2024-25 Indy Base Pass Renewals Will Cost Less Than 1 Peak-Day Lift Ticket at Park City, Vail, Beaver Creek, Deer Valley
Indy Pass Guarantees 200 Resorts, Holds 2024-25 Renewal Base Pass Price at $279
I mean, these prices, Man:
$279 for returning Indy Base Pass holders, for the third consecutive year. That’s less than or equal to the 2023-24 single-day peak walk-up lift ticket price at Park City ($299), Vail Mountain ($299), Beaver Creek ($299), Deer Valley ($289), Breckenridge ($279), Palisades Tahoe ($279), and Steamboat ($279), for two days each at what Indy Pass is guaranteeing will be a minimum of 200 ski areas. Here’s the current roster, and Indy Pass Director Erik Mogensen told The Storm on Tuesday that, as renewal talks continue with current partners, “we haven’t gotten a single no yet”:
That’s no guarantee that all 186 partners will return (Powder Mountain’s new ownership has indicated that they may leave Indy). But new partners will certainly join, including popular ski areas in the East and West, Mogensen confirmed. He also expects new partners overseas. If the number of resorts (Alpine and cross-country combined), does not hit 200 by Nov. 15, passholders can request a refund. Skiers can also request a refund by Dec. 1 “if their favorite resort” from the 2023-24 ski season does not renew for 2024-25 – in other words, if any ski area leaves, you can get your money back.
But why would you want to? Even at $329 for the waitlist price or $349 for the general public, this thing is the best deal in skiing.
“The Indy Pass team has worked hard to create sustainable pricing while the cost of skiing and riding continues to increase at astronomical rates,” said Mogensen. “This pricing plan demonstrates our commitment to our passholders and partner resorts that the Indy Pass will continue to lead the industry in affordable, independent skiing.”
Mogensen is not messing around. There’s a reason I pulled that quote from Indy’s press release when I typically avoid staged quotes like they’re laced with anthrax. He means it. He watched helplessly as a teenager when Tamarack, New York went under. He made his own backyard cross-country ski area to cope. In just the past year, he’s intervened to help save Antelope Butte, Wyoming; Black Mountain, New Hampshire; and Hickory, New York. He created an entire software company – Entabeni Systems – specifically to help independent ski areas modernize their technology. I talk to Mogensen all the time – he is messianic in his quest to ensure the future of independent skiing. He’s doing this by bringing them into the digital age (Entabeni), helping them actualize new operating models (Black, Antelope Butte), and building out a pass (Indy) that can compete, in many markets (especially New England and the Midwest), directly with Epic and Ikon.
And he’s doing all this for resorts while making the Indy Pass better for consumers. Renewing is as simple as scanning the QR code on their physical 2023-24 Indy Pass. He expects the number of blackout dates to shrink for 2024-25, he told me. And while I can’t reveal the expected new partners, some of them would be instant headliners that would significantly boost the pass’ appeal among destination skiers.
But Indy will continue to limit the number of passes sold. Renewing passholders – a category that includes anyone who’s owned an Indy Pass in any season – can purchase the Base Pass for $279 starting at 10 a.m. Mountain Time on March 1. Anyone on the winter waitlist can also purchase at that time, for $329. If anything is left over, passes will go on sale to the general public ($349 for Base), on March 8. Once they sell out, Indy will pause sales for at least several months, before potentially coming back on the market at a higher price once the full resort roster drops later this year.
With Indy and Mountain Collective prices now set for the 2024-25 ski season, Epic and Ikon are on deck. I’ll break down those offerings as soon as they’re live, and I’ll continue to analyze the broader national season pass landscape.
The Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 14/100 in 2024, and number 514 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019.
Stuart, you're the one who originally introduced me to the Indy Pass actually, and next season will be my fourth season rocking it!
The Indy Pass has major density in the Northeast and Midwest and those are the regions where most people seem to know about it and/or talk about it, but the Indy Pass is pretty insane in the Pacific/Inland Northwest too. The Indy Pass stereotype is small ski areas with fixed grip lifts and wicket tickets yet most of the Oregon/Washington/Idaho/British Columbia Indy Pass resorts have detachable chairlifts, some have whole villages (Big White's is my favorite ski resort village of all time), 1,000-3,000 acres of terrain, snowfall between 200-450 inches of snow annually, and some have RFID cards. A lot of the Northwest Indy Pass places are easily worthy of the other megapasses, like Big White, I still can't believe they're on the Indy Pass! I know the Indy Pass has drawn some mild skepticism and controversy lately but I still think it's one of the greatest deals to ever exist in skiing.
Any chance you’re getting to close to the Indy Pass guys? Losing objectivity?
Indy pass guys have been effective and pushing the BS that they’re the saviors of the independent ski areas while using predatory tactics on other independent areas trying to do the same thing.
Be careful. World class hucksters are seductive.