Just got back from a trip to CO. Having been a pass holder for years I hadn't bought an actual lift ticket in forever. OMG, Vail is over $200 for a 1 day. :-0
What I did to defray costs:
Points for airline tickets.
Brought my own gear, rentals are $$ and they suck too. :D
Brought our own beer. Pre-ride warm up beers in the parking lot, take a couple in the backpack and enjoy during the day.
Brought lunches/snacks in the pack. Eat breakfast in the parking lot, sandwiches in the backpack.
Night skiing. First day was a warmup at keystone, cheaper tickets and really excellent, well lit, LONG runs.
Buddy tickets! My friend had the Epic pass so the ridiculous ticket price was less. But still ridiculous. At winter park we stood in the main drag and asked passholders to use their buddy tickets. We found someone, paid her $20 and saved a boatload.
Lodging and food, I stayed with my friend. If you don't have a friend within an hour of a kajillion epic resorts I'd say go with friends and split the cost of an AirBnB. You'd have to run the numbers to see if staying in a village at a resort was cheaper than renting somewhere within driving distance and also renting a car. Food, cook your own.
It wasn't free, but I'm sure I paid 1/2 or less what a lot of people were spending on similar trips. I had sticker shock at the costs of lift tickets, foods, drinks, etc. It's gotten insane. It was also EPIC riding. Winter park Eagle Wind area especially was magic. Untouched pow in the trees, even after lunch we were finding powder caches.