Tips for Hosting an Amazing Ski Weekend with Your Friends

There’s nothing I love more than a ski weekend. Running off to the mountains to ski with good friends? Yes, please.

I also love hosting – parties, guests, you name it. I think get it from my Alabama born and bred grandmother.

Which was why I was so excited to host ten of my friends at Winter Park. (After writing this post, I realized only three of my friends are pictured – for a blogger I sure am bad at documenting my life.)

Anyway, after two years in Colorado, and dozens of ski trips, I wanted my share my tips for hosting an awesome ski weekend.

Pick an awesome ski house.

Before you do anything, find an amazing condo or house. I scour booking sites for hours to find the best property possible, and usually try to budget $70 a person per night. If possible, I try to find dog-friendly properties as so many of my friends in Colorado have dogs.

For this trip, I found an amazing property on Glamping Hub. The house had everything you could possibly need: a fully outfitted kitchen, a gas fireplace, a hot tub and a deck overlooking the mountains.

Pro tip – wait to take a pano so your friends don’t look like mutants.

Ski HouseSki_Weekend_3

Bring more beer than you could ever need.

There’s nothing worse on a ski trip than running out of beer and having to drive out in the snow to buy more. So be prepared! In addition to beer, I like to bring lots of red wine and even champagne if I’m feeling fancy.

Prepare a hearty breakfast.

Skiing burns a lot of calories, so I like to start the day with a hearty breakfast. I generally keep it simple and serve scrambled eggs, bacon, toast and orange juice. But if I’m feeling fancy I make avocado toast with a fried egg on top. (It’s actually way easier than a full spread.)

Bonus points if you serve mimosas. Or beermosas, if that’s more your style.

After skiing, make a carb-filled dinner, like pasta.

Everyone wants something hearty after a long day skiing. I try to make something carb and cheese heavy, like baked ziti.

Invite different groups of friends, so everyone can get to know each other.

When I’m planning a ski trip, I plan way in advance – think two or three months. I also try to cast a wide net and invite more friends than I have room for, as some people will be unable to make it.

Also, I love inviting friends from out of down and having them meet my Colorado friends – it’s super fun for everyone to get to know each other.

Another tip is to have your friends pay you a deposit to secure their spots. That way you won’t get stuck paying for a $1200 condo with no way of getting paid back.

Get up super, super early if there’s a powder day.

On this trip to Winter Park, we got super lucky with nine inches of fresh powder. Stupidly, we weren’t on the hill until 9:30 and a lot of the fresh powder had already been skied out.

So if you’re lucky enough to get a powder day, be on the hill by 8 to get the first chair by 8:30.

Fun things to pack:

A shotski.

Photo Credit: Sparqvault http://www.sparqvault.com/2012/12/06/shred-the-powder-and-your-liver-with-a-shot-ski/#.VvbdqhIrIfG

If you bring a shotski, a.k.a. a decorated vintage ski with shot glasses attached, everyone will basically love you.

A fondue pot.

Another crowd-pleaser? Fondue. It’s perfect for après-ski. My mom bought me this fondue pot for Christmas and I love it.

Fun board games.

Ski_Weekend_1

I never want to play board games more than when I’m in a ski house. I’m particularly a fan of Baulderdash but a deck of cards works well too.

Ski_Weekend

A onesie.

This is more for your enjoyment rather than your guests’. But a onesie after skiing is the best thing ever.

I have this one (bought on sale), but if i were a millionaire i would definitely buy this one.

A bathing suit.

For the hot tub, obviously. Somehow I always forget my suit, which if you have a hot tub, is a huge bummer.

What do you guys think makes a ski weekend awesome? Let me know your tips in the comments!

A big thank you to Glamping Hub and Winter Park Lodging Company for hosting our stay at Winter Park. As always, all opinions are my own.

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About Ashley Fleckenstein

Ashley is a travel and lifestyle blogger who lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Since college she has au paired in Paris, backpacked the world solo, and lived in Uganda. Her work has been featured by Buzzfeed, Forbes, TripAdvisor, and Glamour Magazine.

13 thoughts on “Tips for Hosting an Amazing Ski Weekend with Your Friends”

  1. You are going to have to be careful, because anybody that reads your blog telling about your ski week-end is going to rush to sign up!
    It sounds like such a perfect way to have the most wonderful
    thing going. If you ever needed another career I think this could
    be it…! You are providing a lot of fun for your old and new friends!

    Impressive!

    Love,

    Gamma

  2. Dear Ashley,

    I wrote an email about your hosting your ski week-end, and the machine deleted it saying I had said this before. Have they ever heard of “freedom of speech”? What country are they, whoever they are, from. I will try for originality, but who knows if it will be printed.
    Laissey les Bon temp rouler!

    Love,

    Gamma

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