So I guess that's one benefit, that the shoulder season is a little shorter there as most ski areas are dead Mid-April through May.Like others have said though, the numbers have to work and those don't look great. 

HELOCS terms are generally shorter than that of a fixed and the maximum cash you can take out has a cap (as you have seen).If you have equity on your property you should look into a cash-out refinance over a HELOC.

I don't intend to shop more than I have to, and opening new credit cards has allowed me to rack up huge amounts of various hotel points, airline miles, and credit card points in a much shorter time than it would take if I just spent on the same cards regularly.