Cheap Ski Deals pre internet period was something like a cat and mouse game. It relied on social networking skills which included contacts whom you may have barely known but felt like childhood friends, quick decisions, and insuring that you get the right number of people to go and willing to pay the money upfront and be prepared for some bumps on the road. Still those were fun days.
As an undergraduate student, my first real cheap ski deal happened with 3 college buddies of mine looking for a nice place to go after the Christmas season. A friend of a friend, as they would call it then, called up to say that there was a cancellation at this resort in Innsbruck from the 2nd till the 7th of January. Since, a booking fee was already paid, the resort had made some money off this cancelation and to make a few more, offered us the rate at 30% of the holiday prices. We would be staying at a chalet and would have a buffet breakfast and set meals for a great rate.
Needing a group of 4, the offer could be held for a day before they would give it away. We needed to put a down payment of half of the total cost of the package within the day and wire the money to the resort. The whole day we spent raising the money and we did everything short of robbing a bank. This Cheap Ski Deal had us working for it. By 4 pm, we had come up with the money and then wired it to the resort. Later on, we called to confirm that they did receive the money and that our booking was guaranteed.
We spent the Christmas season with family as was the normal tradition and I even had one of my pals stay in my place as he was a foreign student and since he was going with us on the cheap ski deal, decided not to go home for Christmas. Getting back together on the 28th at our favorite university bar, we made sure that we had ticket reservations for the flight to Innsbruck, which surprisingly was inexpensive at that time.
When we arrived at the Ski Resort, it didn't feel like a Cheap Ski Deal as the chalet we stayed in was huge, had 4 bedrooms and a great fire place. The snow was as perfect as it could be on the day we arrived and we spent the next five days or so skiing to our hearts delight.