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Spring Festivals in the Mountains
Discounted stays and lift tickets paired with music fests and sporty competitions in Vail, Colorado and Mammoth Mountain, California
Friday, March 24, 2006;
SPRING BACK TO VAIL
The Real Deal: Lodgings discounts from $105 per night and big-name concerts
When: Festival, Apr. 3 - 16, 2006; Hotel packages, Apr. 2 - 23, 2006
Details: Additional hotel taxes of 9.8 percent. Breakfast is not included
Book By: No deadline; based on availability
Contact: Vail, 877/204-7881, vail.com; springbacktovail.com
Vail is offering a variety of lodgings discounts based on groups of two or four people, with lift tickets included in select cases. (The tickets are valued at $81 per person per day.) All of the properties are within a few minutes' walk from the mountain except for Vail Racquet Club, located about a 10-minute drive away in East Vail.
For a Twosome:
For a Foursome:
Headliners for the weekend of Apr. 7-8 are G Love & Special Sauce with a second act on Saturday and P.O.D. with a second act on Sunday. Tickets for G Love are $20; check springbacktovail.com for ticket price and band updates. During the following weekend of Apr. 14-15, a series of lesser-known acts play for free. There's a party-happy, spring-break vibe with plenty of happy hours and ski/snowboard contests. One of the crazier events is the annual pond skimming contest, in which costumed participants ski or snowboard down the mountain and onto a water-filled pit dug at the foot of the slope.
Getting to Vail: About half-an-hour away, Eagle Airport is the closest and most convenient, but flights can be up to three times the price of those into Denver. The catch with choosing Denver is that the hour-and-a-half drive crosses two mountain passes, so bad weather can cause serious delays. Colorado Mountain Express runs shuttle buses between both airports and Vail. In early April, a one-way trip is $44 per person from Eagle and $68 per person from Denver. An economy car rental starts at $20 per day (Advantage).
The lowest fares we've found for round-trip flights to Denver in mid-April are: $210 (Northwest) from New York City; $283 (United) from Miami; $238 (Northwest) from Washington, DC; $152 (Frontier) from Chicago; $259 (Frontier) from Seattle.
SPRING FEST AT MAMMOTH MOUNTAIN
The Real Deal: Overnight lodgings from $82.50 per person, plus lift tickets deals, and a series of springtime events and competitions
When: Apr. 23 - May 31, 2006
Details: Hotel taxes are an additional 15 percent. Rates are based on double occupancy; a two-night stay is required for the free lift tickets
Book By: No deadline; based on availability
Contact: Mammoth Mountain, 800/626-6684, mammothmountain.com
A one-night stay at the Tamarack Lodge & Resort starts at $82.50 per person per night. A stay at the Mammoth Mountain Inn is $87; the Village Lodging is $142.50; the Juniper Springs Resort is $124.50. If you decide to stay two nights or more, you'll receive two days' lift tickets worth $142.
The big event is the 5th Annual West Coast Invitational, a night-time pro snowboard competition on Saturday, May 6, 2006. Other fast-and-furious events include the Dragon Three Ring Circus snowboarding contest on April 29, the 4th Annual Orage freestyle skiing event on May 6, and the Volcom Peanut Butter and Rail Jam Championship, an amateur snowboard series with a side-by-side rail zone instead of three rails in a row, on May 20.
Getting to Mammoth Mountain: The closest airport is in Reno, Nevada, nearly a three-hour drive along scenic Highway 395. The lowest fares we've found for round-trip flights to Reno in late April are: $191 (America West) from Phoenix; $212 (Alaska) from Seattle; $268 (multiple carriers) from Baltimore; $362 (United) from Chicago; $417 (America West) from New York City.
An economy car rental starts at $28 per day (Advantage).
At Lodge at Lionshead, a three-night stay in a double occupancy studio condo starts at $564 per group. At Evergreen Lodge, a one-night stay is $105 per group (Apr. 1 - 18). At Mountain Haus, a three-night stay is $432 per group. At Vantage Point, a two-night stay is $300 per group (Apr. 4 - May 1).
At Vail Racquet Club, a four-night stay and a four-day lift ticket start at $248 per person. Vail Condominiums start at $213 per person for a four-night stay and four-day lift ticket. At Simba Run, a four-night stay in a quad occupancy room starts at $584 per group ($146 per person).