Western WA ski resort ranked one of the most affordable in America. Here’s where and why
Northwest Washington skiers who are price-conscious are in luck, according to a new study.
Vacation rental website HomeToGo looked at the average lift and rental prices at 35 of the most popular ski resorts in the U.S. for the 2024-2025 season. It found the Mt. Baker Ski Area to be one of the most affordable.
Mount Baker ranked second-most affordable ski resort
Mount Baker had the second-lowest average cost of any ski destination featured in the study. A standard adult day lift pass costs $94.27, roughly half the average price of a lift pass at resorts surveyed by HomeToGo, $188.15. The study also found that the median Mount Baker vacation rental costs $106.65 a night, compared to an average of $164.41 across each of the destinations surveyed. The ski area is not yet open for the season, though. Snow reports and updates on opening for the season can be found here.
Overall, the study found that Mount Baker, which HomeToGo calls a “hidden gem,” had an average daily cost of $200.92. That was just $5.90 behind Gore Mountain in New York, which took the top spot on the list. The third-most affordable destination in the study, Whitefish in Montana, came in at $223.02 a day. No other Washington ski resorts made the list, while Oregon’s Mount Bachelor was the only other Pacific Northwest spot to feature, coming in at No. 10.
Mount Baker also among trending ski destinations
Mount Baker also made HomeToGo’s list of the top trending ski areas this year. The Whatcom County destination has seen 71% more searches on HomeToGo in 2024 than it did in 2023, the third-highest increase of any ski area.
How were the rankings determined?
The study was based on lift pass prices listed as of October 2024. Average rental prices were determined by looking at all listings on HomeToGo between Nov. 15, 2024 and March 31, 2025. While that might seem like a small sliver of the rentals out there, HomeToGo aggregates rental listings from booking websites across the internet, including Vrbo, Booking.com and TripAdvisor, meaning the data is extensive.
However, the study only looks at 35 of the roughly 480 ski areas around the country, including a few that are notoriously expensive, leading some to question its reliability. The ranking does include many of the most popular ski areas in the country, and Mount Baker wasn’t just near the top of the list, it took second place.
Other lists of the most affordable ski areas in the country include plenty of destinations where single-day lift tickets cost around the same price as they do at Mount Baker. So while HomeToGo’s study doesn’t conclusively mean that Mount Baker is the second-most affordable of all 480 ski areas in the country, it does suggest that the Whatcom County destination is among the more affordable major ski resorts in the country.
Buying tickets to ski Mount Baker
If you’re looking for a cheaper way to ski Mount Baker, the resort offers $73.01 lift tickets on Wednesdays. Season passes, meanwhile, cost over $1,100 for adults, although discounts are available for children, students and seniors. You can check the ski area’s website for more information on its opening day this season, which hasn’t been announced yet.
This story was originally published November 13, 2024 at 2:25 PM with the headline "Western WA ski resort ranked one of the most affordable in America. Here’s where and why."