Here are final prices for major Epic passes for 2025-26.  Epic Local went up a little more than Full Epic.  The price change noted is compared to the most recent price.  The difference in access is holiday Peak days are not included in Epic Local.  In March Full Epic was $1051, Epic Local was $783.  A 4-day Epic Day Pass for 32 resorts non-holiday is only $32 more than in March.

$1185 (+64) Full Epic

$920 (+87) Epic Local

$587 (+20) 7-day Epic Day, 32 resorts inc CB, Keystone, Tahoe, northeast, MidA

$562 7-day Epic Day, all resorts, no holiday blackout dates

$366 (+9) 4-day Epic Day, 32 resorts inc CB, Keystone, Tahoe, northeast, MidA

$224 (+5) 4-day Epic Day, 22 resorts excl destination resorts, Stevens Pass 

The Northeast Value Pass is $698 Adult and $525 for Teen (13-17) and Senior (65-79).  The Northeast Midweek pass is $525 Adult, $399 Senior.

Season pass sales end before the season even starts....

This is one of the many reasons that the ski industry has a black eye,

skiers are forced to pay high window rates because they didn't buy a pass.

Why shouldn't I be able to buy a season pass mid-season if I want to?

snapdragon wrote:

you can buy a season pass anytime you want...those aren't season passes

 In fact, there are non-Epic ski areas/resorts where the 1-location season pass sells out by late December.  Although not in the MidA/SE as far as I know.

Agree that for most buyers Epic is a multi-resort pass, not a "season pass."  However, for people who live near an Epic resort who buy one of the national Epic passes it becomes their season pass since it includes unrestricted use at their home mountain.  In Colorado and Tahoe there are several regional Epic options for locals.  People who only want to ski a northeast Epic resort based on having a pass can stick with a Northeast Epic pass.  A few midwest Epic resorts offer a 1-location season pass.  Those go off sale on Dec. 4 too.

The question still remains:

Why shouldn't I be able to buy an IKON or Epic Pass mid-season,

even if the price has gone up even more?

We all know the answer.....

... because "big data" tells them that nobody seriously buys in after that date -- and - if they miss the deadline, they're welcome to pay super top shelf price for day / weekend walk up tickets, if available at whatever resort they're trying to get to...  The ski & ride industry is different now.  Not putting a value judgment on it or anything, but it is what it is. 

snapdragon wrote:

name the ski resorts that sold out of their mountain's season pass that are not entwined in the epic/indy/ikon cabal

 Bogus Basin in Idaho for the unlimited passes that include weekends.  They are in the Powder Alliance and the Freedom Alliance.

The variation in approaches to multi-day tickets, online discounts for advanced purchases for specific dates, or timing of availability of 1-location season passes has been increasing in the last few years.  In the last few weeks I've been checking online ticket availability to get a sense of possible opening dates in more than one region.  There were far more discounts at Snowbound Expo 2025 in Boston in mid-November than a couple years ago.  When Snowbound Expo started up in 2021, the impact of the pandemic on northeast resorts was very clear.  Now it feels more like an evolution from where the ski industry was at in 2018-19.

Of course, if you only care about resorts within a day's drive of DC/NoVa, that's a different question.  The fact that so many PA resorts were bought by Vail Resorts changed the nature of the regional options quite a bit.

Vail Resorts has a very different business model for the Epic pass, as compared to Ikon and Indy.  VR has only one Epic Partner, and that's Telluride.  Many Epic pass options don't have holiday blackout dates.  Alterra has more Ikon Partners than Alterra resorts.  A few of the Ikon Parters are only on Full Ikon, which is limited to 7 days.  Indy only provides 2 days at each location.

For NC/TN/VA, the Indy Pass is the only multi-resort pass with more than one location.  Given that sales are quite limited and Indy only provides 2 days at each location, the ski areas that are members seem happy with the idea of another approach to low cost marketing.  The fact that each use brings in money makes a difference too.  I doubt the existence of Indy has had a negative impact on season pass sales.  The mission of Indy is to support independent ski mountains.  The target market initially were people who ski 4-6 days a season at a local mountain because they have other stuff going on in their lives besides snowsports.

Regardless of what "pass" you happen to be on, most players in the industry have gone to a preloading framework, whereby they try to pull as much cash as they can prior to season start. I have had different thoughts on that model over the last 15 years or so, but now I'm not sure I have so much of a problem - given the variability of mother nature over the last 10 years (in the east at least) - and what it costs to keep a let's say smaller resort/area running in today's terms.   The newer model isn't for everyone, but there's certainly a reason that is the dominant model now. 

