The Best Ski Travel Hacks to Make Packing and Prepping for the Slopes a Breeze

Unless you’re lucky enough to be within an easy drive of your favorite local slopes, ski travel is heavy on the logistics. Whether you’re flying halfway around the globe for some world-famous “Japow” in Japan or to the spectacular Canadian Rockies for some Banff and Lake Louise sunshine and scenery, hauling yourself and all your ski gear there is no small task.

Skiing and snowboarding are some of the most gear-intensive sports out there. From clunky ski boots that will hog an entire duffel bag to long, awkward skis and boards, just getting from the parking lot to the slopes can be a challenge—let alone across the country or farther.

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In addition to the challenge of packing your gear, ensuring that it all arrives in one piece is your next hurdle. Checking bags can be dicey, and there are some bags that work better than others for destination ski and snowboard trips.

The good news: While I'm preparing to pack up all my ski gear for a trip to Mammoth Mountain in California’s Sierras, I’m also busy rounding up some of the most helpful ideas and smart tips from industry insiders to take the pain out of ski travel this season. Here are seven of the best ski travel hacks I’ll be using this winter to focus more on getting great powder and less on lugging bulky gear around.

Stay at a Hotel That Has the Gear

The most obvious way to avoid hauling a ton of gear on a ski trip is to get the gear once you’ve reached your destination. However, you can take that one step further and combine your lodging with your ski rentals. There are various adventure hotels and home rentals across the country where you can check-in and rent gear all in one easy location.

The evo Hotel in Salt Lake City is a great example. On top of its variety of rooms, the evo campus includes gear stores, a rental department, and a pair of pro shops adjacent to the lobby to get you equipped and on your way with minimal hassle. Gravity Haus (locations in Jackson Hole, Vail, Steamboat, and more) offers its members similar conveniences, with a premium gear rental program. Some rental places such as the Ski Big 3 Adventure Hub in Banff will even let you pre-book gear online and deliver it to your hotel, so it's waiting when you arrive.

Buy a Boot Bag You'll Love

Renting gear is usually a breeze, with the exception of ski boots—a very specific piece of gear that can be brutal if you get the wrong size or style to fit your foot. In other words, if you travel with just one piece of your own ski gear, make it your ski boots. You can still rent skis, but having your own boots properly fitted to your feet is the real difference maker on any ski day.

The other golden rule with ski boots, however tempting, is don't check them with your luggage. Not only will they hog most of the space in your checked bag, but they're a precious (and pricey) commodity that will be very missed if your bag is lost or delayed. Boot bags are designed specifically for ski boots and other important space-takers (helmet and goggles), they stow easily in most overheads, and you'll look and feel cool carrying it.

My go-to travel bag for carrying boots this season is the Backcountry Ski and Snowboard Boot Bag, which easily holds my ski boots as well as goggles, helmet, and even some extra gloves and base layers. The spacious 38-liter boot bag is lined for comfort and has multiple carry points including backpack straps, which can be stowed as needed.

Related: This Patagonia Ski Pack Is the Absolute Best for Hitting the Slopes

You can easily carry this on a plane and it has several extra pockets for stowing gear. It is made from a durable tarp material that won’t tear or scratch and it even has ventilated eyelets in the base to help your snowy boots dry out quicker.

Another great boot bag option is the Thule 60L Boot Backpack, which is part of the Thule RoundTrip snow collection. The bag is easy to carry and will hold ski boots, a helmet, goggles, and gloves or a hat. The bag is ideal for a longer ski trip.

Use a Ski Roller Bag If You're Bringing Your Own Skis or Snowboard

A solid roller not only protects your skis when you check them at the airport, but it also makes it much easier to get them through trains, buses, and streets when traveling.

I like to pair the Backcountry Ski Boot Bag with Backcountry’s Double Ski Roller, which connects with strong clips so you can roll all your gear together. The plush pack also includes tear-resistant lining and extra padding to keep your gear safe anywhere. It will hold two pairs of skis or snowboards and has a rolltop closure to save on bulk—based on the size of your skis or board.

Another great option to consider is the Thule RoundTrip ski roller bag, which can easily fit two pairs of skis. It also has reinforced sidewalls and pockets to protect your gear, plus internal and external compression straps to keep everything secure during long commutes from the airport to the chairlift.

