How to Save on Lift Tickets and Ski Vacations with Points and Miles

by Zac Hood | Apr 28, 2026 | Redeeming Miles and Points, Travel Tips
Skiing with points + Undercover Tourist + Capital One Venture Card

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Planning a ski trip doesn’t have to drain your wallet. Most ski resorts code lift tickets as ‘recreation’ or ‘entertainment’ on your credit card statement, which means travel rewards cards usually can’t reimburse them.

Here’s the workaround: book your ski vacation through Undercover Tourist using the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, and those purchases code as travel, making them eligible for mile reimbursement. With the welcome bonus alone, that’s $750 toward your trip.

Capital One’s reimbursement feature works like this: you pay for a travel purchase with your Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, then within 90 days you go into your account, find the charge, and use your miles to cover it. The charge effectively gets paid for with miles instead of cash.

The formula is simple really: Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card + Undercover Tourist = free ski trip this winter!

Disclaimer: Undercover Tourist is one of the few affiliate partners we have because they offer such good deals to travelers who want to save on Disney and/or skiing. If you click through to Undercover Tourist and purchase something on their site, Travel Freely may earn a commission.

Skiing can be really expensive, especially if you’re looking at this sport from a beginner’s point of view. In fact, some might even say that skiing is a sport for the rich. From equipment to clothing, and ticket prices, accommodation and food, the cost easily adds up and you can find yourself in one of your most expensive trips.  Fortunately, there is a way to minimize your costs without sacrificing your interest or love of the sport! 

But first, here’s a complete rundown of the expenses you might shell out on your ski adventure: 

  • Equipment – You can either buy or rent out the equipment you need. But if this is your first time skiing, my advice is to rent out equipment. Tip: Find a place to rent equipment off the mountain for cheaper daily or weekly rates.
  • Clothing – You’ll need about three layers of ski clothing – the base layer to keep you dry at all times, the mid-layer to keep you warm, and the outer layer to keep you protected.
  • Accessories – Ski accessories provide an added layer of safety and warmth when you ride down the slopes. This includes a helmet, ski gloves, ski goggles and balaclava. First time skiers or boarders might also want butt protection. You can also rent out some of these accessories on your first try, such as a helmet. Also, for gloves, look for a pair made from waterproof and breathable material.
  • Food – Food on the slopes can be really expensive. Instead, consider bringing a backpack (that you leave in the lodge), filled with sandwiches and a thermos with hot coffee or hot chocolate. Pocket snacks are always a great idea, especially energy bars. This will allow you to enjoy the views on the hill without having to spend a lot of money on food.
  • Accommodation and Ski Tickets –  Prices for accommodations and ski passes vary and mostly depends on the ski resort you choose to go to. Prices for accommodations vary and can cost $400-$500 per night or more, depending on the resort.
  • Flights/Transportation – Finally, add in your transportation expenses whether you’re driving to a local ski destination or flying to one in the U.S. or abroad.

Where Capital One Miles Make a Difference

With all these expenses, you can easily spend over $1,000 on your next ski adventure. Moreover, most ski resorts code lift tickets as “recreation” or “entertainment” expenses as opposed to “travel” expenses when you use a credit card. This could be a setback if you’re looking to use a credit card that will allow you to redeem your points for travel expenses.

But since this is Travel Freely, we’ve gathered tips on how you can use points for your ski trip, and potentially earn up to $1,000+ in free skiing. Here’s what you need: 1) Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, and, 2) book your lift tickets through Undercover Tourist.

Here’s how the math works: the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card welcome bonus is 75,000 miles after you spend $4,000 in 3 months. At a 1:1 redemption rate, that’s $750 you can use to reimburse Undercover Tourist purchases coded as travel. If both you and a partner each earn the bonus, you’re looking at $1,500 toward the trip. That won’t cover everything, but it can knock a serious chunk off lift tickets, lodging, and flights. Note: The Capital One Venture card has a $95 annual fee.

