While most of us have hung up our snow gear for the season (if you live in the midwest, sorry!) spring is the best time to lock in deals for next year’s ski season passes.
Continue reading: Last Chance For The Best Deals On Multi-Resort Ski Passes
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
Great informative post, thanks! 🙂 The epic pass even is a solid option for EU-skiers, in combination with an US-trip!
I've yet to conjure up the courage to go skiing for fear I'mma bust my tush and become the laughing stock. LOL
@Mike - There are some killer discounts (which some of my relatives benefit from, and we've been hounded them all season to use). I had to cap it somewhere - and 4,000 words seemed appropriate - but thanks for bringing it up.
@Andrew - Thank youuuu! Must've typed an "8" instead of a "3" somewhere down the line. Or I'm due for an eye doctor visit. In any case, it's fixed.
For anyone in the military or otherwise eligible for MWR benefits, you can oftentimes find these passes for sale in the MWR office at a substantial discount.
My husband and I only went to Mammoth for 2 days this year and the mil prices purchased on base were ~30% less than the military price at the resort, and resulted in over 55% off the sticker prices.
Thanks Steph for the article, we will look at the IKON passes for next year!
It’s thorouugly adorable the author believes a pass listing / op-Ed piece is taken seriously with barely a fly by listing+mention plus glacier stock photo of a resort that is easily Top 3 in North America and arguably #1 in the continent terms of ski/board experience and yet brush off the 2010 Winter Olympics Host mountain as merely “commercialism of Vail Resorts” hahahahahh
@HenryLAX - All photos are my own, so in that regard, thank you?
Don't get me wrong, some of my best days have been at Whistler AND it's still subject to heavier PNW snow and high altitude wind closures and hour+ waits to get out of the base on busy holiday weekends, the latter of which is at least in part due to the Vail takeover.
And it's still one of my favorite places to ski. Hope you get some good turns up there.
I have an Epic Local Pass for 2018-2019 season. I used it a couple weeks ago at Hakuba in Japan, which was a fun place. I also went to Rusutsu and stayed at the Westin and really loved that hotel, they treat elites great, will definitely go back. They added Rusutsu for next year right as I was arriving this year! Grrrrr, I had to buy tickets!!! But it is cool they have added it now.
Do know that lift tickets in Japan are shockingly cheap for that expensive country... like $40-60, and they sell 4 hour tickets and the like, which can be plenty to ski from 9 to 1PM. So as one could imagine... lift tickets are the least of your expenses skiing in Japan... just wait till you buy some ground transport. Still it is amazing and worth it and "free skiing" makes me smile.
Also FYI, some of the Europe resorts include an obligation to buy a certain number of nights at a list of hotels to get the tickets. Hyatt just added Kristiana Lech as an SLH property in Austria, it qualifies as one for the Epic Pass. I am curious if a points stay would work.
Seems to me... the Epic Local Pass ought to be the base case, what you ought to make work... then when you want to do a big trip to Europe perhaps get the full Epic Pass... though I actually need to run the numbers if that is worth it.
They should add some South America resorts so I can take a "summer" ski trip.
Thanks for an in-depth look. I didn't realize the prices would increase so quickly so I'll be looking to lock in my Ikon pass before May.
Incidentally, as much as I love Big Sky there was no issue with RFID readers because they don't use them. They're still scanning the bar codes!
Of note is that there is a minor/major change to the epic passes for the upcoming season for those that have used it for years. Arapahoe Basin is no longer going to be a part of the Epic Pass. Also, both Epic and Ikon mountain groupings are introducing discounted mountain day passes for those that don’t want to pay lift prices, but also haven’t decided which mountains to do. Just another option for those that want a couple of trips, but not enough to justify the full season pass.
Are you able to get extra points on Citi Premier? I charged my season pass to Citi Premier but didn’t get any bonus points. Citi claims that it has to be movies or performing art to get the extra bonus. Entertainment/ recreation (ski tickets) are not included.
Don't forget that the management group that owns Purgatory (which includes hesperus in CO, Sipapu and Pajarito in NM, and Arizona Snowbowl gives free season passes to kids 10 years and younger.
Useful post! I live in San Francisco and I quit skiing Tahoe after my first trip to Taos. What a revelation. Fantastic mountain, great facilities, no pretentiousness (I have a Louis V. and Gucci at home, thankyouverymuch). A place for skiers, certified for sustainability and environmental responsibility.
Tahoe: Disneyland lines, "Sierra Cement" snow, service that hasn't improved since the 80s and prices as breathtaking as the views. To stand in line.
Or of course the Gold Pass, if you have the $ and want a fully transferrable pass that is valid at almost every non-Vail resort in Colorado.
I have Ikon Base and could not be happier.
Regarding picking up tickets at the window, this has never been the case for me. It simply stays in my jacket pocket and never comes out, and beeps me through seemlessly.
- I’ve used it this year at Winter Park, Aspen, Copper, Steamboat, Taos, and Alta.
