The best thing a tour operator can do when planning a ski trip is to give you rates on packages that include hotels or cabins with lift tickets, transportation, and sometimes meals. Occasionally ski school packages get thrown in. Many of the cabins and lodges are so close to the slopes they have their own small lifts or you can ski in and ski out of them. Most of the plans are not overly complicated which is why many set them up on their own. Many online search engine type providers can arrange the trip as well, cutting deals on airfare and lodging significantly.

If you are going heli-skiing or plan on riding in some extremely isolated mountain range where a guide is necessary to lead, then tour operators are a must. These trips require expert knowledge, guides, and safety and rescue operations.

Skiing Tour Operators

Aspen Alpine Guides (http://www.aspenalpine.com, Tel. +970-925-6618)
Guided hut trips, backcountry tours, climbing, heli-skiing, ski mountaineering and every other sort of extreme ski trip in Colorado.
Chilean Ski (http://www.chileanski.com, Tel. +800-560-2340)
Hotel and lift packages at every major Chilean resort. Mostly by the week. Some include spas, transport, and resort combination packages.
Deep Powder Tours (http://www.deeppowdertours.com, Tel. +612-9525-9776)
Tour operator that focuses on ski packages in Japan with lodging, lift tickets, and transportation.
New Zealand (http://www.nzadventure.com, Tel. +64-4-939-9323)
Ski tours to all of New Zealand’s best slopes as well as heli-skiing operations, climbing, and snow safety courses.
Ski.com (http://www.ski.com, Tel. +800-908-500)
Tour operator with a great online search engine for arranging ski and snowboard tours and vacations all over the world.
Ski Tops (http://www.skitops.com, Tel. +800-754-9378)
Online search engine that offers reservations in thousands of ski vacation rentals across the western half of North America.

Do-It-Yourself Options

Many people arrange basic trips to ski resorts themselves. Condos and time shares are a great way to rent by the week and often will save you a significant amount of money. Deals can especially be found in the shoulder and off seasons. If you are planning a trip with another family or more you can often rent a large cabin that will hold everyone and save you quite a bit of cash in the end. Even if someone ends up sleeping on the floor there are rarely regrets with this type of communal vacation.

Considering lift tickets can are bought at the base of the mountain, usually on the day of, you don’t always need much planning to ski or snowboard. If you live close to a slope you can drive there in the morning and drive back home in the evening.

There are destinations where tours and lifts don’t exist too. These are locations where hiking to isolated virgin slopes is a must. These are back country runs with a guide. In some locations in the Andes and Himalayas a local guide will suffice, but elsewhere professional guides arranged by tour operators are sometimes the only option.