Indy Pass Adds Snowriver, Michigan; Chestnut, Illinois; Bluebird Backcountry, Colorado

Indy grows dominance in Midwest and continues to edge into Colorado

Indy Pass today added three more ski areas to its 2022-23 roster: the newly renamed Snowriver Resort in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula; Chestnut, its first partner in Illinois; and Bluebird Backcountry, a liftless ski area that is the newest in Colorado.

With the additions, Indy’s 2022-23 lineup stands at an astonishing 97 downhill ski areas. Passholders get two days at each – 194 ski days total – plus two days each at 14 cross-country ski areas and discounts at 10 more. Bluebird and Chestnut will have no blackouts, while Snowriver will black out a total of six days over the MLK and Presidents’ Day weekends. Here’s a look at Indy’s roster with today’s additions:

The additions come in two crucial ski regions. Indy is already the dominant multi-mountain pass in the Midwest, with an incredible 22 partner resorts across the cornerstone states of Michigan (10), Wisconsin (6), and Minnesota (6). Snowriver sits square in the snowiest part of the region, the Lake Superior snowbelt, and right alongside longtime Indy Pass partner Big Powderhorn. Chestnut sits less than an hour from existing Indy partner Sundown, Iowa, and builds density in a key feeder network for the larger northern ski areas.

Bluebird Backcountry, meanwhile, significantly boosts Indy’s story in Colorado, skiing’s North American epicenter*. Seated just two and a half hours from Sunlight, which Indy added in February, Bluebird helps the pass’ slow evolution into a vacation product in a crucial ski state, where the ski areas are close to one another but are relatively isolated from their out-of-state cousins.

The additions come less than two weeks after Indy signed California’s jointly owned Mountain High and Dodge Ridge, and they mark the 37th, 38th, and 39th partners (full downhill, Allied, or XC) that the pass has added in just the past four months. Here’s a closer look at the new additions, and what they mean for America’s fastest-growing ski pass:

*Yes Random Angry Person on Facebook, I know you want to beat me up over this assertion. But Colorado leads American states in skier visits by an absurd number, and the biggest ski companies and passes are all based in the state.