 I don't know the answer. What is it?

Bird Dog wrote:

The question still remains:

Why shouldn't I be able to buy an IKON or Epic Pass mid-season,

even if the price has gone up even more?

We all know the answer.....

Because those who are serious about the sport already have their pass.

The resorts have captured tons of money up front, no matter what the weather brings.

Pass holders who ski often get a great deal, and plenty of resort options.

And those without a pass will learn the hard way how expensive skiing has become.

The problem is that high window rates keep the sport from growing.

Skiing costs have become prohibitive for many who simply would like to try out the sport.

It was a surprise to learn several years ago that there is a program called Epic SchoolKids that is a "passport" for free skiing for kids.  Used to be 4th-5th grade but was expanded to K-5th grade for 2025-26.  Only exists in the Epic Colorado resorts, Park City, and W-B.

PA brought back a Kids Free program for 2025-26 that not only covers skiing, it's become year round for outdoor activities that require buying tickets.

There are plenty of ways to start skiing without going to an Epic/Ikon/MC resort.  The change I noticed for DCSki people is that the two trios in PA were both bought by VR.  The Northeast Epic passes seem like a good deal, but requires making a commitment before early December.  As I remember the Peak passes weren't very popular in comparison to what Snowtime had.

What's become better for NC/TN/GA folks in recent years is that the Indy pass includes 7 locations in the NC, VA, southern WV.  Even using Indy for a couple weekends if day trips aren't practical can be worthwhile for a family who learns about Indy.  There are plenty of families on the slopes on weekends.

One other datapoint - the price of a season pass has actually gone down at least in the w.pa area.  I do remember in the 90s seasons were like a bit of 500 bux in 1990s dollars for just, say, one resort being 7S.   Now you could get a NE value pass on Epic and maybe spend about that earlybird, maybe less.  I do get that less people got seasons back then here, but the demand in the sport was much higher, tbh.  Ski areas were able to make some profit on the walk up because of the crowds, despite the fact that the price of those lift tickets were much much less.   It is essentially a shuffle of the cash base for operation, really.

I do agree with most of this for sure.  But honestly, the sport still expands, albeit slowly / moderately as parents introduce their kids to the sport and buy them season passes. I've done that for years and maybe one day my kid will buy one for his kids.  As for "trying out the sport," many passes include buddy tickets or some equivalent offer at a discounted rate or 1/2 off etc to get others in the door.  I really think the days of walk-up are over and kids who are already skiing/riding now aren't even going to think in that direction 15 years from now.  They're just going to buy a pass.  Or not if it becomes completely unaffordable.  Time will tell on that one. 

I do remember the days of $15 night passes and $30 all day passes in western PA. I'm sure many others here remember similar. I also remember longer winters and more sustained coverage throughout the season.  I remember Sunday evenings being "crowded."  

So yeah, the jury is out on whether this model is sustainable, but for now I'm thinking the major players just want enough money up front to be able to operate and of course guarantee healthy crowds on weekends for healthy food and beverage sales.  I'm being half sarcastic with that and half serious.

Bird Dog wrote:

Because those who are serious about the sport already have their pass.

The resorts have captured tons of money up front, no matter what the weather brings.

Pass holders who ski often get a great deal, and plenty of resort options.

And those without a pass will learn the hard way how expensive skiing has become.

The problem is that high window rates keep the sport from growing.

Skiing costs have become prohibitive for many who simply would like to try out the sport.

TLDR: If you buy an Epic pass, you are truly a battery in their matrix. 

Vail sells passes up front so they can lock in revenue before the season even starts. Once they know how much money is coming in, they hand each resort a fairly fixed seasonal budget. That budget is usually tight and rarely keeps up with inflation or rising labor costs. Because of that, everything that does not directly produce revenue gets squeezed.

Snowmaking is an operating cost.
Lift maintenance is an operating cost.
Staffing is an operating cost.
Even basic utilities in the lodge are operating costs.

None of these bring in money on their own, so Vail does the bare minimum to avoid a complete disaster. Meanwhile, bartenders get hired because alcohol actually drives profit. That is why a place like Seven Springs feels more and more like a giant bar with a few ski runs added on. Walk past the women’s restroom on a Saturday and you will hear someone getting sick. The ad says “Let’s go skiing,” but the reality is “Let’s get hammered and hope the hill is open.”

Opening more terrain costs money.
Running more lifts costs money.
Turning on more snow guns costs money.

So they delay, slow-walk, or simply avoid doing these things unless absolutely necessary.

