The Northeast Multipass Wish List, Part 1
Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island
It all happened so fast, this multipass proliferation across the Northeast. Rewind four years: Vail owned zero New England mountains. Alterra and its Ikon Pass didn’t exist. Neither did the Indy Pass. Peak Resorts had recently debuted its Peak Pass, which seemed like a miracle with a $999 top price and unlimited access to Hunter, Mount Snow, Wildcat, Attitash, Crotched, and Jack Frost-Big Boulder, but it didn’t offer Western access. The M.A.X. Pass did, with five days each at Winter Park, Steamboat, Big Sky, Crested Butte and others complementing a solid eastern lineup of Whiteface, Gore, Sugarloaf, Sunday River, Killington, Okemo, and Stratton, among others. But it wasn’t a season pass even though it was priced like one at $699. The Freedom Pass offered three reciprocal days for passholders at a shifting roster of ski areas, but the mountains themselves received no revenue for these visits.
Fast forward to today: Vail is arguably the dominant player in Northeast skiing, owning 13 ski areas from Pennsylvania to New Hampshire, all skiable on Epic Passes that, on the pricier tiers, include access to the company’s Western mountains. Alterra’s Ikon Pass grants unlimited access to Sugarbush and Stratton, plus days at Sunday River, Sugarloaf, Killington, Loon, Pico, Windham, and some of North America’s best Western ski areas: Alta-Snowbird, Jackson Hole, Aspen, Taos, Steamboat, Big Sky, Revelstoke, and many others. As Vail ate the Peak Pass and Alterra killed the M.A.X. Pass, the Indy Pass rose as the budget alternative, a can-this-be-real $199 for two days each at more than 50 ski areas, including Jay Peak, Cannon, and Magic Mountain in the Northeast. For passholders at partner ski areas, the pass is a $129 add-on. The Freedom Pass lives on, but most of its larger partners have abandoned the coalition in favor of the Indy Pass.
Posted from the Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast
