A split is where two parties share a timeshare suite, one after the other (with a cleaning service in between, of course
), to meet the 7 total day commitment typically required. These opportunities arise when the scheduled timeshare owner discovers they can not attend the vacation week they have been assigned to. In my experience for over three ski seasons is that this is a great way to get affordable slope-side lodging! 
Sometimes the greatest opportunities are very short notice. One technique that works is to arrange cancellable accommodations in a nearby hotel that you could still live with if nothing came through. Then watch Craigslist for the last minute slopeside offers. They happen a lot. In this way, you can at least safely make your air and car rental arrangements early enough to arrange these economically. What I am looking for is another party willing to commit to this game of "brinksmanship" because once the timeshare is offered, we would need to move very fast to grab it and this involves a cash commitment to the timeshare holder.
I live in the Chicago-area but try to fly to the Rockies 4-5 times each season, but only want each trip to be for 3-4 days at a time as extended weekends. Staying slopeside would otherwise be too expensive! So working out economical splits can help with this expense, often much better then staying in a motel. My best bet is to know a good half dozen or more other parties to increase the odds of being able to coordinate this many seperate trips.
Please contact me if you would like to be considered in coordinating such splits this ski season.
Helpful but not necessary at this time is to know the following information:
- Areas of consideration (I love Copper Mountain, Snowbird and the SLC area in general, but am also interested in Lake Tahoe, Steamboat (will be here 2/16/08 through 2/20/08 leaving 2/20 through 2/23 available via a "split", if anyone is interested in skiing these dates
), Mammoth Mountain, Jackson Hole, and am open to other ski area suggestions)
- How much advance notice you typically need (scheduling away from work, etc. -- easy when coordinating with advanced notice but then at the expense of better snow and weather forecasting)
- Size of the housing (I typically go with a friend or with my wife and studios and small Timeshare unit "lock-offs" can be very economic but am also willing to coordinate 2 bedroom places and bring two couples)
- Preference on the beginning or end of the week
- How far from the lifts you would consider (weekly rate is typically related to the distance from the lifts, some great deals might be worth doing but necessitate taking a car or the local bus, typically free, to the lifts each day)