Backpack to Buggy

A family ski trip seems a lot more affordable with $15 lift tickets and $20 equipment rentals, huh? And this isn’t some rink dink speed bump where someone set up a rope tow, it is in the heart of the Adirondack Mountains and a few miles from Lake Placid, NY, host to two Winter Olympics.

Skiing Big Tupper.

Big Tupper Ski Center closed 10 years ago due to financial difficulties, but thanks to the work of local volunteers it reopened in December.  Yep, volunteers revamped the ski area and volunteers contribute to the operation.  This winter Big Tupper is open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays with about 2/3rds of the terrain available.

At $15 for a lift ticket, it is also an incredible bargain. That’s less than the cost of lunch at most ski areas.  (The local high school runs the concessions, so don’t worry about that at Big Tupper.) Children under six, seniors and active military ski free. With $20 equipment rental, a family of four can ski all day for less than two lift tickest at other ski areas.

A family enjoying the reopened Big Tupper Ski Center.

But wait, there’s more.  Through March 7,  lift tickets from Big Tupper are good for admission to the Wild Center, the Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks (or vice versa).

I was excited to hear about the reopening of Big Tupper Ski Center because I skied there as a tween.  OK, I think I skied there as a tween.  My family was visiting Lake Placid.  Our first day we visited Whiteface.  I remember our second day we skied at a smaller area on the road home, not far from Saranac Lake.  It was low key and there was that awesome quiet where the only things you hear are wind blowing through the trees and your skis carving through the snow.

This is the Big Tupper I remember.

For more information, including directions, visit skibigtupper.org.