Jan Brunvand’s season pass collection.

Indy Pass and the new Snow Pass offer value along with multiple choices at smaller, less crowded areas, including many family-owned and operated. While both offer an alternative to super-sized corporate owned resorts and passes, they are quite different.

Here’s a comparison of what Indy Pass and Snow Pass offer – and don’t.

Indy Pass has been around for several years, and continues to grow each year, now more than 300 downhill and XC resorts in North America, Europe and Asia. In Spring 2026, Indy announced 30 additional areas for this season, and has just added more, including Smuggler’s Notch, the popular 70-year-old resort in northern Vermont.

Indy also lost a few areas for the 2026/27 season, including Granite Peak, Wis.; Lutsen Mountain, Minn.; and Snowriver Mountain, Mich, which all switched to the Ikon Pass.

The Indy Pass provides two free days at each participating area, plus an additional day at a hefty discount, for prices starting at $419 and $99 for the XC Pass. There also are upgrades for additional days and perks.

Although you can’t possibly ski them all – since there simply aren’t 600 days in a season – it’s still a good deal even if you downhill at just a dozen, which works out roughly to $50-$60 a day by my math.

The problem with Indy Pass is that sales are strictly capped, to prevent overwhelming an area. Indy Passes  went on sale to the public on Sept. 8, and are likely sold out by the time you read this.

“Last spring, we sold out of Indy Passes in just 37 minutes, a clear signal that skiers and riders are hungry for affordable access to independent ski areas,” said Indy Pass Director Erik Mogensen in a recent press release.

There’s no such sales cap on the new Snow Pass, which starts with just over a dozen areas, primarily in the Northeast, including fiercely independent Plattekill and New York State-owned Belleayre in the Catskills, indoor skiing at northern New Jersey’s Big Snow, plus Monarch in Colorado and Snow King, in downtown Jackson Hole.

Snow Pass holders get 28 days for $339.99. As with Indy Pass, Snow Pass holders can buy additional days at discount.

Snow Partners, the company behind Snow Pass, also is offering Snow Triple Play, which gives holders three lift tickets to use at just about any area. The Snow Triple Play is $179.99, which works out to $60 a day.

Sales for both Snow Pass and Triple Play also went on sale on Sept. 8, and hopes to add more areas next season, 2027/28.

Check the websites for additional details, including the names and locations of each participating destination –

• Indy Pass – www.indypass.com
• Snow Pass – www.mysnowpass.com

See you on the slopes!

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Evelyn Kanter

Evelyn Kanter is a NYC-based travel and environmental writer and a senior skier who would rather ride a chairlift, river raft or zipline than the subway, and has done so in the more than 100 countries she’s visited, skiing in many of them. In what she calls a “previous life”, she was a TV and radio news reporter for ABC News and CBS News, now a regular contributor to major publications, including airline inflights and AAA magazines, and has written or contributed to more than a dozen travel guidebooks.Her latest are “100 Things to Do in NYC Before You Die”, Fodor’s Essential Germany and Fodor’s New York City. Evelyn's website is www.ecoxplorer.com

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