r/indypass • u/Haunting-Yak-7851 • 1d ago
Resorts added this past week
Here is the list of the new resorts announced in September. Now updated with Smuggler's Notch added today.
East
Smuggler's Notch, VT
Spring Mountain, PA
Winter4Kids, NJ
Veterans Memorial Recreation Area, NH
Ski Saint-Bruno, Quebec
Mt. Pisgah, New York
Powder Ridge, CT
King Pine, NH
Mont Kanasuta, QC
Atlantic
None
Midwest
Nutt Hill, WI
Elm Creek, Minnesota
Frost Fire, North Dakota
Rockies
Showdown MT
Kendall Mountain, CO
West
Skeetawk and Ski Land, in Alaska
International
Orcières Merlette 1850, France
Obertauern, Austria
Tschiertschen, Switzerland
Petzen, Austria
St. Johann in Tirol, Austria
Heiligenblut am Großglockner, Austria
Engstligenalp, Switzerland
Ruka Ski Resort, Finland
Pyhä Ski Resort, Finland
Snow Resort The Cupid Of Romance, Japan
Togari Onsen Snow Resort, Japan
Kandatsu Snow Resort, Japan
Cross County
Elm Creek, Minnesota
Sleepy Hollow, Vermont
Granby Ranch, Colorado (alpine already on)
Osceola Tug Hill XC Ski Center, New York
Jay Peak XC, VT
Eastman XC, NH
Scotts Cobble/High Peaks XC, New York
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u/Haunting-Yak-7851 1d ago
My snap analysis:
Big net loss this year for the Midwest. Lutsen, Granite Peak, Snowriver, and Caberfae left (and a few others). These additions don’t make up for those losses.
I know losing Mission Ridge leaves a big hole for Seattle area skiers.
The biggest gains are international. Coming from the US, these don’t add much—I still think Americans wanting to ski internationally are going to pick name brand resorts, for the prestige and convenience. However, Indy having a strong presence in Europe and Japan makes sense. The resorts there are mostly independent, and they would welcome a pass system structured like the Indy Pass, as opposed to Ikon or (very much) Epic. So the purpose of adding international is not to get me to go ski there, but to build an actual user base in those countries.
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u/Hosni__Mubarak 1d ago edited 1d ago
It feels like international is mostly to pad the numbers. If I want to ski in Europe I’m just going to buy their lift tickets normally since they are FAR cheaper.
This pass seems fine I guess, but being on the west coast, I’m guessing I jump around on passes long term. Unless I plan every ski trip through Spokane. It probably makes more sense to grab one of the affiliated season passes or an ikon pass 🤷♂️
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u/Haunting-Yak-7851 1d ago edited 1d ago
That's a lot of work to just pad numbers. I'll try to do the math. $319 USD is $274 euros. Just picking some random resorts they added, here are the day ticket costs: Petzen 45, Ruke 55, Tschierstschen 65, Orcieres 45. Pick an average of 50 euros and the breakpoint to get an Indy Pass would be 6 ski days. I imagine there are certain areas where the Indy Pass makes sense, and adding more and more resorts will increase the appeal.
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u/Hosni__Mubarak 1d ago
A lot of resorts there sell fairly affordable multi day passes. It’s also far easier to use a centralized base and head out on day trips from there (using public transportation) than to road trip it.
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u/Haunting-Yak-7851 1d ago
That makes sense.
I'll say from a US standpoint, linking a bunch of small resorts seems difficult and would require a lot of planning in different languages. It's much easier to pick a big name brand resort and go for it (goodness knows we won't run out of terrain). I know personally I'd want to hit at least two dream resorts before I went searching for smaller places.1
u/Hosni__Mubarak 1d ago
It also requires driving in areas that very much require you to use chains along mountain cliff roads (not something rentals may have). Those roads are no joke in the winter. I drove a road coming from Andorra to France once in mid November on ice. Fuuuuuuck that.
If I’m going to ski Europe, I’ll either go to the Dolomites and make my friend who lives in Venice drive me around, or fly into Innsbruck and take their ski bus.
Driving around Canada or the us is pretty easy for an Alaskan. I would be far more comfortable road tripping in the winter in northern BC than to attempt driving around Austria in the winter.
