As of November 24, Liftopia.com has been offering a first of its kind ski gift certificate. While this may not seem like news at first glance, it’s been incredibly hard to give the gift of a day on the hill until now. Even some larger resorts still don’t offer gift certificates of any kind; and many of those who do have some pretty shady terms restricting how they can be redeemed (for full priced tickets only, on certain days and at certain times, etc.)

But this move changes all that – and it’s a worthy addition to our 2010 holiday gift guide. Available in denominations from $25 to $500, it gives the giftee full reign over when and how they use it. It’s valid at hundreds of North American skiing & riding resorts, never expires, and means that he or she will be assured to get a great deal on their lift tickets.

While they don’t offer to ship a ski gift certificate on your behalf, you have the option of delivering one via email (making this a great last minute skiing gift), or printing and giving yourself.

If you aren’t familiar with Liftopia, it’s worth a look. It’s a sort of marketplace with more than 120 affiliated resorts. By committing to a date ahead of time, you are opened up to some very competitive rates on lift tickets, which are set on a day to day basis by resorts depending on the traffic they are anticipating.

To give you an idea of what the savings can be like on a given day – it isn’t unusual to find adult single day lift passes at 2nd tier ski areas for 40-50% off. It’s always worth checking, and if you are at all flexible with dates and resorts, saving some real money is possible. Many ski resorts also offer up lesson and rental packages in addition to tickets, which adds on to the already significant savings.