By Sophia Banay

updated 6:59 p.m. ET Dec. 15, 2005

Skiing is a sport for adrenaline junkies; everyone knows that. There's the wind whizzing past your ears, the powder flying underfoot and the thrill of forging off-piste trails. These days, however, there's an even more pulse-pounding way to get your adrenaline up on a ski holiday--paying the bill.

Americans spent about $10 billion on their ski vacations last season, according to Colorado-based RRC Associates, a market research and consulting firm that conducts an annual demographic ski study for the National Ski Areas Association, also based in Colorado. While official international numbers do not exist, RRC projects that annual global spending could be three to four times as high as that. And last year, the 56.9 million skier visits recorded in the U.S. made it the fourth-busiest domestic season ever.

New resorts and fractional ownership clubs are springing up everywhere to capitalize on the ski boom. The Marriott (nyse: MAR - news - people )-owned Ritz Carlton has opened members' only clubs in Aspen Highlands and Bachelor Gulch, Colo., where for a membership fee of anywhere between $180,000 and $520,000--not to mention "association fees" (or annual dues)--members can enjoy luxury accommodations, ski-in/ski-out access to the mountains and a bevy of staff members, including ski valets who warm your boots, a ski boot master who fits your boots, a ski nanny and a personal concierge who plans the entire vacation.

"Our first time on the mountain, we got off the chairlift and found the concierge waiting for us," says Mark Pitchford, a member of the Ritz-Carlton Club at Aspen Highlands, who lives year-round in Evergreen, Colo. "Clearly, it was service of a higher order."

Other clubs are catching on. Spanish Peaks in Big Sky, Mont., charges members between $500,000 and $1.3 million for access to 3,500 private acres of skiable terrain and an 18-hole golf course. Tallus, a members' club in Mammoth Lakes, Calif., charges $795,000 for each member, along with quarterly fees of $3,418 and approximately $13,672 in annual fees.

The burgeoning destination club market for skiers is a good index of the overall rise in hospitality standards for the wealthy skier. Traditional hotels and resorts are taking notice, and the competition for this market is getting hot enough to melt the snow off any mountain. The largest ski resort sale in history was announced last month, when the Starwood Capital Group, parent company to Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide (nyse: HOT - news - people ), paid a reported $365 million to acquire Mammoth Mountain in California. According to published reports, the group plans to introduce a more luxurious ski experience at Mammoth--something along the lines of Vail or Aspen--even though the area has long been know for its down-to-earth, modest style.

MORE FROM LUXURY

Luxury Section Front

World's luxurious wilderness adventures Snag your own A-list retreat The best hotels in the United States Luxury Riviera Maya Hotels to stay in before you die America's top meditation retreats World's best eco-spas Pamper yourself at Europe's top spas Luxury hotels' VIP perks America's greenest hotels 2008 Luxury Section Front   Add Luxury headlines to your news reader: