Walking up to the lift-ticket counter at a ski resort and buying a ticket for the day is like strolling into the airport and saying, “I’d like to buy a ticket to Denver, please.” Nobody does that anymore. Lift tickets are best purchased online and in advance, just like plane tickets. And with the advent of collective season passes—mega passes like the popular Epic and Ikon—fewer skiers and snowboarders are buying pricey day tickets anymore. And why should they?
A walk-up day ticket to Vail, Colorado, during peak season costs over $200; at Aspen, it’s $179. Meanwhile, an Epic Pass, which grants you unrestricted access to Vail and an immense number of other resorts, currently runs for $969; an Ikon Pass, which gets you seven days of skiing at Aspen and unlimited skiing at over a dozen other resorts, is currently $1,049. You only need to ski four to six days to make those pass prices worth it. But the Epic and Ikon are not the only collective passes out there. There are others, and many have killer deals.