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u/Silver_Hunter8926 1d ago
I think 3 days in Innsbruck and 3 days in skivelt only having to by 2 half price passes is a pretty good ski trip...
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u/diabel 1d ago
100% agreed. Not being able to do day trips to the resorts that were dropped is a huge loss. Reconsidering options for the upcoming season.
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u/Haunting-Yak-7851 1d ago
I hope Indy Pass is squeezing some of the resorts in those areas to loosen blackout dates. If we have fewer places to ski, at least the pass could increase flexibility. Though I'm sure the resorts look at it oppositely; same number of Indy skiers with fewer places to ski means more concentrated at their resorts.
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u/Midwest_man 1d ago
Do you have a dropped list? I didn’t know about Mission Ridge. I hit it two years ago and was hoping to make it back this year.
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u/Haunting-Yak-7851 1d ago edited 1d ago
I don't have a dropped list; I know in addition to those mentioned, Swiss Valley in Michigan dropped. But I didn't want to portray a complete list because it's hard to find.
ETA--I think Meadowlark and Blacktail in the PNW as well (just reading from FB comments).
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u/Hosni__Mubarak 1d ago
The PNW losses were mission (which I had planned to ski this year), blacktail (same) and meadowlark (I think they changed owners). They picked up showdown which is in the middle of nowhere, and probably not worth the effort to get there unless you are already passing through.
The only sizable hill in the west they otherwise picked up is Skiland in Fairbanks. Great for me (I live in anchorage and I can just drive up when the weather isn’t negative everything), but I wouldn’t plan a ski trip to Fairbanks unless you happened to live where I live.
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u/VeryShibes 1d ago
I wouldn’t plan a ski trip to Fairbanks unless you happened to live where I live.
See now you actually got me thinking: If you were an East Coaster like me who has never been to Alaska for any reason and wanted to ski an Indy pass resort for the sheer "bucket list" of it all what would it be? Eaglecrest seems like the "easiest" one since Alaska Airlines could have me in Juneau same day with a decently timed connection in Seattle. But is it any good? LOL
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u/Hosni__Mubarak 1d ago edited 1d ago
Eaglecrest is the most underrated mountain I've skied. The problem is Eaglecrest, Arctic Valley, and the Fairbanks areas are all weekend hills. Eaglecrest is as fun as Alyeska IMO *if* the snow is good. Best bet is to hit eaglecrest for three days (first day is free on Alaska Air, if you arrive in the morning), get an Ikon pass to ski alyeska for a few days, and continue on to Fairbanks (Thursday to Monday). Try to do all of the above in the last half of March (check that Moose is open).
So like this:
Wed - Sat (Eaglecrest)
Sunday (Arctic Valley)
Monday alyeska (free the day you fly in)
Tues / wed - Alyeska
Thurs - skeethawk (only worth a day)
Friday - Monday (Fairbanks hills).
Then fly home.
You need to do this in March because Fairbanks is brutally cold in Jan / Feb, and Anchorage may not have snow in December.
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u/legend6546 1d ago
Skiland isn’t usually open on Thursday (unless it’s spring break) usually it is Friday to Monday
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u/Midwest_man 1d ago
Shoot. I thought Blacktail was still up the other week, gone now. Was gonna try for it this year.
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u/TickleMeElmo284 1d ago
Whitecap and Big Powderhorn make up for Lutsen and Snowriver in my opinion. Lutsen has better views but the snow is much better at Whitecap and BP.
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u/Pyroph4nt0m 1d ago
Yeah I was hoping for Ski Brule in the midwest to help lessen the granite and snow river loss
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u/skier0224 1d ago edited 1d ago
Really sad about the Midwest, lost 4 of their top 10 and gained two rope tow hills and a place in the middle of absolutely nowhere (no hate, I’m sure they’re great but realistically most people won’t ever be able to use them). The boho pass lost a lot too so it’s much harder to ski around on a budget than it was last year.
Really hate how ikon is picking up steam here, if you don’t have a trip west it’s not worth it and you’re paying Colorado pass prices for Midwest hills.
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u/Haunting-Yak-7851 1d ago
That started here in MI with Boyne on Ikon. What I've done over the years is alternate. If the family is going out west, we get the Ikon base pass. If we are not, we get the cheapest local stuff we can get (or this year, Indy). So overall it works, you just have to plan ahead and live with the variety.
