Did you get an EPIC pass this year? I have a 3day and received the new card, , but I keep getting emails to register. It seems a convoluted thing, like perhaps no action needed if I want default insurance.
Yes. We ordered our season passes before we were recovered from our broken bones!!!
The “registering” thing is pretty silly, IMO. You can either select the specific resort and dates your want to “register” such that it f the resort is closed for some reason, you get some $ back. If you don’t “register” it defaults to a generic “all dates/all resorts” but I think the potential refund is less.
Since we know the dates and resort we plan to ski this year I registered it for us. Don’t think my son or his family will register
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I bought the full Epic this year. Planning to hit Telluride, Park City, and Stowe back east.
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We buy Epic passes every year. The retired military rate this year is the same as the active duty (my DH’s ID has wonky (“indefinite”) status which, lucky for us, they have considered active duty) and the season passes are less than a day of skiing.
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My husband bought a two or three day Epic pass so he can go with my youngest and her husband. They have Epic passes and my husband IKON so we will do one Tahoe trip with them. We still need to plan that one. We normally only go to Mammoth so it will be new to us. They want me to come so I can babysit
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Where in Tahoe will you be going? We had a great VRBO at Northstar
Some highlights (in case the article is paywalled):
November 10: Breckenridge and Vail
November 13: Copper Mountain
November 22: Steamboat
November 23: Aspen, Snowmass, and Telluride
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Thanks for posting! It says it is one of A-basin’s latest, yet snowiest, opening day. The Fall 3pack ($129) is tempting… but not transferable, and I’d likely only get there once.
When I saw the opening date list last week, I was surprised to not see A-basin (usually in the ‘who opens first’ contest). Per their website at that time, they were just generally saying the opening day would depend on snowfall.
We got more snow Sat/Sun am than anyone thought. I was out last night and there was about 3" at my house. When I woke up, there was 8-9". It wasn’t windy so stacked pretty neatly on the shed roof and patio table.
It was 80 almost every day last week so the ski hills couldn’t really open. And it was really cold yesterday and today, so no way I’d go skiing! We who live here don’t have to go when the conditions aren’t ideal.
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Military epic ski season pass prices are rising for the next ski season, but it’s still less than a day of skiing. DH is headed to meet an old army buddy at the slopes this weekend. Will inquire about renewing for next year (his ID always causes snafus)
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I thought Epic and Ikon were going to be great for the sport, but in reality, they’re really making it far worse. The crowds can be crazy at some of the Epic and Ikon areas. You can stand in line for over an hour at some of them. If you’re going to ski those areas anyway, the passes, especially the discounted ones, are a good deal. I just avoid them completely.
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While I agree with you about the crowds at some places especially on the weekends, I still think the passes have been great to introduce more people to skiing. Also some of the smaller resorts on the passes may have closed if it wasn’t for the people the passes bring to their mountains.
We just returned from our 5th year of doing a winter road trip and skiing with the Ikon pass. We have skied many of the Ikon pass resorts and have only ever had the Ikon Base Pass as we don’t ski longer than 5 days at any resort except for Mammoth which is unlimited and is the place we ski the most. We have been to many of the Ikon pass mountains in the western US and even Canada. Mammoth is really the only resort we ski on the weekends since we can get there from San Diego for a couple of days skiing.
We have also tried some Epic resorts during our road trips. Last year H got 2 day Epic passes for us for $196 each and we could ski any Epic resort except Telluride. We skied Beaver Creek and Breckenridge. Last week Monday to Friday we skied 2 days at Winter Park, 2 days at Copper Mountain and 1 day at Breckenridge. There were no crazy wait times at any of the resorts and we were able to get a lot of skiing in.
I wish we could pay what @jym626 pays for her pass, but I’m not complaining.
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One of the best parts of this year’s ski/road trip was getting to have lunch with @Colorado_mom and her H!
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I really enjoyed that too! Extra perk - got me energized about skiing more.
This year I bought 3day EPIC pass (about $93/day vs up to $299 at the ticket window). As a retiree ski only weekdays (non-holiday, which made it a little cheaper), usually few crowd.
At Vail on Wednesday there was less about 5 minute wait at the Lionshead base gondola at 10am, less later in the day. Once I was up the mountain there was never more than a 1 minute wait. As a single, I sometimes waited by myself for others to arrive, not wanting to ride solo and deal with the putting the safety bar down/up myself. Beaver Creek wasn’t very crowded midweek last month. Breckenridge is closer to Denver and can sometimes have lines at popular lifts midweek, but less than 10 min.
I will consider the Ikon pass next year, especially if some of our buddies get it. Eldora is less than an hour away, and it is bigger than the places where I learned to ski in NY (Bellayre, Cortina, Highmount, Windham, Hunter, Catamount. LOL - even teeny College Hill in a park in Poughkeepsie)
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We have Indy Pass, which is comprised of mostly small mom and pop hills. They limit the number they sell to avoid crowding. We add it to our local season pass for $199. We can ski 2 days at roughly 200 areas, mostly in the US. We did use it 6 days in Japan this year though.
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My DH will be at Vail this weekend! We only get to ski a few days a year, but it’s really hard to turn down the epic pass. The discount on food at the slopes is a nice side benefit, but the condo rentals and ski rentals, even with the discount, is no deal. We used to own our own equipment, and yes it’s definitely more cost effective, but after a while it became a PITA to travel with all of it, so we decided just to rent.
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I think a pass is a must at any of the big mountains, especially Vail and Aspen. Day tickets are just too expensive. Vail is $300 now! 
As for schlepping gear around, I get it! We both took powder skis and carving skis to Japan. Those, with a boot bag are heavy and unwieldy. We’re doing it again next year though. Woot!
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Japan! Nice!
We typically ski with our older s and his family (translation- rent the condo, cook meals and babysit the younger one when not skiing!!! - So not much of a “vacation” though we love time with them), and we also rent the car/minivan. They schlep their skis/boots/poles and even rented/brought skis for the 6 yo with them. So not much room if we had equipment with us too. This year DS tried out putting “skins” on his skis to practice for an adventure he did in Yosemite a few weeks later.
We may consider visiting them and skiing a local “family” ski place in Tahoe next year, but DH is still looking into the epic pass. So hard to turn down…
This year one of the days we skiied was his birthday, and I love it when they scan his pass and it plays the Beatles “happy birthday” song.
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