We ski with our family of four, have season passes to our local ski area (we are in WA state), and we usually do one annual 5 day trip to a bigger ski area. Yes, it is an expensive hobby. Cooking your own meals and packing your lunches to bring to the ski hill will be a big savings. Kudos for staying in the less fancy accommodations. I just spent the weekend at Whistler Blackcomb, BC with friends (not my family) and was stunned by the glitzy, fancy-pants accommodations and shopping (!) there. I was there to ski. We love skiing, and find that eating in and staying in less expensive lodging puts the focus on being together outdoors and having fun together as a family, creates some pretty great memories, and is more enjoyable than pampering at a luxury resort. In the future, you might look into VRBO for a rental. We have had good luck there.