Solitude Eliminates Blackout Days for Ikon Base Pass

Solitude in Utah’s Big Cottonwood Canyon is dropping blackout days for the Ikon Base Pass

Utah’s Solitude ski resort, which is one of two ski areas at the head of the famously-snowy Big Cottonwood Canyon, recently announced they will have no blackout days for the Ikon Base Pass for the 2024-25 season.

The Ikon Pass has taken over the Utah market, and with this change, Ikon Base and Base Plus Pass holders will finally have a place to ski over the previously blacked out holiday periods of December 26th-31st, January 18th-19th, and February 15th-16th (as a reminder, unlike the Epic Local Pass, the Ikon Base Pass is not blacked out over Thanksgiving).

With this move, Solitude joins Copper Mountain, Eldora, and Winter Park as the only Rocky Mountain destinations that are unlimited without holiday blackout dates on the Ikon Base Pass.

Solitude’s interesting lift layout means lines build up at the Summit Lift, which is the only way to access around half of the terrain, including Honeybomb Canyon and the SolBright trail, which connects Solitude with Brighton next-door.

Our Take

Through the mid-2010s, Solitude historically lived up to its name, functioning as a place for Utah skiers and riders to escape the crowds of Little Cottonwood Canyon or Park City. However, since the introduction of the Ikon Pass and the resort’s acquisition by Alterra in 2018, Solitude has seen a major uptick in traffic. Despite that uptick, Alterra seems to have decided that Solitude has the capacity on holiday weekends that they could allow Ikon Base Pass holders to join in on the lift line fun.

We imagine this decision may backfire a bit on Solitude. We’d argue the crowd flow at the resort could already use some improvement, especially when it comes to access to the upper mountain—which is bottlenecked exclusively by the Summit quad chair. Opening Solitude up to more holiday guests also has the potential to cause even more traffic issues in Big Cottonwood Canyon, which, while not as busy as Little Cottonwood Canyon, also sees its fair share of traffic backups.

At the end of the day, Alterra has a ton of data on lift usage and ticketing through their use of RFID ticketing. We don’t think Alterra wants lift lines to be associated with their resorts, but it’s possible this change may have other motives behind it. Lodging is a big revenue driver for ski resort operators, and by opening the Ikon Base Pass to more users, Solitude may have an easier time of filling its base village—which happens to be the only sizable base village in the Cottonwoods—over the holidays.

One could also argue the move also puts Ikon even further ahead of Epic in the pass war for Utah. While Vail only has Park City on its Epic Pass, Alterra has Solitude, Brighton, Snowbird, Alta, Deer Valley, and Snowbasin all on the Ikon Pass, though only Solitude, Brighton, and Snowbird are accessible on the Ikon Base Pass. On the other hand, the Mountain Collective Pass, while only offering two days of access to each of its resorts, includes access to Alta, Snowbird, and Snowbasin with no holiday blackouts at a starting price below both the Epic Local and Ikon Base Passes.

Considering a ski trip to Utah? Check out our Solitude review here, and check out our ranking of the major Utah ski areas in article form here or video form below.