You might say, “Fine, I just will not renew.” This is where Vail’s strategy gets obvious. They spend large amounts of money on data science and consultants whose job is to determine the minimum product needed to keep you coming back. And once they control every mountain within driving distance, your options are limited. You can return to them. You can pay the window price. Or you can stop skiing entirely.

From their perspective, all of those outcomes are acceptable.

The leadership at Vail fits this pattern perfectly. Their senior executives often come from places like Amazon, Walmart, big-box retail, finance, or tech. Some come from fitness chains or unrelated service industries. Very few come from skiing. Their expertise is cost control and predictable margins. Their incentives are tied to earnings targets, not the health of the sport or the experience on the mountain.

When things go wrong, the script never changes.
If the season is bad, blame the weather.
If the season is good but terrain still is not open, promise to do better next year.
If it gets truly embarrassing, the CEO releases an apology video and hopes the whole thing blows over.

If you buy a pass, great. If you do not buy a pass and pay full window price, even better. If you stop skiing, that is one less complainer.

Meanwhile, social media fills up with people applauding a single strip of man-made snow, while negative comments are quietly removed. And Vail management is perfectly happy because under this model, they win no matter what happens on the mountain.

That is the real issue. Vail Resorts is not in the skiing business. They are in the business of financial predictability. Skiing is simply the vehicle they use to generate it.

Vail absolutely sells passes up front to lock in revenue; but such was the case years before they even operated these w.pa resorts.  (HV pass $299 in the summer $399 in the fall, $459 before season start...)  Nobody buys a fresh season pass to a w.pa ski resort in mid-January, when they've already missed out on practically 1/2 the season. Big data can tell you that, but also just observation can tell you that.

As for alcohol being a dominant money-making driver (it has always stood beside snow sports) - has always been the case, and will continue to do so, no matter the owner.

I'm just wondering, where do you like to ski (or board)? And, honestly and respectfully, what would you suggest be done with lower to middle-tier resorts / ski areas, say, like the ones in Western Pennsylvania?  Who, in your opinion, outside of a large entity with deep pockets, would pony up to purchase and then invest enough to provide the experience you're talking about?

Grumpy dad wrote:

TLDR: If you buy an Epic pass, you are truly a battery in their matrix. 

Vail sells passes up front so they can lock in revenue before the season even starts. Once they know how much money is coming in, they hand each resort a fairly fixed seasonal budget. That budget is usually tight and rarely keeps up with inflation or rising labor costs. Because of that, everything that does not directly produce revenue gets squeezed.

Snowmaking is an operating cost.
Lift maintenance is an operating cost.
Staffing is an operating cost.
Even basic utilities in the lodge are operating costs.

None of these bring in money on their own, so Vail does the bare minimum to avoid a complete disaster. Meanwhile, bartenders get hired because alcohol actually drives profit. That is why a place like Seven Springs feels more and more like a giant bar with a few ski runs added on. Walk past the women’s restroom on a Saturday and you will hear someone getting sick. The ad says “Let’s go skiing,” but the reality is “Let’s get hammered and hope the hill is open.”

Opening more terrain costs money.
Running more lifts costs money.
Turning on more snow guns costs money.

So they delay, slow-walk, or simply avoid doing these things unless absolutely necessary.

You might say, “Fine, I just will not renew.” This is where Vail’s strategy gets obvious. They spend large amounts of money on data science and consultants whose job is to determine the minimum product needed to keep you coming back. And once they control every mountain within driving distance, your options are limited. You can return to them. You can pay the window price. Or you can stop skiing entirely.

From their perspective, all of those outcomes are acceptable.

The leadership at Vail fits this pattern perfectly. Their senior executives often come from places like Amazon, Walmart, big-box retail, finance, or tech. Some come from fitness chains or unrelated service industries. Very few come from skiing. Their expertise is cost control and predictable margins. Their incentives are tied to earnings targets, not the health of the sport or the experience on the mountain.

When things go wrong, the script never changes.
If the season is bad, blame the weather.
If the season is good but terrain still is not open, promise to do better next year.
If it gets truly embarrassing, the CEO releases an apology video and hopes the whole thing blows over.

If you buy a pass, great. If you do not buy a pass and pay full window price, even better. If you stop skiing, that is one less complainer.

Meanwhile, social media fills up with people applauding a single strip of man-made snow, while negative comments are quietly removed. And Vail management is perfectly happy because under this model, they win no matter what happens on the mountain.

That is the real issue. Vail Resorts is not in the skiing business. They are in the business of financial predictability. Skiing is simply the vehicle they use to generate it.