Let’s get some basic information out of the way before putting it into context. Here are the 30 ski areas that Indy Pass is adding today for the 2024-25 ski season:
This follows July’s additions:
Which followed the March additions:
Which, together with Indy’s existing roster, adds up to an incredible 227 ski areas:
Since that chart is borderline incomprehensible due to its length and density, let’s pull out some highlights:
Indy Pass now offers skiers two days each at 174 Alpine ski areas in seven countries on three continents.
125 of those ski areas are in the United States, meaning that skiers can access approximately one quarter of the nation’s 505 ski areas on a single ski pass.
122 of those ski areas run at least one chairlift, meaning 31 percent – nearly one-third – of U.S. ski areas with a chairlift are on Indy Pass.
Indy now offers access to 24 Japanese ski areas.
Indy is creeping into crucial, relatively untapped markets, signing its first three ski areas in Quebec, its first resort in the Pyrenees, and its first two indoor ski areas, both in the UK.
Indy continues to build regional density in already strong markets, adding 4 Midwest ski areas for a total of 37 in the region; 2 New England ski areas for a total of 23 in the region; and 3 in New York/Pennsylvania, for a total of 17 between the two states.
Indy scored big with the addition of Loveland, giving the pass seven ski areas in Colorado, America’s busiest and most important ski state.
The addition of Epic- or Ikon-worthy Innsbruck, Austria – which follows the addition of monster Ski Welt in March – suggests that Indy can compete with the mega-megas for major international destinations.
Indy continues to retain partners at an impressive rate. All but two 2023-24 partners – Powder Mountain, Utah and Mt. Ashland, Oregon – are likely to return for the 2024-25 ski season. Indy has not yet finalized the roster.
Hoedown Hill, Colorado and Cazenovia Ski Club, New York are just the second and third surface-lift-only ski areas to join Indy (the other is Hickory, New York), suggesting that the pass could be open to adding at least some of America’s other 100 surface-lift-only mountains to the pass.
The additions of Cazenovia and Hunt Hollow – both private clubs that are opening their lifts to Indy Pass holders – suggest an ancillary revenue stream for America’s 45 private or semi-private ski areas (Yellowstone Club, here we come).
The international reach of U.S.-based multimountain passes continues to grow, with 39 affiliated ski areas in Canada, 19 in Europe, and 37 in Japan. Indy has yet to crack the Southern Hemisphere, which is home to fewer than 100 ski areas, most of them in Chile, Argentina, Australia, and New Zealand.
And dear Lord this pass is only five years old.
With these 30 new resorts adding more passholder capacity, Indy Pass will go back on sale today through Sunday (Oct. 24 to 27), for anyone on the waitlist. On Monday, Oct. 28, Indy will release any remaining inventory for the general public. Here are the prices:
That’s all a lot to process. But I went ahead and processed it. Here’s a breakdown of each of Indy’s 30 new partners, where Indy and other U.S.-based megapasses stand in the global roster race, and what today’s additions mean for Indy’s trajectory and growth.
I’ve been saying for years that Indy may be running out of American ski areas to sign. There is a finite supply, and those that want to sit out the Megapocalypse (Wolf Creek, Mt. Rose, Whitefish, etc.) have made their preferences clear. But every time I write that, Indy signs more ski areas. So maybe I should just shut up and keep counting.
There are still some large, unclaimed ski areas in the American West, and Indy scored two big ones today in Bear Valley, California, and Loveland, seated on the doorstep of Colorado High Country.
Vertical drop: 1,900 feet
Skiable Acres: 1,680
Average annual snowfall: 359 inches
Lift fleet: 8 (1 six-pack, 1 high-speed quad, 1 fixed-grip quad, 2 triples, 2 doubles, 1 carpet – view Lift Blog’s inventory of Bear Valley’s lift fleet)
Bear Valley is today’s least surprising addition, the fourth of California Mountain Resort Company’s four ski areas to join the pass. What is likely surprising about Bear Valley to a lot of people reading this is that Bear Valley is the seventh-largest ski area in California and the 43rd-largest in the United States, 1,680 acres of Tahoe-caliber terrain parked just outside of Tahoe’s cluttered orbit.
Since purchasing Bear Valley last year, CMRC has been upgrading Bear Valley’s antiquated lift fleet, replacing the Jurassic Koala double with a used fixed-grip quad from Taos; shortening the Kuma triple; removing the redundant and antiquated Cub double; replacing Super Cub’s Riblet double bucket chairs with bail-style chairs equipped with safety bars; and overhauling the circa-1967 Grizzly Riblet double (the trailmap above is last year’s, and does not yet reflect the upgrades). Crews also cut down overgrowth in Grizzly Bowl with hopes of opening that 1,267-vertical-foot, all-natural-snow terrain pod sooner after storms, perhaps even with a groomed trail or two.
Bear Valley’s biggest shortcoming is the lack of a backside lift connecting Bear Valley Village to the ski area proper. From Bear Top or Koala Top, skiers can descend up to 1,400 vertical feet and 500 acres of marked runs down Dardanelles Vista Bowl and Sunrise Bowl, but the only way back to the top is via shuttlebus. CMRC CEO Karl Kapuscinski told me last year that a lift could come as soon as 2025, though I suspect that timeline may shift as the company deals with wildfire damage to its Mountain High ski areas over the summer.
Vertical drop: 2,210 feet
Skiable Acres: 1,800
Average annual snowfall: 422 inches
Lift fleet: 11 (1 high-speed quad, 3 fixed-grip quads, 4 triples, 1 double, 2 carpets – view Lift Blog’s inventory of Loveland’s lift fleet
Colorado is both extremely important for Indy and somewhat inconsequential. Important because the state accounts for approximately one in four U.S. skier visits. Somewhat inconsequential because Indy, with its two-days-per-resort model, is unlikely to seriously compete with the unlimited-at-megaresorts Epic and Ikon passes. Here’s what the Colorado megapass landscape looks like with Loveland’s addition to Indy: