Winter is an incredible time to be in Yellowstone National Park, and a lodging sale of sorts can make a visit this winter relatively inexpensive when it comes to a room with a bed and roof overhead.

The folks at Xanterra Parks & Resorts, the main concessionaire at Yellowstone, are offering rooms with shared bathrooms at Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel for $49 a night between January 3 through March 8. Those rooms normally go for $85 a night. A room with a bath is priced at $115 a night, and you can go all the way up to $427 a night if you'd like a suite in the hotel.

The hotel is located five miles inside the park’s northern entrance and is convenient if you want to head over to the Lamar Valley to view wolves, bison, elk and other wildlife, or head down the Loop Road towards Tower on skis or snowshoes. The road from Gardiner, Montana, to Mammoth Village and on to Cooke City, Montana, is the only road plowed all winter. Just outside Mammoth Village are groomed cross country ski trails and access to the park’s interior via snowcoach and snowmobile.

Yellowstone’s winter season begins Dec. 18, 2009 with the opening of the Old Faithful Snow Lodge. The Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel opens Dec. 21, 2009. The lodges provide the only wintertime accommodations within the park. Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel will close for the season March 8, 2010, and Old Faithful Snow Lodge will close March 7, 2010.

The special savings are also built into the “Frosty Fun at Mammoth” Winter Getaway package and the “Nordic Heaven at Mammoth” Winter Getaway package, according to the concessionaire.

The “Frosty Fun at Mammoth” package includes a minimum of two nights at the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, two breakfasts per person, welcome gift, a one-hour hot tub rental, unlimited ice skating and skates and a “Snow Card” good for 10 percent off meals, in-park transportation, tours, ski shop services and select retail items.. Rates start at $100 per person for double occupancy and $149 for single occupancy in room with a shared bathroom and $134 per person for double occupancy and $217 for single occupancy in a room with a private bath. Rates do not include taxes or utility fee.

The “Nordic Heaven at Mammoth” package includes a minimum of two nights of lodging at the Mammoth Hot Springs Hotel, two breakfasts per person, welcome gift, full-day ski rental and one ski shuttle per person, a one-hour hot tub rental, unlimited ice skating and skates and a Snow Card. Rates start at $151 per person for double occupancy and $200 for single occupancy in room with a shared bathroom and $185 per person for double occupancy and $268 for single occupancy in a room with a private bath. Rates do not include taxes or utility fee.

The Frosty Fun, Nordic Heaven and all other Winter Getaway packages include Xanterra’s “Snow Card” good for 10 percent off meals, in-park transportation, tours, ski shop services and select retail items.

Complete details about accommodations, restaurants and activities in Yellowstone can be made by calling (1) 307-344-7311 or toll-free 866-GEYSERLAND (866-439-7375), or visiting the web site www.YellowstoneNationalParkLodges.com.