Silver Star Joins Ikon Pass as Full Partner for 2026-27; Giants Ridge, Minnesota Joins Ikon’s Two-Day Tier
Ikon moves aggressively into the Midwest after adding Granite Peak, Lutsen, Snowriver last month
In their never-ending contest to see who can murder me first by exhaustion-via-compulsory-write-ups-of-obscure-ski-areas, Ikon Pass added two more partners to its 2026-27 lineup yesterday, just as I was finishing my analysis of the seven new Indy Pass partners to join this week: Silver Star, British Columbia will move up to seven/five-day Ikon partner status after a winter on the pass’ two-day tier, while Giants Ridge, Minnesota joins the two-day Ikon Pass tier.
Silver Star and Giants Ridge, combined with previously announced resorts, add up to 23 national-pass partner additions for the 2026-27 winter, all of them on the Indy (15) or Ikon (eight) passes. Here are Ikon’s newbs, which include six ski areas announced last month:
While split by a continent’s worth of statistical differences, Silver Star and Giants Ridge each deliver important signals about Ikon’s priorities and trajectory.
Silver Star is a windfall for Ikon Pass holders. It’s one of the 20-largest ski areas in North America, and was the biggest all-public holdout from Epic or Ikon on the continent (5,000-ish-acre public/private hybrid Powder Mountain, Utah remains pass-less). Curiously, former Silver Star owner Powdr declined to add the resort to Ikon, even as the company committed its other large ski areas – Bachelor, Snowbird, Copper – to the pass. Last year, Powdr finally stapled Silver Star to Ikon, but only on the pass’ two-day tier. Two months later, they sold the ski area to longtime Indy Pass ally Pacific Group Resorts (PGR), whose Jay Peak ski area has led all Indy partners for number of redemptions for six consecutive years. By committing Silver Star to Ikon while keeping its remaining ski areas on Indy, PGR becomes the first American multimountain operator to split its resorts among the two passes:
The addition of Giants Ridge continues two recent Ikon growth initiatives: an emphatic push into the Midwest, and the steady growth of the two-day tier, which now numbers eight ski areas, all of them available only on the full Ikon Pass (and with blackouts). After staggering along with nothing in the region other than Michigan’s Boyne Mountain and Highlands for Ikon’s first seven years, Alterra added a pair of Minnesota bumps (Wild and Buck) to the two-day tier for the 2025-26 ski season, and followed that with Midwest Family Ski Resorts’ trio and more two-day partners for next winter.
“I think this partnership is somewhat of a recognition that we hold a place in the Midwest along with the Boynes that is a different experience, more like the mountain ski experiences that exist out west,” MFSR founder and CEO Charles Skinner told me in a phone call the day of Ikon’s partnership announcement.
Ikon’s refreshed Midwest roster indeed includes many of the best ski areas in the region:
I count Giants Ridge among these regional standouts. This remote, government-subsidized bump is one of the nicest ski areas I’ve ever visited, and it’s a terrific addition to Ikon’s two-day tier:
Ikon’s eight 2026-27 pass additions build on a 20-recruit class of 2025-26, and boost Ikon’s total roster to 98 ski areas for next winter:
Unfortunately for Indy Pass holders, Skinner confirmed that all four of Midwest Family’s ski areas would not return to the pass for 2026-27. “We think Indy is a great product,” Skinner told me. “We think our resorts are a better fit for the Ikon Pass. We feel that we have the only really large, full-service ski resorts in the Midwest besides the two Boynes. And now skiers near us don’t have to choose: should I get an Ikon Pass and fly all the time to ski? They can either ski our resorts on Ikon at no additional cost, or buy our season pass and add Ikon for a discounted rate.”
Ikon Pass prices are set to rise after April 16, right in their typical spring window, a marker of stability in an uncertain time for Alterra, whose CEO suddenly departed last month.
Here’s a bit more about the additions of Silver Star and Giants Ridge, along with some overdue analysis of Lutsen, Granite Peak, Snowriver, and Devil’s Head, and the changing landscape of Midwest skiing.