen Berger wrote on her travel blog, Bucket Tripper. "There are, it turns out, several shades of black." The resulting trails can catch even experienced skiers off guard.

Colorado gets plaudits for having the absolute best skiing in the US — ok, fine. Vermont deserves consideration for a close second, though, with a whole slew of winter destinations, including a Burke Mountain, a well-kept secret ski resort that's beautiful and pleasantly uncrowded. Burke Mountain offers all the upside of New England winter sports, like classic tree skiing and reliable natural snowfall, sans the crowds you might find at bigger-named resorts in the region. Located in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, it has a 2,011-foot vertical drop on 55 trails spread across 178 skiable areas, with four lifts leading up the mountain.

Burke Mountain's full-day lift tickets can get as low as $25, depending on when and how far ahead you book. It becomes an absolute steal when compared to bigger-ticket draws like Stowe Mountain, which sits less than two hours away and charges $248 for a lift ticket. Its sole downside is that a lack of bells and whistles makes it the ideal concentrated dose of speed and snow, without all the trappings that come with ski culture. That hyper-focus on skiing manifests itself in the Burke Mountain Academy, a ski-obsessed factory of winter Olympians, producing 40 since its founding in 1970. Six of the academy's graduates represented the United States at the 2026 Winter Games in Milano Cortina. It's earned a cult following.

"Best skiing in the northeast," one regular wrote in a review on Google. "Been going here for 35 years. Lift lines are not existent even on a packed day. You're waiting tops 10 minutes."

Looking for a sleeper pick for the most underrated mountain in America? Look no further than Bridger Bowl, a laid-back Montana ski resort that's one of the country's most affordable. Its stats make it a viable Big Sky alternative to many of Colorado's famed slopes. This Montana resort boasts 2,000 acres of skiable terrain with 75 marked trails and unmarked runs going down a 2,700-foot vertical drop (similar to Telluride's stats). The weather's quite generous as well, with an annual average of around 200 inches of snowfall, leaving only 5 percent of the snow man-made. Don't let those numbers scare you if you're not comfortable with powder skiing. About one quarter of the mountain is dedicated to beginners.

Bridger Bowl's lift ticket prices go for $84 online and $99 at the window. The resort's operated by a non-profit tasked with getting Bozeman locals on the slopes and helping the mountain itself flourish. The structure keeps prices low by banishing the usual overhead and profit mandate saddling other mountains. It also offers unique experiences, like a free shuttle bus from Bozeman to the mountain, as well as free tours of the mountain every day at 10 a.m.

"Great hidden gem of a ski mountain," one local wrote in a Google review. "We had a fantastic time and only spent a fraction of what we expected to. Even the food and gift shop were reasonable!"

Asking "What's the best ski resort?" in any area will produce a long list of options, some pricey while others can be considered sleeper picks. The challenge in producing this list wasn't so much finding resorts under $200. There are plenty. It was finding ski resorts with an ideal value proposition. Yes, you'll pay well under the cost of a big-name, recognizable mountain, but you won't feel like you're skimping. A poll by Powder Magazine found 55 percent of 3,605 respondents felt $51 to $100 is the sweet spot for lift tickets, and 95 percent of all skiers picked prices below $150. So the list concentrates on the sub-$150 range, ideally between $51 and $100.

Putting together the list also required ignoring the season passes, pricing gimmicks, limited discounts, and ski pass buying hacks that make luxury resorts affordable. From there, mountains were assessed based on location, size, the number of trails, and overall offering. Expert rankings and reviews from sites like peakrankings.com, Powder Magazine, and onthesnow.com helped whittle down the list. Finally, reviews and comments on Google, Reddit, and some blogs helped remove the true duds. From there, an effort was made to select at least one resort in every corner of the country, if possible.