Big time snow lover here. For the rest of the post all advice applied to both skiing and snowboarding.
Skiing is a real tough sport to do on the cheap. Here are a couple of tips.
#1 Start by testing your interest, look at the mountains in the area for lesson/rental combos. Buying gear or renting a condo at a far off mountain is a costly buy in before you know you like it. 2-3 days is enough to decide you hate it and 4-5 is enough to tell you if you like it enough to own your own gear the next season.
#2 Pack food. The cafeteria prices are terrible. For my family I bring a loaf of bread, a jar of peanut butter, some home made trail mix, some apples, and water. You might need to come up with something better for a SO but the cafeteria can run you as much as the lift ticket so planning ahead can be worth it.
#3 Once you know you like it, shop the off season. The best savings in skiing come from it being seasonal and the gear being subject to major markdowns at the end if the season and in summer.
#4 Search for "ski swaps" for used equipment, often these are at ski stores that can advise you if the equipment looks to be in unsafe condition. In later years, once you can spot safety yourself, you can search craigslist for gear also. Until you are getting into competitive sports new equipment has little to offer over used.
I can post alot about different ways to save on the daily lift cost but nothing that is universal. Mostly it depends on how often you want to ski/board that season and how much variety you want in the mountains you visit.
Once you are no longer shopping lesson packages you can use
www.liftopia.com as a baseline price and continue to shop better deals beyond their prices. Committing to a ski day farther in advance will save you money.
Have fun,
DO