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Ski pass season is here, and if you are a ski parent staring at four different pass options wondering which one actually makes sense for your family — you are not alone. The options have multiplied, the prices have gone up, and the difference between buying the right pass and the wrong one can mean hundreds of dollars lost before you ever set foot on the mountain.
As a PSIA-certified ski instructor with 20 years of experience and a mom who has purchased passes for a family of seven, I have done this math more times than I can count. Here is what every ski parent needs to know before buying.
The Question Nobody Asks First
Before you look at a single resort list or price, ask yourself how many days you will realistically ski this season. Not optimistically. Realistically. Because every single pass on this list is built around that number. Then ask which resorts your family actually drives to and uses — not the ones that look great on a map. And finally, will you be skiing over the holidays? Christmas week, MLK weekend, and Presidents’ weekend are the dates that separate the right pass from the wrong one faster than anything else.
One more thing: buy in the spring. Every pass on this list is at its absolute lowest price right now. That is not a sales pitch — it is just how the pricing works. Every month you wait, the price goes up.
The Ikon Pass: Utah, California, and Parts of Colorado
The full Ikon Pass starts at $1,399 for adults and gives you unlimited skiing at 18 destinations with no blackout dates across 76 resorts worldwide. For Utah families especially, this pass is exceptional — you get unlimited access to Deer Valley, Solitude, Snowbird, Alta, and Brighton all on one pass. That is the entire Wasatch corridor.
The Ikon Base Pass at $949 covers most of the same resorts but cuts your days to five at non-unlimited destinations and blacks out Christmas week, MLK weekend, and Presidents’ weekend. If your family skis those dates, skip the Base Pass entirely. If you don’t, that $450 in savings per adult adds up fast across a whole family.
For families with kids, Ikon introduced new family pricing this season. Buy an adult pass and you save $100 on each child pass, with kids 12 and under starting at $249. Teens 13 to 22 pay $999 for the full pass and $679 for the Base. Just know that the child pricing cutoff is based on your kid’s age on December 31st — spring birthdays do not get you an extra season at child pricing.
The Epic Pass: Best for Colorado and Vermont
The full Epic Pass is $1,089 for adults 31 and over and gives you unlimited, no-blackout access to 42 Vail-owned resorts. If your family skis Vail, Breckenridge, Keystone, or Park City, this is your pass.
The biggest news from Epic this season is their new teen and young adult pricing. Anyone ages 13 through 30 pays $869 for the full pass — a $220 discount. Kids 5 through 12 pay $555. For a family of four with one teen and one younger child, you are looking at $3,602 for four full passes with zero blackout dates. When you consider that a single adult window ticket at Vail can run $280 to $350, that family breaks even in just a few days on the mountain.
The Epic Local Pass at $809 for adults and $649 for teens is worth a hard look for families who mostly ski Breckenridge, Keystone, Crested Butte, or Stowe and are willing to avoid the holiday blackout dates. For a family of four making that trade-off, the savings can hit $700 or more compared to the full pass.
The Mountain Collective: Best for Big Mountains
At $669 for adults and around $239 for kids, the Mountain Collective works completely differently from Ikon and Epic. You get two days at each of 27 independent, world-class resorts — Aspen, Jackson Hole, Alta, Snowbird, Big Sky, Revelstoke, and more — with zero blackout dates and 50% off unlimited additional days.
This pass is not built for skiing one home mountain all season. It is built for the family that plans intentional ski trips to iconic destinations. One trip to Aspen and one trip to Jackson Hole, and this pass has already paid for itself several times over when you consider those resorts charge close to $300 per day at the window. These are also some of the least crowded, most snow-reliable mountains in North America — which matters a lot when you are skiing with kids.
The Indy Pass: Best for Beginners and A Budget
The Indy Pass at $399 for adults is the most underrated option in family skiing. Over 300 independent, uncrowded resorts, two days at each, with no blackout dates on the flagship Indy+ Pass. Kids pay just over $200.
