Sugar Bowl Joins Mountain Collective for 2022-23 Season, Restoring California Access
A view up Sugar Bowl’s Nob Hill novice area, with Mt. Disney in the background.
California’s Sugar Bowl will join the Mountain Collective Pass for the upcoming 2022-23 season, as reported by the Storm Skiing Journal. Collective Pass holders will get two days of unrestricted access at this Tahoe-area mountain next winter. Following the exit of all Alterra-owned resorts from the Mountain Collective, including Mammoth and Palisades Tahoe, Sugar Bowl will be the only ski resort in California on this pass product.
With this addition, Sugar Bowl becomes the fifth new addition to the Collective for 2022-23, following Sun Valley, Snowbasin, Le Massif, and Marmot Basin. For the upcoming winter, Mountain Collective will now offer two-day access to 25 destinations around the globe, 19 of which are in North America.
Our Take
After nearly mirroring the offerings on the Ikon Pass for years, the Collective Pass finally gets its first new exclusive U.S. resort in years (the only other one is Grand Targhee). Sugar Bowl isn’t exactly as big as the Palisades Tahoe and Mammoth offerings it replaces, but it sees fewer crowds than both resorts and surprisingly extreme terrain. For those in the Bay Area who bought a Mountain Collective Pass, the offering has quickly and unexpectedly restored an option within driving distance.
Mountain Collective is not the first pass partnership that Sugar Bowl has taken part in. The resort was part of the Powder Alliance, a reciprocal pass program, from 2018 to 2021; however, the resort terminated the relationship for the 2021-22 season after low utilization from its passholders, and had no partner benefits last season. Perhaps Sugar Bowl will find that joining a separate multi-resort pass, rather than entering a pass partnership alliance, will result in more beneficial visitation for them.
Considering a ski trip to Tahoe this year? Check out our Sugar Bowl review, as well as our full California and Lake Tahoe rankings.
Considering the Mountain Collective Pass? Check out our detailed comparison against competing Epic, Ikon, and Indy offerings.
