Pass On The Savings At Durango

Durango Mountain Resort is a family friendly area that rides like a big mountain.

It is relatively intimate (1,200 acres) yet it has many means of decent from wooded 2,029-foot high ridge. Durango's nine lifts whisk you up into some great southwest Colorado powder, and the resort has 85 trails - more than half rated blue - to get back down.

There's also a complete village at the base to hang your helmet and feed your fancy when the sun goes down.

All this comes at a relative pittance ($62 for adults non-holiday).

It gets even better if you purchase next year's season pass, which are going for $539 for adults, $289 for juniors and $239 for kids under 13. Along with getting a pretty good ride for the 2009-10 winter, Durango pass-holders get three days at Taos, three days at Monarch, 10 days at Kirkwood in California, 20 percent off on ski school lessons, 15 percent off in the resort's retail outlets, and 10 percent off on food and beverage.

You can use the pass to ride the lifts for the remainder of this season as well as next, if you are a first-time Durango pass buyer; you get one daily lift ticket for the remainder of this season and one good for any day next season, if you are return pass-holder.