What makes it especially compelling for families with young children is the Learn to Turn Pass — $189 for three full days including kids ski lessons and rentals at participating resorts. That is a complete introduction to the sport for less than the cost of a single window ticket at a major resort. For a family just dipping their toes into children learning to ski, this pass removes almost every barrier.
The catch: it sells out every season. If you want it, move now.
The Bottom Line
Any of these passes beats buying window tickets all season — that is not even close. The right pass is the one that matches how and where your family actually skis. Do the math, know your holiday dates, and buy early.
Resources & Links
For more family skiing tips and everything you need to teach kids to ski with confidence, visit skiingkid.com. And if you are ready to stop guessing and start teaching with a real plan, check out First Tracks: A Parent’s Guide to Teaching Kids to Ski.
- 13 Secrets to Skiing With Kids for Cheap
- Epic SchoolKids Pass: A Parent’s Guide
- Skiing Park City With Kids
Show Transcript
Welcome to Skiing with Kids. I’m your host Jessica, a ski instructor, mom of five, and someone who’s seen just about every ski day meltdown that you can imagine. After 20 years of teaching kids on the mountain, I’ve learned that great ski days aren’t about perfect technique. They’re about confidence, connection, and knowing what actually works. And this podcast is where we break it all down.
Today we are talking about season passes. As a mom of five and someone who has spent more hours than I care to admit researching ski passes, running the math, and trying to figure out where every ski dollar goes on the mountain — I know this might sound like a dry topic. It’s like spreadsheet stuff, like fine print. But I promise you, if you’re a ski family, understanding all your options for season passes is one of the most important things you can do to prepare for your ski season.
All of these ski passes have just started going on sale in the spring. They pre-sell them at the lowest prices of the season with the best bonuses. So I want to go through the options right now, because the right pass for your family can save you hundreds — sometimes even thousands — of dollars. The wrong pass can leave you locked out of your favorite resort on a holiday weekend when you really want to go skiing with your family, or even paying full window price because you hit your day limit. So we’re going to break down the four big multi-resort passes: the Ikon Pass, Epic Pass, Mountain Collective, and the Indy Pass. For each one, I’m going to walk you through the different tiers within that pass, because both Ikon and Epic have multiple versions at very different price points. I’ll also share the specific family and teen pricing you need to know so that you get the best bang for your buck. Then we’re going to talk about which regions each pass is strongest in, and at the end, I’m going to give you my honest take on which pass is best for which kind of family. There’s a lot to cover. Here we go.
Before we get into the specifics of passes, I want to talk about something that applies to every single pass we’re going to discuss today — and that is the family math. When you’re buying solo, you are buying one pass and moving on. When you’re a ski family, you’re potentially buying four, five, six — or if you’re me, seven — passes at once, and the costs multiply really fast. So the decisions you make here, which pass, which tier, and when to buy, have an outsized impact on your family budget.
Here’s what I want every ski parent to be thinking about before they buy anything. How many days are you actually going to ski next season? Not how many you hope to ski, not how many you idealistically would ski — but how many will you realistically ski? Because the economics of every pass hinge on that number. Which resorts do you actually ski? Not which ones are on the brochure that look awesome — the ones you can drive to, the ones your kids know, the ones you’ll actually use.
Do you care about holiday access? This can be a big one for families. If you’re skiing Christmas week, Martin Luther King weekend, and Presidents’ weekend — let’s be honest, those are peak family ski times — the pass tier you choose matters enormously. A lot of lower-tier passes will black out those dates entirely, and others will let you in but require advance reservations that can sell out months ahead. How old are your kids? This matters more than ever right now, because both Ikon and Epic have made significant moves this season on teen and child pass pricing — we’re going to talk all about that.
Also think about what type of skiing your family likes to do. If you’re just starting out and typically doing easy groomers, you’re not going to be interested in a pass that appeals to someone looking for extreme terrain. Think about where you want to ski and what kind of terrain you’re looking for so that you can make the right decision.
