Snag a Free Ticket to Stratton

Captain Avalanche

At $83 (weekend) a pop, Vermont's Stratton is one of the more expensive lift tickets in the east. It's worth saying, however, that Stratton has a well-deserved reputation for its high quality -and coverage- of snow. Add the fine amenities, the US Open Snowboarding Championships, and an outstanding bar, and you have a great place to be.

Best of all, Stratton is the only place in the east -that I know of- that gives away an extremely winnable lift ticket to anyone that's interested each

year. To be precise, Stratton has been giving away 10,000 lift tickets annually for the last few years. With that many tickets up for grabs, it is nearly impossible not to win at some point. I myself and most of my ski group have won each year and we have established an annual late-January trip as a result. All you have to do is visit http://stratton10k.com/form.php and fill out the form to be texted the results of your entry or text the word SKIFREE to 22122.

Don't be discouraged if you receive a losing text; you can enter once per day until you win. After about 15 tries, I was the last of my friends when I finally won today. OK, so I had to pay for the text messages. I still got a $79 ticket for $1.50. And yes, you can use the ticket on a weekend to boot. See you there.

-Christopher Eardley, New England