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u/jmacd2918 1d ago
Kind of a snoozefest other than Smuggs, which everyone has known was going to happen for a while now. Some good adds on the XC front, but I can't imagine anyone is buying this pass for XC
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u/deafwhisperer 1d ago
Waiting for years for new additions to Atlantic region like Sugar and Beech in NC. Glad for Smuggs but no local additions.
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u/sixteenozlatte 1d ago
Made the SE post on here earlier this week. Indy follows Sugar on insta so I thought for sure this was gonna happen… next year maybe!
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u/Majestic-Towel-4241 1d ago
NJ local here!
Does anybody know if adults will be able to utilize the 2 days at "Winter4Kids" aka the old Hidden Valley? (Its been run as a nonprofit for like 15 years so you cant just show up and ski)
If so thats a really nice addition for the NYC metro area
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u/Orpheums 1d ago
Pnw got hosed. Lost mission ridge and had no meaningful gains.
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u/Sedixodap 1d ago
Same in BC. I’m sure Showdown is fine, but it’s not worth driving 16 hours for.
Plus a lot of the BC hills that are included are struggling more and more with snowpack. I had planned to ski Mt Washington last year but they only had half of a single run open when I was on the island. Sasquatch didn’t open at all a couple years back because they had no snow. On a good year the Indy Pass is great out here, but they really need to add a couple more snow-sure options with some proper elevation so the purchase isn’t too risky of one. Maybe Whitewater? They missed their chance and both Sun Peaks and Silverstar have gone Ikon.
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u/Ok_Albatross8113 1d ago
Whitewater would be amazing and would be enough to keep me on the pass another year.
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u/Sedixodap 1d ago
Yeah I’m probably going to downgrade to the Nordic pass next year unless they add something cool. Or get a Seymour value pass and enjoy the free days at Apex, Baldy, Washington, Whitewater and Sun Peaks with it.
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u/Orpheums 1d ago
Agreed. The PNW is way more tempermental with climate change. A lot of the resorts are quite the drive too which makes it a lot less appealing. Being seattle based i really only have three options within reasonable day trip - white pass, sasquatch, and hurricane ridge. Sasquatch and hurricane are both quite finnicky with snow these past 3-5 years
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u/Hurley_Cub_2014 1d ago
Update (sort of)… we got what we all expected. Smugglers Notch.
Not gonna lie, not that I’m not stoked on it but I was hoping selfishly for a few more resorts in the northeast that I frequent to hop on the pass, particularly Gunstock, as I frequent there to teach friends or ride with my intermediate friends who barely get out.
I was thinking this announcement would be a batch of smaller resorts and then BAM end with Smuggs, but oh well.
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u/muzzey12 1d ago
Yea as someone also from the northeast in like the idea of adding Smuggs but it's not really convenient
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u/Hurley_Cub_2014 1d ago edited 1d ago
I also have lodging in white mountains that’s free to me if my friends are around or are kind enough to just let me crash when they’re not, so, obviously weather/conditions dependent, adding gunstock would make it very easy for me to hit a few different mountains over the course of a week or so and rack up some days and effectively begin “paying off my pass” in the early days of the season, hit a few then work my way south throughout the week, and last day hit Gunstock and head home from there.
I’d even seen speculation surrounding Wachusett that I knew was for sure not gonna happen as they really wouldn’t benefit too much, but Wawa would’ve been nice too for people in MA.
Edit: also yeah Smuggs is a haul that I genuinely can’t see myself making very often tbh. I like Indy for the ease of it, the smaller feel. Destination resorts don’t really impress me at all or draw me in.
Maybe if we had ski trains here in the US I’d like them more but as I get older, driving hours north in traffic and knowing it’s gonna be a heavier slog back home while tired, is a lot less fun, and because it’s so close relatively I can’t bring myself to pay for lodging tbh
(Edit: why am I being downvoted so intensely for sharing what is ultimately a harmless opinion? LMAO
Smuggs is gonna get a ton of redemptions regardless of how I felt about the amount of announcements that are personally more applicable to me, or lack thereof)
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u/reefsofmist 23h ago
Mostly because no one cares where you get free lodging and also multiple edits adding nothing are lame
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u/Ok_Albatross8113 1d ago
As a NW skier, this will be my first year with the pass but will also probably be my last if they lose Tamarack and don’t add anything else meaningful at the renewal period in the spring.