And finally — buy early. Every single pass on this list has the lowest price in the spring. Not the fall, not when the snow starts flying. Spring. The moment these passes go on sale is the cheapest they will ever be. I will repeat this more than once today because it is that important. Several of these passes also have special bonuses you can get if you buy in the spring that you simply won’t be able to get in the fall.
Let’s start with the Ikon Pass. The Ikon Pass is the one I get asked about most from families in my area, and it makes sense — if you’re skiing in Utah, Colorado, or California, the Ikon lineup is exceptional. But before we talk resorts, let’s talk tiers, because the Ikon Pass actually comes in three different flavors.
The full Ikon Pass is the flagship. For the 26-27 season, it starts at $1,399 for adults. You get unlimited skiing at 18 destinations, up to seven days at 56 additional resorts, no holiday blackout dates, and access to over 76 resorts worldwide. This is the pass for families who ski often, who want to ski over the holidays without restrictions, and who want to be able to wake up any day of the season and just go.
The Ikon Base Pass starts at $949 for adults — that’s $450 less than the full pass. You still get access to most of the same resorts, but with a few differences. You’re limited to five days, not seven, at non-unlimited destinations. And you have holiday blackout dates — Christmas week specifically, December 26th through the 30th, plus Martin Luther King weekend and Presidents’ weekend. If your family skis those dates, the Base Pass won’t work for you. Personally, I recommend avoiding those times anyway because ski resorts are absolutely at their most crowded then, and it’s always a nightmare taking kids when it’s that packed. If you don’t care about those dates and can ski some of the more off-peak times, the Base Pass could save your family a significant amount of money.
Ikon also has what they call Session Passes, which start at $299 for adults and give you anywhere from two to four days at different Ikon destinations. It’s not a great fit as a primary pass for a family that skis a lot, but it could be a good add-on for a parent who doesn’t ski as much as the rest of the family — or if you’re getting a local mountain pass and just want to take one ski trip to a bigger destination.
Now, family and teen pricing — this is where things get really interesting this season. Kids 12 and under have their own pricing tier. For the 26-27 season, Ikon introduced a new family pricing structure where if you buy an adult Ikon Pass, you save $100 on each child pass. Child passes with Ikon start as low as $249. So if you have three kids 12 and under, you’re looking at $300 in extra savings just from the family pricing alone. Kids 4 and under have an essentially free option — you just pay a small processing fee.
For teens, Ikon has historically priced ages 13 to 22 at a discounted tier — notably cheaper than adult pricing but more than child pricing. The Ikon Base Pass for teens is $679 this year, and the full Ikon Pass for teens is $999. One important note: the age cutoff for child pricing is based on your child’s age as of December 31st. So if you have kids with spring birthdays who are hoping to slip in at child pricing — that is not going to work. Let me tell you, that was genuinely heartbreaking for me because it’s going to hit us hard next season. Just really enjoy those years when your kid is in that under-12 tier, because the savings are real.
Let’s talk about the Epic Pass next. Epic Pass is Vail Resorts’ product, and for the 26-27 season, they’ve made some significant moves on pricing — especially for teens and young adults — that every ski family needs to know about.
The full Epic Pass is $1,089 for adults 31 and older. I will say, I think it’s a little crazy that 30-year-olds don’t count as adults here, but just take advantage of it. This is the flagship no-blackout-dates pass giving you unlimited access to 42 Vail-owned resorts plus various levels of access to partner resorts worldwide — over 90 destinations total.
Here’s where it gets really interesting for families. Teens and young adults ages 13 through 30 pay $869 for the full Epic Pass — a 20% discount over the adult price. This is new for the 26-27 season. If you have a teenager, the full Epic Pass for them costs $220 less than it does for you. Kids ages 5 through 12 pay $555 for the full Epic Pass. And kids 4 and under ski free at Vail Resorts.
