EPIC – IKON Season Pass Deals…

The four major Season Pass Options in North America include IKON, EPIC, The “Indy Pass” and Mountain Collective Pass. Read to learn more and find the pass option that works best for you.

It is an EPIC battle for your skiing dollars these days. The real question is – Which ski pass to purchase? Vail Resorts introduced the affordable Epic Pass in 2008, to its ever-growing list of ski resorts. Then, Alterra led by Aspen Resorts developed its competing IKON Pass. Both passes offer exceptional value for the frequent skier. But, are the values too good? Are they homogenizing the ski experience and overcrowding the slopes? That is a story for another day. For now, we will try to summarize and highlight the advantages of both season passes.
Here is a List of EPIC IKON Indy Mountain Collective Ski Passes

1st, Vail Resort’s Epic Pass has 2 major Season Pass Options, versus paying $299-$358/day for a lift ticket. Epic Pass Unlimited and the Epic “Local Pass” historically are less expensive the sooner you purchase, with the best value in April for next season, and passes must be purchased by early December. It’s amazing that Vail Resorts sells over 2.3 million Epic Passes, then stops selling them before winter really even starts.

The unlimited Epic Pass for 2025-26 is up to $1051, from last year’s $982+ and allows you to ski every day all season at 45+ different resorts around the globe including Vail, Beaver Creek, Keystone, Breckenridge and Crested Butte in Colorado. Park City Utah. Whistler Blackcomb Canada, Stowe, Okemo, Attitash and Wildcat in New England. Heavenly, Northstar, and Kirkwood in California, and more! Plus you can ski 7-days at Telluride, 7-days in the Canadian Rockies!

In Europe, The Epic Pass is valid at Crans Montana and Andermatt-Sedrun-Disentis in Switzerland, plus 5 consecutive days in Switzerland’s Verbier 4 Vallees region with a lodging purchase. More Epic Pass partners are Mayrhofen, Hintertux Glacier, Saalbach, Solden, Zell am See, St Anton and The Arlberg, and Kaprun Kitzsteinhorn in Austria, some with restrictions. In France, Epic Pass allows you 7-days skiing in Les 3 Vallées in France, and more being added frequently!

The Epic Locals Pass is priced at $200 less – around $750. This pass only allows a combined 10-days of skiing at Vail, Beaver Creek and Whistler-Blackcomb, and no skiing at those resorts during 10-holiday “black out” dates (typically Thanksgiving, Christmas to New Years, ML weekend and February vacation). Be sure to visit the Epic Pass web site for complete details and other restrictions. Full Epic Pass Details

With day lift tickets at Vail up to $299-359 a day, you don’t need to be a mathematician to realize if you ski just 4-days you are saving money over day tickets at the lift ticket window. Its amazing that Vail Resorts sells over 2.3 million Epic Pass products, the value is that big – epic! So are the crowds at some Vail Resorts.

IKON PASS
The Ikon Pass is Alterrra’s mega pass, including Aspen and Boyne (think Big Sky). IKON like the Epic Pass is least expensive if purchased as early as April, and also must be purchased by early December. The Ikon Pass sells in the $1,300 range with no black-out dates. It offers unlimited skiing and riding at 18-destinations like Big Sky Montana, Arapahoe Basin, Copper, Steamboat, and Winter Park CO, Mammoth, Palisades Tahoe CA, Solitude Mountain Resort in Utah, Stratton, Sugarbush in Vermont, Tremblant Quebec, plus other resorts.

Plus the full Ikon Pass also includes up to 7-days each at 40+ of the best resorts in the world including… Arapahoe, Aspen Snowmass CO, Jackson Hole Mountain Resort WY, Big Sky Resort MT, Deer Valley Resort, Alta Snowbird UT, Snowbasin UT, Schweizer, Sun Valley ID, Crystal WA, Taos Ski Valley NM, Bachelor OR, Banff Sunshine, Lake Louise and Norquay, Panorama, Sun Peaks Resort, Red Mountain, Revelstoke Mountain Resort BC, Killington-Pico VT, Loon NH, Sunday River and Sugarloaf ME. Plus some of the biggest names in the Alps including… Chamonix Mont-Blanc Valley FR, Zermatt Matterhorn Switzerland, Kitzbühel Austria, Dolomiti Superski Italy. Plus resorts in Andorra, New Zealand, Japan, Chile and more.

Or the Ikon Base Pass for $900 ish has black out dates (around Christmas week, MLK and Presidents Birthday weekends) and includes unlimited skiing and riding to 13-destinations and 5-days each at another 34 destinations. If you want to ski Aspen/Snowmass, Sun Valley, Alta, Jackson Hole, Deer Valley or Snowbasin you will need to either purchase the full Ikon or at least upgrade to the Ikon Base PLUS pass ($200 more than the Ikon Base Pass or $100 less than the full unlimited pass with no restrictions). See IKON pass official site for all the details.

OTHER PASS OPTIONS:
The Mountain Collective is another pass option. For $600+ skiers and riders get 2-days each at 27 Ski Destinations including the likes of Alta/Snowbird, Big Sky, Aspen/Snowmass, Jackson Hole, Grand Targhee, Snowbird, Sugarloaf, Sun Valley, Taos, plus Banff, Lake Louise, Panorama, Revelstoke, Marmot and Sun Peaks in Canada, Chamonix France, Valle Nevado Chile, and more.

The Indy Pass: Yet another pass option is the “Indy Pass” (as in “Independent” Ski Areas). The Indy Pass for $350 offers 2 days of skiing at over 230 ski areas (or $500 with no blackout dates). These 230+ independent ski areas are “smaller ski mountains” with miles of terrain – like Brundage, Silver, Soldier and Tamarack in Idaho, Snow King in Wyoming, Powder in Utah, Mt Hood Oregon. In the East – Saddleback, Camden Snow Bowl and Mt. Abram in Maine; Bolton Valley, Burke Mountain, Jay Peak, Magic, Middlebury Snowbowl in Vermont, Black, Ragged, Cannon, Tenney, Whaleback, and Waterville Valley in New Hampshire. In the Alps, Aosta Italy, Baqueira Beret Spain, Rauris and SkiWelt in Austria, plus
Innsbruck Ski Resorts (just days among the 12 resort) of Kuhtai, Nordkette, Stubai Glacier, Axamer Lizum. The Indy Pass has lots of ski areas in Japan, and in South America – Corralco Mountain Resort in Chile.

You could make a ski safari with your Indy Pass, skiing two days at each of these resorts, exploring new ski places. These are not the most recognizable resort names in the industry; hence they are Indy – independent of Vail, and Alterra who owns Aspen, Boyne that owns Big Sky.

Tirol Snow Card: Valid at 90 Ski Areas in the Tirol of Austria including 5 Glacier Resorts. 1100 Lifts, 4000km (2,485 mi) of Trails.

Super Ski Card: This Ski Pass covers Austria’s Saltzburg and Kitzbuheler Alps. 22 Regions, 87 Ski Resorts, 939 Ski Lifts, 2815 km of Pistes, 796 Huts

Switzerland’s Magic Pass is your ticket to 92+ ski areas in Switzerland – Click Here for Details.