Ikon Is Absolutely Crushing Epic in Spring Skiing Access

Ikon Is Absolutely Crushing Epic in Spring Skiing Access

Ikon skiers can still access 13 mountains. Epic skiers can access one.

Stuart Winchester

April 30, 2021

Things get Epic around the third week in April

Last week, The Seattle Times examined the evolution of Washington’s Stevens Pass and Crystal Mountain ski areas since Vail and Alterra, respectively, purchased the resorts in 2018. Primarily based on interviews with local skiers and “season long monitoring of online groups where Pacific Northwest powder hounds congregate,” the story frames Stevens as a mismanaged disaster fomenting the wrath of longtime passholders. Crystal, meanwhile, “provided customers with a premier experience amid tough pandemic conditions” and “appears to have maintained more of its identity.”

The story is well-written and worth a full read. And while it’s debatable whether such broad conclusions can be drawn from anecdotal passholder interviews, one measure of the distinct resort experiences is easy to quantify:

[Crystal’s] culture, Crystal’s fans say, is one devoted to skiing from first snowfall to final spring melt. Crystal seized on this past season’s early winter, opening Nov. 18, and pushed closing to May 9 once the snow piled up. (Stevens Pass opened Dec. 4, planned an early April closing day, then extended to April 18.)

Indeed, Crystal pushes the season. It was one of a handful of U.S. ski areas to re-open following last March’s shutdown, spinning the lifts for a handful of days in June. Lift tickets for this season are on sale through May 9. Stevens, meanwhile, closed as planned on April 18, despite sitting on a 133-inch base after a bomber 601-inch season.

The contrast in Washington reflects a broader reality: Ikon Pass holders in nearly all regions can ski far later into the season than Epic Pass holders. This was on stark display the weekend of April 23 to 24, when Ikoners could choose between Killington, Sugarloaf, Sunday River, Sugarbush, Squaw Valley, Solitude, Winter Park, Mammoth, Crystal Mountain, Sunshine, Lake Louise, Norquay, Snowbird, Alta, Mount Bachelor, Summit Central, Alpental, Copper Mountain, Arapahoe Basin, and Snowmass.

Epic Pass holders could go to Breckenridge or Nakiska.

That’s a 20-2 Ikon-over-Epic lead on the late-spring skiing scorecard. Nakiska and several Ikon mountains closed on Saturday or Sunday, but 13* remain open into this weekend, and several – including Killington, Mammoth, Squaw Valley, and Arapahoe Basin – intend to push through May and, if possible, beyond.

“As you know, we extended the season at number of our resorts this year,” said Vail Resorts Director of Communications and Resort Marketing Quinn Kelsey. “We’re thrilled to have about a month left of skiing at Breck, which has one of the longest ski seasons of any major resort in the country. We look forward to seeing guests back on the slopes next year and are now focused on safely opening many of our resorts for summer operations.”

Vail did indeed extend operations at many of its ski areas, and had intended to keep Whistler open through May 24 before its early Covid-induced shutdown. But Alterra is clearly more committed to the long ski season. The company owns six of the Ikon resorts that remained open last weekend (Sugarbush, Squaw Valley, Solitude, Winter Park, Mammoth, Crystal), and five that are certain to push into May (all but Solitude).

“Extended spring days on the hill means skiers and riders can choose to come back for more sun and great snow, which extends the value of their season and the smile on their face,” said Alterra Vice President of Public Relations Kristin Rust. “As long as we can provide a good experience, we will keep the lifts running.”

Part of this Ikon spring domination is accidental. All of the Ikon mountains listed above have a long history of staying open late into the season. The majority of Vail’s don’t, and I doubt the company intentionally acquired ski areas that zip the lifts shut in early- to mid-April. But Vail certainly has the resources and the knowhow to push a season at will, as they demonstrated when bumping Breck’s annual closing day to Memorial Day (or later) after Arapahoe Basin fled the Epic Pass in 2019.

Summit County, where Breck operates just down the road from A-Basin, is the front lines of skiing’s megapass war, so Vail’s willingness to extend the season there is understandable. But the company could easily designate a late operator for its other competitive regions: Heavenly in Tahoe, Wildcat in the Northeast, Big Boulder in the Mid-Atlantic, perhaps even a smaller Park City footprint in Utah.

Vail seems to be calculating, however, that in most cases April is good enough. And it probably is. Most skiers don’t care about spring skiing, even if the most frequent skiers (most anyone reading this newsletter) care about it quite a bit. The snow is tricky and variable. There are a lot of other things going on off the hill. Most people have had enough of winter, or can’t summon the imagination to believe they can ski when they can’t see snow out their living room window. If skiing is a niche sport, like sailing, then spring skiing – especially deep spring skiing – is a fringe one, like disc golf or axe throwing.

Which doesn’t make those of us who love it any less enamored of T-shirt turns on 70-degree days. I love spring skiing as much as I love powder or storm skiing (and I had some incredible spring skiing days at Hunter, whose efforts to stay open despite successive melt-offs were downright heroic). Vail will probably win a lot of skiers with its recent 20 percent price cuts on Epic Passes. Region by region, the pass stacks up to Ikon, and Vail is crushing Alterra on price. But the price does not represent the full value of a pass. Part of that calculation is how much you can actually use it. And for most skiers in most parts of the country, you can use an Ikon Pass long after your local Epic mountain shuts down. To some skiers, that’s going to be a decisive factor when choosing which pass to buy.

*Ikon Pass ski areas that intend to remain open for at least part of the weekend of May 1 and 2 or beyond are Killington, Sugarbush, Squaw Valley, Winter Park, Mammoth, Crystal Mountain, Sunshine, Lake Louise, Norquay, Snowbird, Mount Bachelor, Alpental, and Arapahoe Basin.