Let’s run the math on that. For a family of four — two adults at $1,089 each, one teen at $869, and one kid at $555 — that’s $3,602 for four full Epic Passes with no blackout dates. That’s significant. But compared to buying window tickets at Vail or Breckenridge, where a single adult day runs anywhere from $280 to $350, this family could break even in just a few days on the mountain.
The Epic Local Pass is the more budget-friendly tier. For adults 31 and over, it’s $809. For teens and young adults 13 to 30, it’s $649. For kids 5 to 12, it’s $425. Here’s what you get: unlimited blackout-free access at 29 resorts including Breckenridge, Keystone, and Crested Butte, plus 10 combined days at other Vail mountains like Vail itself, Beaver Creek, and Whistler, with some holiday restrictions at resorts like Park City and a few others. The blackout dates on the Epic Local Pass are Thanksgiving weekend, the week after Christmas, Martin Luther King weekend, and Presidents’ weekend — pretty much the same dates as the Ikon Base Pass.
The big question for families is: full Epic Pass or Epic Local Pass? If your family mostly skis Breckenridge or Keystone and you don’t need to ski Vail or Beaver Creek over the holidays, the Epic Local Pass is a very solid value. You’re saving $280 per adult, $220 per teen, and $130 per kid versus the full pass. For a family of four mostly skiing those Front Range Colorado resorts, the Epic Local Pass could save you $700 total. But if Christmas week is your annual family ski trip, the Local Pass is going to block you out. Know your dates before you buy. Honestly, if I were you, I’d consider getting the Epic Local Pass and going the week before Christmas when the resorts are far less crowded.
One perk both Epic tiers share: early buyers this season get 10 Epic Friends tickets — what they used to call Buddy Passes — which give 50% off lift tickets for additional guests, or 25% off kids’ lift tickets. That’s a great value for families with extended family or friends who just want to join you for a day or two.
If Ikon and Epic are the big corporations, the Mountain Collective is what I’d call the premium independent option. It’s built around some of the most iconic independent resorts in North America, and it operates completely differently from the mega-passes.
Here’s how it works: one price, one tier — $669 per adult for the 26-27 season. Kid passes start at $239. Kids 5 and under are free. For that, you get two days at each of 27 resorts worldwide with zero blackout dates, plus the ability to buy unlimited additional days at 50% off the window rate. No blackout restrictions on those extra days either.
The resort list is where this pass really shines — we’re talking Aspen Snowmass, Jackson Hole, Alta, Snowbird, Big Sky, Grand Targhee, Revelstoke, Snowbasin, Sun Valley, Taos, Sugarloaf, and so many more. These resorts are largely independent, non-corporate mountains that tend to be less crowded and more snow-focused. They also have one thing in common: really expensive window ticket prices. Jackson Hole and Aspen regularly charge close to $300 for a single day. Two free days at each, plus half-price extras, starts looking really attractive really fast. For a family of four doing one trip to Jackson Hole and one trip to Aspen in the same season, this pass can pay for itself and then some.
The Mountain Collective is the simplest pass to understand. You either ski those mountains or you don’t. No tiers to decode, no comparing base versus full. If the mountain list matches where your family travels, it’s a clean, transparent deal. There is a 25% friends and family discount on single-day lift tickets — up to eight tickets per season with a few holiday blackout dates — which isn’t the same level of savings as Ikon or Epic, but it helps when extra family members want to join for a day.
If you just have one big ski trip planned for the season away from home, it might make sense to get a regular pass at your local mountain and pair it with the Mountain Collective for that iconic travel ski experience.
The Indy Pass is definitely the underdog of the group, and honestly, it might be one of the best-kept secrets in family skiing.
Here’s the pitch: $399 for the Indy+ Pass — the flagship, no-blackout version — gets you two days at each of over 300 independent ski resorts. The Indy Base Pass offers the same two-day access but with holiday blackout dates at a slightly lower price. Kids under 12 pay just over $200 for the Indy+ Pass and $169 for the Base Pass.
