Indy Pass Goes on Sale to Public Friday; Adds Ski Areas in Europe, Japan, Midwest U.S.
Tell your dumb friends
Every year I tell all my dumb friends who don’t ski a lot but want to ski more about this thing called the Indy Pass. “Two days each at like 9,000 ski areas,” I tell them and they say, “that sounds amazing.” But then I either forget to tell them when it’s on sale or they forget to buy it because a Law of American Culture is that your friend groups remain as administratively organized as they were at the age you formed them, which for me mostly means between the ages of 3 and 14.
But that magic millisecond when the Indy Pass goes on sale for people who are not organized enough to click a link and enter their email address into a waitlist is this Friday, April 3, at noon eastern. These will be the prices:
Indy will sell a predetermined but undisclosed number of passes, and expects that the sale “will be over in hours, not days.”
Why, in the era of Epic and Ikon, do I keep beating you to death with the Indy Pass? Because unless you’re the sort who skis 100 days per year at the same mountain or takes a locked-in vacation to the same spot every February, Indy is the most streamlined way to mix up your ski diet. And man, there are A LOT of good dishes out there you probably haven’t tried. With two days each at 233 Alpine ski areas locked in for 2026-27, Indy has built meaningful density across most of the world’s best ski regions. Skiers could spend a couple of months just skipping around Europe (30 ski areas), Japan (29), or Canada (30). In the U.S., Indy offers 143 Alpine ski areas, with 50 in the West, 55 in the East, and 38 in the Midwest. Yesterday, Indy added seven more Alpine ski areas to that ever-growing roster:
That ski area collection may appear a bit scattershot, but they are all meaningful strategic additions, boosting density in regions of existing Indy strength. The Wisconsin and Minnesota ski areas – especially riotous, sprawling Whitecap – help mend the tear left in Indy’s Midwest fabric with the 2026-27 exits of Lutsen, Granite Peak, and Snowriver to Ikon Pass. Soaring Les Contamines becomes the second European ski area that, through a strange cultural loophole, is skiable on both the Indy and Ikon passes.
Here’s the full anticipated 2026-27 Alpine roster (I’m no longer tracking Indy’s cross-country partners, which you can view here).
Let’s take a closer look at these seven Indy joiners, and what sort of impact they could have for 2026-27 Indy Pass holders: