Pricing and new details for the 2026-2027 Ikon Passes were released by Alterra Mountain Company yesterday. The endless arms race of adding new mountains, new partners, new bonus mountains, pass perks and renewal bonuses makes the process of deciding on what options you really need a major pain in the ass. The added costs of all of these extras is getting to the point of ridiculousness. This will not be a complete analysis of everything the Ikon Pass can offer, as I really don’t care.
Back in 2018, the Ikon Pass seemed like a reasonable thing. For a price less that we were paying for an Alpine Meadows/Squaw pass, we would now have access to all sorts of mountains across the United States. Over the next couple of years, prices increased in amounts that were reasonable. But in the race to add more mountains and more features and bonuses to beat the other guys, things have gotten out of control.
Over the last eight years of being an Ikon Pass holder, about 98.5% of my days have been at Alpine Meadows. Palisades Tahoe accounts for the 1% and Mammoth Mountain accounts for that last 0.5 percent. I just want a pass for Alpine Meadows, and the northern annex, because there’s an umbilical cord between the two.
Here’s a look back at what the full Ikon Pass has cost since it’s introduction:
| 2018-2019 | $899 |
| 2019-2020 | $919* |
| 2020-2021 | $799** |
| 2021-2022 | $899* |
| 2022-2023 | $979* |
| 2023-2024 | $1049* |
| 2024-2025 | $1149* |
| 2025-2026 | $1229* |
| 2026-2027 | $1399 |
| * Price includes a renewal discount | ** Price includes a renewal discount & COVID credit |
Yes, I know, I am the last person that should be complaining about pass prices. In a typical season I get my per day cost down to somewhere around 5 to 10 dollars. But I would argue that most Ikon Pass holders in the Tahoe regional market are also not really using all of those extra mountains or added perks either. Who needs 70+ destinations on one ski pass? Not most of us. Please just let us buy a Palisades Tahoe pass at a reasonable price.
The Added Perks
The only meaningful perk I have ever really used has been the 15% food and beverage discounts, which were taken away for this season. It looks like they are back for next season. The rest of the perks….
- Kiehl’s skincare discounts
- TRUBAR protein bar subscription discounts
- CARV digital coaching discount
- AG1 powder supplement welcome kit
- Away Luggage discount
- Smartwool discount
- Icebreaker discount
- The North Face discount
- JSX flight discount
- ShipSkis discount
- US Ski & Snowboard membership
- Protect Our Winters membership
Yup, I have never used and will never use any of those. Most of the discounts are no better than what you can find through regular sales or other channels. I did, for the first time ever use the Paramount Plus trial this season. It took three years to get a working code! I ended up never watching anything. I just want a pass that gets me on the lifts every day.
Those friends and family tickets? I think I have used one in all of my years with an Ikon pass. All of my friends and all of my family already have an Ikon pass.
Now We Have Added Pass Renewal “Bonuses”
If you looked closely, the prices for the 2026-2027 Ikon Pass took a significant jump, and that has everything to do with the missing asterisk on that price. There is no longer a simple $100 discount on renewal passes. Now there is a menu with a whole new level of choices you may or may not want. At first it seemed like a great deal, until you realize you can only select one of the bonuses. Here’s the options:
- Up to $25 a month in Mountain credits, up to $300 a year, that can be used for food and beverages, rentals and onsite retail purchases
- $100 Backcountry.com credit plus a premium membership
- One free night at Mariott Bonvoy property worth up to 25,000 points
- Up to two free days of ski rentals with Ski Butlers
- Up to a $50 pass renewal credit
For me, the mountain credit option could work out. You can’t bank the credits, so in a typical 6 month Tahoe season, you could use $150 in credits. Theoretically you could also use credits in the off season in some places at the annex village. I get that not everyone is in a Tahoe regional market so other perks make more sense. Why not just keep giving the renewal credit as has been done with ski passes since long before the Ikon Pass!
Fun Fact: A couple of months ago, there was a semi-secretive Ikon Pass promotion that was selectively emailed out to some pass holders, and advertised at Deer Valley. If you signed up for the promotion, you were promised $20 in mountain credits for up to three days – or $60 in credits. I was warned by multiple people that those credits would never be given, as way more people signed up than anticipated. But those credits showed up in my Ikon Pass wallet this week. I got some pretzel bites at The Chalet today and they tasted better than ever. 😁
Wait A Minute, I Have A “Squad” Too
I’ll come right out and state the obvious – ageism is wrong. Offering a Squad Pack only to those aged 23-28 may sound right from some dim witted marketing perspective, but in this age of inclusivity, it’s wrong, period. Someone will make the argument that this is the demographic that is creating new families and thus, new skiers and riders. They’re probably a decade off on that assumption.
