VAIL, Colo. -- Bargain-hunters got a break recently when Vail Resorts dropped multiday lift-ticket prices to last ski season's prices and offered discounts through early February on ski and snowboard lessons.

The company (owner of Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone in Colorado and Heavenly in California) is fighting a bleak economy that has reduced visits and advance bookings.

Vail, one of the nation's most high-end ski resorts, also is pushing a number of low-cost options.

Among the budget-friendly tips:

• American Airlines has a kids-fly-free program into Vail-Eagle County Airport. Each paid adult can bring a child (up to age 12) for free, through March 31, based on advance purchase. Days of travel to Vail are Sunday through Wednesday; departures, Monday through Friday. www.aa.com.

• Until mid-April, those who fly into Vail-Eagle County Airport on commercial flights can ski free that same day. Show your boarding pass and Vail Valley lodging confirmation at any Vail ticket window to get a free same-day lift ticket good at Vail or next door at Beaver Creek.

• At Beaver Creek, you can get a free postcard and free postage from its guest services team, and free chocolate chip cookies at the slopeside Beaver Creek Village. www.beavercreek.com

• Intermediate and expert skiers can get a free Vail Mountain tour, offered at 11 a.m. each day, from Eagle's Nest and Mid-Vail complexes on the mountain.

• Free advice: To avoid the crowds, many veteran skiers say take a first run down the bowls as soon as they're open, then traverse toward the Tea Cup, China Bowl and Blue Sky Basin lifts (in that order). They also access Back Bowl runs.

• The Eagle Bahn gondola is free after 2 p.m. daily. It goes to Eagle's Nest, where Adventure Ridge is open Tuesday through Saturday, offering inner-tube rides, ski bikes and a kids' snowmobile track.

• Free nightly street concerts are offered on most Wednesdays at Checkpoint Charlie, in Vail Village or the new Arrabelle at Vail Square in Lionshead Village. www.vail.snow.com.

• Naturalists from the Gore Range Natural Science School offer a free nature night at 6 p.m. Thursday and Saturday at Eagle's Nest. Talks under the stars include astronomy, nocturnal animals and more. www.vail.snow.com.

• For a free indoor stop, visit the Colorado Ski Museum, on the third level of the Vail Village parking structure, adjacent to the Covered Bridge. It covers 130 years of skiing history, with displays of historical ski gear, Olympic memorabilia and tributes to the World War II exploits of the 10th Mountain Division, whose members helped create Vail. www.skimuseum.net

• Parking in the Lionshead and Vail Village structures is free for the first hour and a half and free after 3 p.m. Also park for free on the North Frontage Road in West Vail.

• A free bus shuttle system runs regularly between the east edge of Vail Village and the western edge of Lionshead.

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