- I used it to save $400 off ticket price for my gf’s family (25% of $200 times 8)
- I am a frequent skier, but not an insanely frequent skier, and never came close to running up against the 5 day limits. Weekend in Aspen, week at Steamboat, etc. Cant imagine going over the allotment
FWIW
For the childrens Ikon pass, the age limit is set to when you buy the pass. I bought 2 passes in April for my twins that have their birhday in July. For under 4 years old children the base pass costs only 49$!
Just purchased my second year IKON Base Pass. I'm a Taos local so I buy a Taos 'Value' Season Pass as well (unfortunately, Taos is not one of the unlimited IKON areas, so I need both). One trip and the Ikon pays for itself. On the second trip and beyond, skiing is essentially free (of course, accommodations and travel are the biggest expenses anyway, and I am loathe to use miles/points for domestic air, and when Airbnb's represent better value, especially for a small group). Agree totally with majik, and the subtle implications of the author, that Vail properties are pretentious, expensive and tooo corporate for my likes. I even have good friends who live very near to Vail/Beaver Creek, but hardly visit as I get little joy from the vibe at those areas, preferring to meet my friends at more fun areas like Jackson, Alta, Aspen, etc. (Not to mention the terrain is so far superior, and lines/crowd so much less at these destinations compared to Vail.) I did have the Mountain Collective before the IKON was created, and it was good for what it was, but for someone that can take at least one week, if not several to ski at various destinations, the IKON is superior. PS. We are seeing A LOT of CO folks coming to Taos with Their IKON passes as the trip can actually be shorter than fighting traffic up to the mountains on I-70, and the crowds, even with increased visitors, and a fairly epic snow year, are still less. Feel free to get in touch if you are visiting Taos, I'd be happy to show you a few locals favorites (if you promise not to write about them). 🙂
"thankfully there are not many(any) ski resorts in republican states" I boycott ski resorts in UT and stay with those in CO
Great information and will be very useful. Seattle is home and the Epic has been a great deal the last couple years. I have found at Whistler the cost of lodging during peak times is more important then the crowds on the slopes. Please continue these types of posts, it can also be about the destination instead of the journey.
As a Utah snowboarder I'm gonna disagree with your statement that IKON is best for Utah. Deer Valley and Alta do not allow snowboarding. Also, Little Cottonwood and Big Cottonwood canyons have terrible and unpredictable traffic - several times this year have had 4 hour + backups. Park City is 25 minutes from SLC on a major freeway (I-80). Final note, EPIC is adding Snowbasin next year, which seriously adds to its value in Utah. Anyone who dislikes crowds should buy the EPIC Local since you wont be going on blackout ski days anyway. Most midweek days I don't see anyone on the runs.
Did mountain collective 2 years ago. This year and next will do IKON base. This is the best pass for the SE if you want to do snowshoe and then somewhere else. I have never had any issues with scanning and I have been to about 1/2 the resorts since I started last April.
Charmonix is my favorite snowboarding and skiing destination. If you are accompanied by a local, the trails are free. Japan has great slopes!. Coming winter the girlfriend and I are traveling across 17 countries on 5 continents to tackle the steepest slopes.
Thanks for reminding me to renewal my Epic pass for next season. Had almost 20 snowboarding days on my pass the past season on 4 different resorts, three of them are near by and a trip to Whistler Pride. We only have one Icon pass resort here which makes decision much easier in picking between the two.
@Steph...what kind of benefits are you talkin about that your relatives benefit from. Is it airline discounts? Or long-term travel discounts to anywhere in the world? Or benefiting from credit card travelers points? 🙂
I'm a Utah skier, this is is a good write-up of the available passes. One thing to remember, if you're coming to Utah and using a pass, is that Park City Mountain (Vail owned) is HUGE. 3200' elevation change, 7300+ skiable acres, 330 trails with 115 groomed nightly. The resorts on the west side of the mtns are fine but you'll never run out of things to ski at Park City.
As for me, we most easily access Sundance so we typically buy our season passes there. Mid-mountain means the snow isn't quite as good (this season was amazing though, 104" base is almost unheard of there) but the prices are dirt cheap for early purchase. I have a friend who buys corp passes there, often we can use up to 4 of his passes. Plus it's only ~20 min from my house, hard to beat that! But then Park City is only about 45 min.
Great post. I didn't know about the Mountain Collective and am definitely going to look into it.
I had a Base Ikon pass this past season and was able to visit Jackson Hole, Deer Valley, Aspen/Snowmass, Winter Park, and Squaw Valley. Regardless of the ski pass, I go to DV and SV annually but the other places was because of Ikon.
I've noticed there is a lot of Ikon hate at JH but I attribute the crowding to the epic snow fall this year. I will probably get another Ikon pass and an Epic one as well since they are offering the military pass for $119. I just wish Ikon had something as cheap, but the military pricing is like 460.
Just did the Winter Park, CO April pass for $134 for 3 days. Just went last week. There was 18 inches of snow overnight and basically only locals were there.
Another DP that Citi doesn’t consider the Ikon Pass an entertainment expense so it doesn’t get 2x on Premier. May want to update the article.