There’s also an Add-On Pass for families who already have a season pass at a local Indy partner mountain, which drops the price to $269 for adults and $169 for kids. If you already buy a local season pass at an Indy mountain, you can stack this on top for a really great value and still get some travel ski days in. There is also a Learn to Turn Pass for $189 — all ages six and up — which gives you three full days including lessons and rentals. If you’re a family with a brand new little skier, this is extraordinary value. You’re basically getting a full start-to-skiing package for less than the cost of one window ticket at a resort like Vail. If your family has been on the fence about trying skiing, the Indy Pass is a fantastic way to take the plunge.
The Indy Pass is built on a philosophy of skiing at independently owned mountains — many of them family-run operations — that prioritize a low-key, uncrowded experience over corporate throughput. These are the mountains that feel like skiing used to feel. For Vermont families, the Indy Pass has excellent coverage with Jay Peak, Burke Mountain, and others representing authentic Vermont ski culture. For Utah, Indy includes Cherry Peak up near Logan — small, low-key, genuinely family-friendly, and about as low-pressure as mountain skiing gets. Ideal for really young kids and beginners. For Colorado and California, the Indy coverage is thinner at the marquee mountains, but it’s growing every year with over 300 resorts now on the pass.
One major catch: the Indy Pass sells out every single year. They deliberately cap pass sales to protect the resort experience. If you want the Indy Pass for 26-27, you need to move quickly. There’s a waitlist system, and once they’re gone, they’re gone.
Let me give you a quick regional cheat sheet.
For Utah, Ikon is the strongest choice for most families. The full Ikon Pass gives you unlimited access to Solitude, Snowbird, Alta, Brighton, and skiing at Deer Valley — basically the entire Wasatch corridor. Park City is on Epic. Mountain Collective covers Alta and Snowbird together plus Snowbasin for families who want independent mountain travel. The Indy Pass has Cherry Peak for beginners and young kids just getting started.
For Colorado, if you ski Vail, Breckenridge, Keystone, or Beaver Creek — that is full Epic territory, full stop. Summit County is almost exclusively Vail Resorts. If you don’t need Vail or Beaver Creek over the holidays, the Epic Local Pass saves you real money. If you’re looking at Steamboat, Winter Park, or Aspen — Ikon or Mountain Collective, depending on how many days you plan to ski. Aspen on the Mountain Collective with extra half-price days can actually be a better deal than the Ikon Base Pass limit of five days there.
For Vermont, grab an Epic Pass for Stowe or Okemo, or Ikon for Sugarbush or Stratton. Indy has a lot of great Vermont options for a smaller, more authentic Vermont experience. If you’re skiing Stowe over the holidays, you need the full Epic Pass — the Local Pass has blackout dates on their peak dates there.
For California, Ikon for Mammoth, Palisades Tahoe, and Big Bear. Epic for Heavenly, Northstar, and Kirkwood in Tahoe. There’s a strong overlap in Tahoe and it really comes down to which mountains your family prefers and which side of the lake. Southern California families especially should look hard at Ikon given the Big Bear access.
Here are the questions I want every ski parent to ask before buying.
How many days will you ski? If you’re skiing 10 or more days at one primary resort, sometimes a local season pass at that mountain is still a better value than one of these big multi-resort passes. Run the numbers before assuming the big pass wins. For my family, being able to drive to our mountains almost always gets us more days than taking a big trip, and it costs significantly less.
Will you ski over the holidays? If yes and you want one of these big passes, you need either the full Ikon Pass or the full Epic Pass. The Base and Local versions black out Christmas week, Martin Luther King weekend, and Presidents’ weekend — exactly the dates most families want to ski. Do not buy a restricted pass and then try to ski those dates. You will be turned away and you will be really frustrated.
