The specific promotions described in this article have now passed, but it remains online so that the resources named will be of future use to travelers.
Passes come and go, and some get better with age. Gone is Copper Mountain's Snow Day Pass ($99 for the season but good only on powder days). Ski Utah yeti Pass (tickets for all 14 resorts in the state) sold out quickly.
Vail's Epic Pass has become a national product: You can make it worthwhile with a couple of visits to Colorado or Lake Tahoe even if you live in Boston. But it's impossible to top Monarch Mountain's incredible 26-mountain pass that has gone global this season.
Be prepared to book before these deals expire -- or sell out.
One Planet One Pass, Monarch Mountain
At $339 for adults ($109 for kids 7-12; $209 for kids 13-15), Monarch Mountain's season pass is a good deal even if it includes just one resort. But amazingly, Monarch's season pass includes not only unlimited skiing at the family-friendly Colorado resort, but deals at 25 other resorts in four countries: the U.S., Canada, Germany, and Switzerland.
Many partners offer three free lift tickets per Monarch pass-holder; others offer discounts and free lift tickets when you buy lodging. Among the partners offering three free lift tickets and other discounts are Loveland, Durango, and Sunlight Mountain in Colorado; Revelstoke in British Columbia; and six resorts in New Mexico. Across the pond are Monarch's new partners in Switzerland and Germany, the 5 Berge & Co. resorts (Hochfelln, Kampenwand, Wendelstein, and Oberdorf) in Germany, and Hochkossen in Switzerland. Book by Nov. 6.
Epic Pass, Vail ResortsYou aren't going to get any more acreage than by buying an Epic Pass from Vail Resorts. The $649 pass is good at not only Vail and Beaver Creek but also Arapahoe Basin, Keystone, and Breckenridge in Summit County, Colorado, and a pair of resorts near Lake Tahoe, California: Heavenly Mountain Resort and new Vail acquisition Northstar-at-Tahoe.
For those who just have one week to spare, the Epic 7-Day Pass ($499) is good at the same mountains and will save you on full-day lift tickets that have recently broken the $100 barrier at Vail and Beaver Creek.
The Ski Salt Lake Super Pass ($330 for five days) is good at the four resorts outside Salt Lake City in Big and Little Cottonwood canyons (Solitude, Brighton, Alta, and Snowbird). The pass includes bus transportation from Salt Lake. There are no blackout dates.
While Colorado's Copper Mountain and Winter Park no longer operated by the same company, they continue to collaborate on a single unlimited ski pass that also includes six unrestricted days at tickets at Steamboat for $499. For just unlimited skiing at Winter Park and Copper, it's $429. The four-day 4by40 Pass with two days each at Winter Park and Steamboat is $229.
New this season from Alpine Meadows and Squaw Valley USA, these two standouts in North Lake Tahoe have teamed up to offer one season pass that starts at $439 (with holiday blackouts) for access to a combined 6,000 acres of terrain. Other Alpine passes include unlimited skiing at several other resorts, including Kirkwood and Homewood in the Tahoe area, Durango in Colorado, and Red Lodge in Montana.
Honorable Mentions:
Colorado's Loveland Ski Area with midweek steal (read: no traffic or lift lines) for $249
Mt. Rose near Reno, Nevada with a Raw Pass with weekend and holiday blackouts for as low as $199
Across the state line in California, Sierra-at-Tahoe's unlimited adult passes are just $379
Good at Sunday River and Sugarloaf in Maine and Loon Mountain in New Hampshire, the New England Pass starts at $489 with blackouts on holidays and weekends
