As skiing and snowboarding continue to wrestle with concerns over affordability, one North American resort operator is leaning harder into a strategy built around lowering the cost of getting on snow.
Pacific Group Resorts has announced its 2026-27 Mission Affordable lineup, bringing free beginner programs, discounted night skiing, transferable ticket packs and lower-priced season pass options to its six ski resorts across the United States and Canada.
The portfolio includes Jay Peak in Vermont, Powderhorn in Colorado, Wintergreen in Virginia, Wisp in Maryland, Mount Washington Alpine Resort on Vancouver Island and SilverStar Mountain Resort in British Columbia.
Mission Affordable has been part of Pacific Group Resorts’ strategy for roughly a decade, but the company has expanded the concept across its growing portfolio. PGR says the goal is to reduce barriers to skiing and snowboarding rather than allowing mountain recreation to become accessible only to increasingly wealthy customers.
The 2026-27 offerings include programs where first-time skiers and snowboarders can receive lessons, rentals and lift access at no cost, while some resorts are offering night skiing for less than $20.
Free Ski And Snowboard Lessons
Some of the most aggressive affordability programs are aimed at people who have never skied or snowboarded before.
At Colorado’s Powderhorn Mountain Resort, the Bob Beverly Free Learn to Ski & Ride Program gives first-time participants as many as three days of group lessons, equipment rentals and lift access for free. More than 3,000 people have already completed the program.
Those who finish all three lessons can then purchase a $99 Rookie Season Pass for the remainder of the season. The following winter, eligible participants can move into a $199 Sophomore Season Pass.
Powderhorn has experimented with other unusually inexpensive pass products as well. Earlier this year, the Colorado ski area offered a three-year season pass for $999 as it prepared for its 60th anniversary season and the opening of the new Wild West Express high-speed chairlift.
Wintergreen is taking a similar approach through its Fuller Experience Free Learn to Ski + Snowboard Program. First-time skiers and snowboarders receive a two-hour group lesson, beginner lift access and rental equipment without paying for the package. Graduates can also become eligible for a $99 Rookie Season Pass.
Wisp Resort in Maryland has its own three-lesson version called Ace’s Free Learn to Ski & Ride Program, which includes rental equipment and limited lift access for first-time participants ages 8 and older.
The basic idea is straightforward: instead of asking someone who has never skied to spend hundreds of dollars before knowing whether they even like the sport, the resorts absorb much of the initial cost and try to turn beginners into repeat customers.
$19 Night Skiing In Maryland
Mission Affordable also extends beyond beginners. At Wisp, Wednesday night lift tickets will cost $19 beginning in January 2027. The resort will also offer $19 Thursday night tickets for college students and $24 Thursday night tubing.
That puts an evening of skiing at Wisp below the price of many movie tickets, at least before equipment, transportation and other expenses are considered.
Wintergreen, another Mid-Atlantic PGR property, is also emphasizing lower-cost access while continuing to invest in the mountain itself. The Virginia resort installed 14 new automated snow guns ahead of the 2026-27 season as part of a larger snowmaking modernization project.
Both Wisp and Wintergreen will also sell Mission Affordable 4-Packs beginning Oct. 14. The $279 packages include four unrestricted lift tickets that can be shared among different people and used without blackout dates.
British Columbia Resorts Are Part Of The Push
Pacific Group Resorts has also brought Mission Affordable north of the border.
Mount Washington Alpine Resort offers a Learn to Ski Free program that includes a beginner lift ticket, group lesson and rental equipment for first-time skiers. The mountain is also continuing its low-cost Friday night program for families.
SilverStar offers its own free Learn to Ski and Ride program along with heavily discounted night skiing on the Silver Queen Chairlift, which accesses beginner terrain and the Bannister Terrain Park.
The British Columbia resort is the newest member of Pacific Group Resorts. PGR acquired SilverStar from POWDR in November 2025, expanding the company’s portfolio to six ski areas and giving it a second Canadian property alongside Mount Washington.
SilverStar’s addition also means Mission Affordable now stretches from Vermont to British Columbia.
An Alternative Approach To Ski Resort Pricing
Not every Mission Affordable product is dramatically cheap. Jay Peak, for example, is using the program for discounted vacation packages, transferable ticket bundles and lower-priced midweek access rather than offering the same free lesson structure found at Powderhorn or Wintergreen.
Jay’s upcoming Mission Affordable 4-Pack will include four transferable day tickets for $329 when it goes on sale Oct. 14. The resort also offers a Value Days season pass for non-holiday Mondays through Thursdays.
Pacific Group Resorts acquired Jay Peak in 2022 following the Vermont resort’s lengthy receivership, adding one of the East’s best-known ski areas to its network.
The company does not operate every mountain with identical prices or programs. Instead, Mission Affordable acts as an umbrella for products designed to reduce particular barriers at each resort, whether that means free introductory lessons, inexpensive night skiing, transferable lift tickets or lower-cost passes.
That approach arrives as the cost of skiing remains one of the industry’s most persistent challenges. The price of a ski trip extends well beyond a lift ticket, with equipment, lessons, lodging, food and transportation all contributing to the barrier facing new participants.
Pacific Group Resorts’ bet is that getting people through that first experience for less money will make them more likely to stick around.
At several of its mountains this winter, the first step onto snow may cost nothing at all.
