The Hunter Mountain Gas Calculator will calculate gas savings going to ski areas in the Catskills from places like Washington DC,Philadelphia, Allentown, PA, etc. versus traveling to more northern ski areas like Whiteface and Killington. Check it out.

Cute. It forgot to take 8mpg off for the ski rack, though.

As a matter of curiosity and trivia; by how much is your mpg reduced by a ski rack or various roof gear such as a Thule Mountaineer? Useless info, I know .. but if mpg calculations decide your ski destination, we would never leave our home slopes and what fun is that?

Now let's see.... $100 air RT to Albany, Manchester, or Burlington (from Dulles), + share of rental car - (driver fatigue+ wear and tear on personal vehicle) = ? Oh yeah... this formula gets you bigger resorts too (insert value here).

HMMM..... math seems pretty simple to me.

Ski rack? Not since fold-down rear seats, mini-vans and SUV's were invented. Road salt and grime can do a number on expensive ski gear.

Yeah .. thats why we use binding covers. I have been trying to find ski 'socks' (looks like a tube sock for skis) but have had no luck. We wanted some 'socks' to use when the chemical crews are out to protect our gear on the drive to/from the playgrounds. Any idea where I might be able to find some?

JohnL, ski rack + ski bag + bungee= fewer gallons per year, actual handling (cornering, and don't even start with "handles like a car" as that mostly means "understeers but flops over like a '70s ElDorado"), no road salt damage, and less rust from remanent moisture than inside vehicle. Fold down seats mean less company.

snowcone, about 8mpg skis-on, about 4mpg city skis-off (Honda Civic data). The ski socks were a great idea for system-style racks with lock security, but I think Salomon were the only ones to really penetrate the market at all with those. I think they called them 'single ski bags', just to confuse Internet searchers and with everyone else's single-pair bags. I saw at least one pair at the Ski Center swap year before last. Need to get a set myself for those condo-sharing trips out West when we've 10 skiers/boarders in one rental van and everything HAS to go on top.

Split fold-down rear seats + today's shorter skis = one less person in the car. One big plus of no longer skiing on 205's. If skis get any shorter, I may be able to fit them completely in my trunk!

True 'nuff, JohnL, but the plates and lifters more than triple the girth

snowcone, I went through my usual list of suspects and I found this: http://ecom1.sno-ski.com/product194.html not -quite- the Solly ones but a step in that direction.

Snowcone, Get some cheap single-ski bags. I got a pair from Campmor.com for something like $20 each. These work way better than binding covers.

I have a Yakima roof-top box and I think the MPG loss is negligible. It certainly wasn't really noticeable.

Terrapin, are you also Terpski elsewhere?

Unfortunately, your solution helps not one bit in my annual problem of 4 pairs skis, 4 snowboards, 1 rental truck (flat-compression) rack. Since snowboard bindings are such space hogs, the system has always been skis side by side on bottom and snowboards flat on top.
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snowcone is looking for a ski sleeve or one (1) ski bag (NOT a 1 ski -pair- bag!) that would work in this situation.

If I've misunderstood your question, snowcone, please correct.

Comprex: ... you are absolutely correct. Ski bags we have, but they won't work with the ski rack. What I am looking for are like light fabric stretchie cases that fit over each ski like a sock. Skis in a ski bag are stored bottom-to-bottom, not side-by-side and thus not able to be carried in a standard ski rack. Is this too confusing? I saw these sockie things a couple of years ago and didn't get them .. now kicking myself 'cause I cant find them anywhere. Or .. maybe I am not using the correct name in my searches? Help?

We don't have a problem if it's only the two of us; seat goes down, skis go in the truck. But we most often ski with friends so skis have to go on the roof.

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Terrapin, are you also Terpski elsewhere?

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Yes. Yes I am! I will change it some time to eliminate any confusion

Snowcone, I see what you are saying, but I used to have a ski rack with (the ones that clamp the skis between rubber pads) and I always loaded it with the skis joined bottom to bottom. into the roof)

What kind of rack do you have? (Uhh, sorry about that phrasing )