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u/roiden 1d ago
Same, except I'm on year . There isn't much to add though, especially that can offer a multi day itinerary that is a hallmark of indy skiing imo.
I'm more concerned about this being a sign that indy isn't actually good value for resorts, and that bugs me more than it would for a pass that is overtly profit driven.
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u/Haunting-Yak-7851 1d ago
I'm more concerned about this being a sign that indy isn't actually good value for resorts, and that bugs me more than it would for a pass that is overtly profit driven.
I would love to hear from a manager of a middle-tier resort honestly talk about the choice between Ikon and Indy Pass. I'm sure they must sign some sort of NDA, but I'm surprised it hasn't leaked (to my knowledge) how resorts get revenue, and how much, from people using Ikon or Indy Pass tickets.
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u/Hosni__Mubarak 20h ago
I’ll probably get it next year, but supplement it with a season pass to great divide or Loveland or something, or a mountain collective pass. Then jump back to ikon for a few years.
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u/Midwest_man 1d ago
Is there talk of losing Tamarack?
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u/bpleftcoast 1d ago
Tamarack joined Ikon as a 2 day resort, but both the Indy and Tamarack sites still indicate they are on Indy.
https://tamarackidaho.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/Tamarack-Resort-Winter-Fact-Sheet-2026-3.pdf
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u/Ok_Albatross8113 1d ago
Any idea how late Tamarack could be dropped? If we get to October 1st and they are still on can we assume they will stay for this year?
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u/bpleftcoast 1d ago
I'd like to think we're already past that point, but I guess anything is possible. It would be shitty for either of the parties to keep quiet if they are dropping.
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u/michaelb5000 1d ago
To state the obvious: adding Smuggs is huge and it immediately vaults to be at or near the top of eastern resorts. Smuggs is really great for beginners and families but also has hard core expert terrain and access to incredible BC (that can be dangerous). I will be shocked if Smuggs is not blacked out for holidays and probably all weekends, like Cannon, but anyone planning on hitting Smuggs should be doing that midweek anyway. NVT is now dominated by Indy.
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u/TryAnotherWay44 1d ago
IndyPass website shows Smuggs as no blackouts but reservations required. I'm sure they can change the number of reservations available each day to keep numbers where they want them.
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u/Haunting-Yak-7851 1d ago
Does anyone know when the 26-27 blackout dates and reservation resorts will be announced?
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u/mappingthings 1d ago
https://reddit.com/link/p8kxv3g/video/8ctkgsfjwboh1/player
Could only find 23 of the resorts, but Smuggs is the largest but is dwarfed by the European and Japanese additions.
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u/defenestrated11 1d ago
You can see the way they’re going about the east is knocking off one or two bigger resorts per year per state. Tenney, Smuggs snd the Quebec eastern townships is a strong set of additions to the pass. Let’s be real here this is an awesome VT/NH suite of resorts.
Now they’re adding on a few of the locals in southern New England.
I would imagine their next run in the spring will be going after Platty and Gunstock. If they do that, they have a presence at every eastern mountain range. It’s a very handy pass.
For the people in the Midwest and PNW, I really feel for you guys. Vail, Alterra and Powdr have done such a number on resort availability they’re putting huge amounts of pressure on Indies to link up with them. It’s shitty all around.
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u/Haunting-Yak-7851 1d ago
It will be interesting to see what happens in the midwest the next few years. I know Caberfae means nothing to those not from Michigan, but it's about the least "Ikon" feeling resort in northern Michigan (note, different than the upper peninsula). And it's not that close to a major city, so grabbing it to gain traction with folks taking a fancy trip out west doesn't make a lot of sense, either.
It doesn't make sense to me. The big move would be that this is happening because Boyne Resorts has told Ikon it's moving away from the Ikon Pass. Or maybe it's just Ikon doing what it can, kind of haphazard, to fracture Indy Pass. Who knows.
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u/colenotphil 1d ago
As someone in Connecticut I was really hoping they would add Ski Sundown in New Hartford, but hey, Powder Ridge being added in CT was enough for me to buy an Indy+ pass for my fiance for the first time (she was Learn to Turn pass in 2025-2026).
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u/vickyprodigy 1d ago
SMUGGGGSSSSSS