Do you have teenagers? Epic’s discount for ages 13 to 30 is genuinely significant this season — $220 off the full Epic Pass and $160 off the Epic Local Pass. If you have a teen who skis a lot, that math matters. Ikon’s teen pricing is also discounted from adult rates. Ikon also has what they call the Squad Pack — if you have a group of friends buying together, you save a significant amount per pass. It’s a great option for skiers in their twenties who don’t quite qualify for teen pricing anymore. Check the Ikon website for the exact current numbers on that one.
Do you have little kids? Kids 4 and under are essentially free almost everywhere. For kids 5 to 12, all four passes have child pricing. Ikon’s new family discount — $100 off per child pass when paired with an adult — is really strong if you’re buying multiple kid passes. It’s saving my family a few hundred dollars this season.
Are you a travel family or a home-mountain family? Home-mountain families often do best with a full season pass at their local resort. The multi-resort passes shine when you’re planning intentional trips. The Mountain Collective specifically is not built for someone skiing one mountain 30 days a season — you only get two days at each resort.
And I’ll say it one more time: buy early. Every pass. Spring pricing. Lowest prices of the year. No exceptions.
So what is my family doing this year? We’ve done so many different things over the years and it was genuinely hard to make our decision. When we first moved to Utah, we were skiing at Solitude — I was working there and we got great benefits. Then we switched to Park City when I was instructing there, but the crowds kept getting worse and worse. Last year we just got a pass to a local resort, and honestly the snow in Utah in 2026 hasn’t been great anyway.
Next year we are going with Ikon Passes. The closest resort to us is Deer Valley, which is only 15 minutes from our house, and that gives us some days there. But our kids are finally at a level where we can get some real bang for our buck pushing them on harder terrain at Alta and Snowbird. The pass also gives us Brighton — my kids are absolutely obsessed with Brighton and all the jumps — plus Solitude, where all my kids learned to ski. And we can ski at Snowbasin with grandma and grandpa and mix in a few ski trips here and there. We are actually purchasing our passes today because Ikon has some spring skiing deals running right now. Hopefully the 75-degree temperatures next week don’t wipe out the snow before we get there.
Okay, let’s bring this home.
The full Ikon Pass is the best choice for most Utah and California families, and for Colorado families skiing Steamboat, Winter Park, or Aspen who want holiday access with no restrictions. The Ikon Base Pass is a strong budget option for families who don’t ski holiday weeks and are realistic about their day count at non-unlimited resorts — it saves you $450 per adult, which adds up really fast across a whole family.
The full Epic Pass is the best choice for most Colorado families, especially if you’re in Summit County. Vermont families who want Stowe and anyone skiing Park City should get the Epic Pass. The Epic Local Pass is excellent for families primarily skiing the unlimited resorts — Breckenridge, Keystone, Crested Butte, Stowe — who aren’t planning to ski the holiday blackout dates. The teen pricing this season makes the Epic passes a genuinely great deal, especially since they’re considering anyone up to age 30 for that discount.
The Mountain Collective is my top choice for families who want to take a few incredible ski trips to iconic, independent mountains where they can experience world-class skiing without being overwhelmed by mega-pass crowds.
If you love smaller resorts — and honestly, who doesn’t, because they are absolutely amazing — the Indy Pass is the best choice for budget-conscious families, families with beginning skiers, and families who love that community feel and low-key mountain vibe. If you’re learning to ski, the Learn to Turn Pass on the Indy is something you should grab as quickly as you can.
Any of these passes, I’ll be honest, is a better move than buying window tickets all season. I cannot believe how expensive lift ticket prices have gotten. It will cost your family a small fortune and probably scare you away from the sport entirely — or drain your kids’ college savings. Either way. So think about it, do the math, and figure out the pass your family is actually going to use the most.
If you want to go deeper on planning your family’s ski season — the gear, the progression, the teaching strategies, all of it — I’m here to help, and we cover so many different topics right here on the Skiing with Kids podcast. I can’t wait to hear which pass your family chooses. I’ll see you out there on the mountain.