Alaska Airlines is relaunching its “Ski Free” promotion, giving free lift passes to skiers and snowboarders at resorts across the U.S. and Canada when they show their boarding pass. 

With season pass sale price deadlines fast approaching, skiers across the country are googling multi-resort season pass benefits, building pass comparison matrixes in Excel, and crunching day and dollar amounts to see which pass makes the most sense for the coming ski season: the Epic Pass, Ikon Pass, or Mountain Collective.

Call it Epic-Lite or Ikon 2.0, but the southern Colorado-based Power Pass has taken off around the country, into Canada and across the seas.

Alaskan skiers and snowboarders are putting last season’s many weather disappointments behind them as resorts in the Last Frontier begin to open for 2015-2016 season.

In the Land of the Midnight Sun, the ski and snowboard season -- short in hours but long in days – revolves around one destination resort and a slew of local, community-based town hills.

If you like backcountry, ungroomed slopes and tons of natural snow, choices are very limited around the Heartland. Mt. Bohemia has been dubbed the Great Lakes version of Jackson Hole.

Hope on the Slopes, Ski & Ride for a Cure (HOTS) is a fundraising event benefitting the American Cancer Society. Look for it at ski areas across the country.
HOTS combines the passion of finding a cure for cancer with a love for skiing and riding.