Epic Passes Debut for 2024-25 With Minimal Changes and Higher Prices

UPDATE 3/5/24 9:00pm ET: Updated to correct the price for the Epic Local Pass, which was erroneously quoted at last year’s rate.

On Tuesday, Vail Resorts announced its suite of Epic Pass products for the 2024-25 winter season. Access will remain similar to last year, meaning Epic’s terms will likely continue to undercut its main competitor, the Ikon Pass, although prices have increased across all levels of passes.

The top-of-the-line Epic Pass, which offers unlimited access with no blackouts to all resorts owned by Vail, will start at just $982—an increase of 8%, the same rate hike as last year. The lower-level 2024-25 Epic Local Pass, which contains holiday blackouts and limited access at some resorts, starts at $731—also an 8% increase from last year. Both products are likely to remain cheaper than their Ikon Pass competitors. Regional Epic products, such as the Northeast Value Pass and Tahoe Local Passes, remain available for a lower price; these products typically come with more restrictive blackouts than the full Epic and Epic Local Passes.

The Epic Day Pass product, which is essentially a flexible 1-to-7-day lift ticket, will continue to be offered in the same three price tiers as last year—also with an 8% price hike. The upper “All Resorts” tier starts at $93 for a 1-day non-holiday pass. The “32 Resorts” tier, which excludes high-caliber destinations such as Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Park City, and Whistler, starts at $73 for a 1-day non-holiday pass, while the base “22 Resorts” tier, which completely excludes all mountains outside New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and the Midwest, starts at just $44.

Epic has not gained or lost any major North American partners for the upcoming winter. However, a few additions have occurred overseas. The pass suite will add Crans-Montana, Switzerland, subject to its acquisition by Vail Resorts, with unlimited access on the full Epic Pass and 5 days of access on the Epic Local Pass. The full Epic Pass will also add 5 days at Rusutsu Resort, Japan—marking its first offering in that country.

Outside of Europe and Japan, the biggest changes this year arguably come with the redemption of Buddy and Ski with a Friend tickets. Epic Pass holders who want to redeem these discounted tickets for their friends can now do so online, rather than waiting on line at the resort ticket window. Those who purchase an Epic Pass within the near future will receive ten Buddy tickets and six Ski with a Friend tickets (the former offers a bigger discount than the latter). In addition, Whistler Blackcomb will now allow guests to store their lift pass on their phone, moving in line to the same feature offered at Vail Resorts’ 36 US resorts this year.

Epic is also continuing to offer no-interest payment plan for their 2024-25 pass products. Pending creditworthiness, pass purchasers will be able to lock in a 6-month installment plan, with payments starting in September, with no interest. The payment plan continues to be unavailable to Iowa and West Virginia residents.

All 2024-25 Epic Pass products are on sale now on the Epic website.

Our Take

As with last year, the 2024-25 Epic Pass suite is more evolutionary than revolutionary. Besides a few technology innovations and overseas access additions, the upcoming 2024-25 Epic Pass suite is essentially the same as the 2023-24 one.

We expect Epic’s pass products to undercut Ikon price-wise for the fourth year in a row, and some Ikon customers eligible for renewal discounts may pay less if they switch to an equivalent Epic product—although we won’t know for sure until Ikon releases their 2024-25 passes (which will likely happen some time in the next week or two).

Ultimately, Epic looks to be maintaining the status quo this season: continuing to offer unlimited access to Vail-owned resorts at competitive prices, while keeping a grip on the few remaining non-Vail-owned partners. Epic has lost ground in certain North American regions compared to Ikon in recent years, and Telluride and the Canadian RCR resorts on the full pass remain the only North American mountains not owned by Vail. However, Epic looks to be trying to establish a stronger grip on Europe with the addition of Crans-Montana, and it continues to offer competitive offerings in Andermatt-Sedrun-Disentis, Les 3 Vallées, Skirama Dolomiti, Verbier 4 Vallées, and Ski Arlberg—although the latter four are only available on the full Epic Pass, and access to the latter two only is conditional on booking a (typically very expensive) partner hotel.

We’re excited to see how the Epic Pass suite stacks up against the 2024-25 Ikon Pass suite, which has not debuted yet. We’re watching to see whether Ikon maintains a status quo similar to Epic or decides to shake things up with more radical access changes—last year, there weren’t too many shakeups on either side.

For more information on resorts on the Epic Pass, see our Epic Pass mountain reviews as well as our Colorado, Tahoe, Utah, Vermont, and Washington rankings.

Looking for curated trip-booking help for an Epic Pass mountain for the 2024-25 season? Check out our trip planning service, PeakRankings Trips! ✈️

We can plan every aspect of your trip, whether it be to Europe, North America, or anything in between—and as of today, we can book your 2024-25 Epic Pass lift access as well!