Undercover Tourist

A skier performs a jump against a blue sky and snowy mountains. Text reads: Purchase Ski Passes or Packages via Undercover Tourist to get better deals and to code them as travel expenses, with a cartoon frog in a hat.

Earlier, we talked about how ski passes and lessons are often tagged as “entertainment/recreation” expenses rather than “travel” expenses on your credit card. To find a way around this, we recommend booking your ski vacation via Undercover Tourist.

Undercover Tourist is a great way to find big deals on family trips and other excursions. They offer discounted prices for tickets and even for accommodations. If you book all in one trip through their platform, you can definitely find better prices.

The good thing about Undercover Tourist is that they have a dedicated system for offering huge deals for ski resort vacations that cover your expenses from hotel rooms to ski lift tickets and even car rentals. Also, check out offers where kids can ski for free to help bring down your overall cost.

Important: Undercover Tourist purchases code as “travel” when using a Visa or Mastercard – and the Capital One Venture is a Mastercard. This means you can use your Venture miles to reimburse these purchases directly, without worrying about them being categorized as entertainment.

Undercover Tourist also sells ski passes for the 2026-27 winter season to get the most value for your next ski adventure.

  1. Full Epic Pass – This unlimited ski pass provides access to 42 Vail Resorts owned destinations, with the 37 of the resorts in the United States. With the full Epic Pass, you can ski at over 90+ resorts worldwide (note that some cap the number of days you can ski). At Vail Resorts, you can ski whenever you want and as much as you want without worrying about blackout dates and restrictions. This pass is valid for the whole ski season of 2026-2027 and you can use it repeatedly either at local ski resorts or even for a 5-day consecutive ski vacation at Hakuba Valley and Rusutu Resort in Japan. Kids age 4 and younger ski free when accompanied by an adult Epic Pass holder. New for the 2026-27 season, skiers under the age of 30 receive a new 20% discount on the full Epic Pass.
  2. Epic Local Pass – The Epic Local Pass provides access to more than 50 ski areas, 29 of which are unrestricted. Holiday blackout dates for the 2026-27 season are Nov. 27-28, 2026; Dec. 26-31, 2026; Jan. 16, 2027; and Feb. 13-14, 2027.
  3. Epic Day Pass – Epic Day Pass tickets are available with advance-purchase options from one to seven days. You don’t have to select your dates in advance, and the days don’t have to be consecutive – a great flexible option if you’re planning just one or two ski trips this season.

(Note that these Epic Passes do not cover costs for ski lessons and equipment rentals, but as a season pass member, you do receive discounts.)

Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card

We’ve tagged Capital One Venture as one of the best beginner cards. The card earns unlimited 2x miles per dollar on every purchase, every day, plus 5x miles on hotels, vacation rentals, and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel. The redemption rate is 1:1, where each mile equals 1 cent toward travel – making the earning and redemption structures very straightforward.

Capital One offers flexibility through its travel purchase reimbursement feature. With this feature, you can use your points to pay for any travel purchase you make on your card within the last 90 days. So, if your ski vacation tickets are coded as travel, you can easily use your Venture miles to reimburse them. And with Undercover Tourist purchases coding as “travel” on your Venture card, reimbursing that expense is simple.

Check here for a complete guide on Capital One Miles.

Breakdown

Combining your Capital One Venture Card and Undercover Tourist, here’s a sample breakdown to get you started:

Step 1: Open a Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card.

Bonus Tip: Double your points! Get your spouse or significant other to apply for their own Venture Rewards card too.

Step 2: Purchase a ski vacation deal from UndercoverTourist.com.

Don’t purchase your tickets directly from ski resorts. Instead, purchase your ski tickets/packages via Undercover Tourist (consider a ski vacation package that offers accommodations and tickets in one to get more discounts or an Epic Pass to get unrestricted access for this ski season.)

Step 3: Reimburse yourself for your Undercover Tourist expense.

Finally, log in to your Capital One Venture Rewards account and simply track down the purchase you made on Undercover Tourist. Make sure you do this within 90 days of your purchase date.

Related Article: Easy Way to Get Free Disney Tickets