Arapahoe Basin to Leave Mountain Collective After 6 Seasons, All Other Partners Return for 2025-26
A-Basin’s exit widely expected following last year's Alterra acquisition
The field out back of Mountain Collective HQ is littered with tombstones. They erected the latest on Tuesday morning:
A-Basin – which will remain on Mountain Collective through the conclusion of its 2024-25 ski season – has made a habit of this, crushing Epic’s heart in an out-of-nowhere 2019 split that followed a two-decade-plus relationship. But Mountain Collective, which has lost bigger Bros in the past, will be fine. Just survey the pass’ graveyard:
And Mountain Collective will be fine with the loss of A-Basin, even if that leaves Ikon Junior with just one destination (albeit one with four ski areas), in Colorado: Aspen. And the flight of A-Basin is no big shock - after Alterra yanked Mammoth, Palisades Tahoe, and Sugarbush off of MC in 2022, pulling Arapahoe Basin seemed inevitable after the company purchased that mountain last year.
But, no matter. Mountain Collective still enters its 2025-26 sales season with 31 ski areas scattered across 26 destinations. Passholders can tap two no-blackout days at each destination for $639 adult, $509 for teens 13 to 18, and $226 for kids 6 to 12. Renewing passholders will receive a $30 discount code. Anyone buying at the early-bird price is eligible for a third day at the destination of their choice. And their choices are strong:
Next winter’s Collective prices tick up slightly from 2024-25 rates, even with the loss of a partner in a key market:
Mountain Collective is the second national multimountain pass to announce 2025-26 rates, after Indy Pass did so on March 1. Indy, which, like Mountain Collective, offers two days each at its 225 Alpine and cross-country partner resorts, is on sale for just $369 for adults ($349 renewals), and $209 for kids 12 and under ($199 renewal).
Mountain Collective does not share any partners with Indy or Vail Resorts’ Epic Pass, but its overlap with Alterra’s Ikon Pass is substantial (see chart above). While Ikon has yet to release its 2025-26 pass suite, five of its most prominent partners – Aspen, Jackson Hole, Snowbasin, Sun Valley, and Alta – have not participated in the discounted Ikon Base or Session passes in recent winters, but are all part of Mountain Collective. Those access tiers are unlikely to change for next winter, but I’ll have a deeper breakdown of Mountain Collective versus Ikon once we have 2025-26 details on both passes (it will be interesting to see if Alterra offers unlimited Arapahoe Basin access on the Ikon Pass, as it does with all of its other owned resorts with the exception of Deer Valley).
Here's a bit more about the 2056-26 Mountain Collective, how the pass has weathered the loss of so many partners, and potential replacements for A-Basin: