Lack of snow got you down? Go north young man!

For the second year in a row, Colorado is suffering through a less-than-stellar winter for skiers and snowboarders.

The pesky jet stream has been pushing what storms have come to the north, so Colorado's loss is Wyoming and Montana's gain. Ski areas up there know how much we love powder, so they're trying to entice Colorado skiers with words that are music to our ears: free skiing.

Montana's Big Sky Resort is offering free lift tickets for Colorado skiers with an unlimited season pass to any resort, if you book lodging through the resort. It's not the easiest to reach from Colorado Springs, either a 12-hour drive or a flight to Bozeman that will cost you at least $370 round-trip, but if Colorado's snow drought continues, you'll probably see a fair number of skiers heading up that way.

Big Sky has a 25-inch base and 36 percent of the mountain open.

If you have a Monarch Mountain season pass, you haven't been skiing because Monarch's opening has been delayed by two weeks and counting. But you get three free days of skiing at Wyoming's Grand Targhee Resort if you book lodging through the resort.

By the way, Grand Targhee has a 56-inch base and they've received 127 inches of snow this season, five times what most Colorado ski areas have seen. It's an 11-hour drive or a flight that will cost at least $365 to Idaho Falls.

Or you could just wait and see if Colorado gets the good stuff.