Pro tip: Southwest Airlines will check skis for free as part of its two free checked bags program. Just make sure that your ski bag is not over the weight limit.

Go With a Solid Duffel/Multipurpose Bag for Your Bulky Ski Duds

Now that you have all of your ski equipment packed and ready to go, it’s time to get your ski clothes organized. The all-important outer layer—those bulky ski jackets and pants/bibs—can take up a lot of real estate in your bag.

Durable and built for abuse, a solid duffel bag is an ideal way to haul ski and snowboard clothing around for any ski trip. For 2024, NEMO released its Double Haul—a 30L, 55L, or 70L gear bag that conveniently converts into a tote or backpack upon arrival. Having one bag that can serve multiple purposes may be my favorite hack of all on a ski trip.

Related: We Tested the Best New Ski Pants and Bibs for 2024

This duffel allows you to throw all your ski clothes in for duffel mode, and then once you get ready to hit the slopes, convert it into tote mode which will increase the capacity by 33 percent, so you can haul helmets, gloves, and food to and from the slopes.

If you like to ski with a pack, then the Jones Dscnt 25L Backpack is another great option. You can carry gear on a plane with it. Then, when you arrive at the mountain, swap it out with your ski tour gear. The pack has tool pockets and an internal suspension system, making it comfy when carrying weight. At 25L the pack is versatile enough to haul gear to, on, and from the mountain.

Use Packing Cubes to Organize and Compress

Another great space-saving hack on a ski trip is to organize your gear into packing cubes. These multi-sized pouches will help arrange and compress all your stuff to create far more space in your bag than you thought you had.

While there are a variety of packing cube options on the market today, my go-to this season has been Eagle Creek's Pack-It organizers. Eagle Creek is the original trailblazer in the packing cube market—and the brand has a cube for just about everything.

I like to parse out my various layers from underwear and thermals to fleeces and designate each category with its own packing cube. Another great move is to roll your clothes when putting them in the packing cubes. This helps save additional space and allows more items to fit into each one.

As the layers get bigger and take up more space, I tend to use larger cubes. When you arrive, take out each cube and stick it in a drawer. Now you're unpacked, your clothing is organized, and you're ready to go—just like that. It's quite the time saver as well as space saver. No more digging through a chaotic mess of clothes.

Packing cubes are also great for dirty or wet ski gear after the trip. Use them to keep your clean stuff separate from all your used and sweaty ski gear.

Don’t Forget Your Soon-to-Be Sore Muscles

Sometimes we're so focused on the big gear—skis, boots, and jackets—that we forget the little things that make all the difference on a ski trip. Specifically, those handy devices designed to relieve burning thighs, sore calves, aching obliques, and so on. After a long day on the slopes, your body will thank you for remembering them.

Packing a small foam roller or massage gun can be a lifesaver. I’m a fan of the Chirp Wheel, a circular wheel that you can use to massage your muscles after skiing, or even just after a long stint on a plane.

Related: Trainer Q&A: What To Know About Muscle Soreness

Alex Silgalis, founder of Local Freshies, a ski website dedicated to exploring ski resorts across the country, travels a ton for skiing and believes a foam roller is the ultimate muscle-saving ski packing hack.

“As I’ve grown older, my body doesn’t recover as quickly as before,” says Silgalis, who includes a small foam roller on his must-pack list. “I can’t tell you how many times I was glad I brought it along. A travel version is small enough to fit in a carry-on.”

Invest in a Pair of Split Skis

If you prefer having your own skis rather than renting them, the biggest new space-saver worth considering are a pair of Split Skis—which use a patented Cascade Connection, to unbuckle underfoot and split in half, making it much easier to carry and pack. The 60 percent rear and 40 percent front split allow a pair of skis to break down into four sections that are just over a yard long when folded up.

These Innovation Award winners at the 2023 Outdoor Retailer Show are designed with easy travel in mind. Once you arrive at your destination, snap the skis back together and you’re ready to go. Made with custom-engineered wood and reinforced with fiberglass and carbon, the skis flex just like a standard ski. Snowboarders can opt for a splitboard that separates down the middle into two parts. Both innovations help make traveling with your bulkiest ski equipment a thing of the past.