Yeah, I just became a grandpa this year. I am one of those guys that made sure that my kid grew up as a skier. We put him on a ski team at 11 and moved to the area to become a part of the ski community. I am the cool uncle in Tahoe that opens our “Tahoe house” to my nieces and nephews and their children, making sure that everyone in our family develops a love for skiing and riding. I bought skis for my 11 month old grandson and have already started him developing his love for playing in the snow. We are the ones that are bringing the grandkids to the mountain while parents go to work.
The Squad Pack should be offered to all age levels, and for both the Base Ikon Pass and the full Ikon Pass. Back in the day, Alpine Meadows offered a group pass purchase. While it was targeted at businesses and clubs, any 20 people could get together and form a group buy. That’s how I met Randy #1 and a number of other ski friends.
The Single Mountain Pass Option
All of the Alterra owned mountains should offer a single mountain pass. I enjoy skiing and riding at my home mountain. I know it like my own backyard. I am happy to ski it when conditions are good and when they are not so good. Encouraging more and more travel, especially when it involves jet planes, is a losing battle for ski areas.
The truth is, some of the Alterra resorts do offer a single mountain pass. Wait, I just went down the list of “Local Pass” options at the Ikon Pass site and found out that most of the Alterra owned resorts do have a local pass. Sadly, Palisades Tahoe/Alpine Meadows is one of the few that do not.
Update: Ten Alterra owned mountains have cheaper single mountain pass options. Most interesting is June Mountain, which previously was tied to Mammoth Mountain, it now offers a June only option.
This should be changed. One wonders if it’s Palisades Tahoe, with its huge day trip market, that is being used to inflate Ikon Pass sales. This is also BS. If some Alterra resorts offer an affordable Local Pass option, then all Alterra resorts should offer the option.
The TL;DR
• Let’s make season passes about skiing and riding again. Cut out all of the other BS.
You should make comments and share this article. It’s the best way to let people know people are listening.
PS: I should have a regular ski report later today.
I can say confidently that this pass bullshit has resulted in Alterra losing my $1200 in revenue for next season.
Yes i pay almost that much for a single mountain season pass, but that mountain doesn’t have a bullshit parking reservation system, doesn’t have insane lift lines every Fri-Mon, and doesn’t have holiday crowds (except on beginner terrain). That mountain also has great terrain parks, the best grooming in Tahoe, and one of the most fun local vibes of any mountain in Tahoe, all things that AM no longer has.
Peace out Alpine Meadows. Alterra is really putting the nail in the coffin.
Mark, that is interesting that you will likely purchase a local pass at a non-overly corporate resort. I agree! There are several good choices up here. Will you start an “Unofficial Sugar Bowl”, or “Unofficial Rose” or “Unofficial Guess Where It Is” website?
Oh I am not going to go anywhere else just yet. Mark_The_Skibum is a different Mark – a good friend that I will miss.
Yes, understood! I was hoping maybe your good friend Mark_The_Skibum might start an “unofficial” website at his newly chosen ski resort. Plus I am curious about which one he is selecting.
Smartwool and Icebreaker products are nice. Why not try to get the $100 Backcountry.com credit and then purchase a Smartwool turtleneck for about %100? I have one – they are nice!
Because there’s products just as good for less cost and I believe in supporting local businesses…
I have been skiing at Palisades for over 50 years – – both sides. I was introduced to skiing back east when I was 13, before moving west in my 20s. My kids started when they were three years old. Given my obvious age, my recollection may be imperfect. I seem to recall that once upon a time skiers of a certain age older than me skied for free or at a deep discount. But as I approached whatever the relevant age was, the cut off age kept increasing, and the discount kept decreasing. Now I have heard that a free pass will be offered to people 80 years old. History is repeating itself because I have not yet attained that age.
Well, I am a long time AM/Ikon pass holder but Sugar Bowl/Royal Gorge is looking awfully good.
Thanks for bringing attention to this much needed topic!
Alpine Meadows and Squaw undoubtedly need a locals pass option.
The early IKON years I was just amazed to pay less for a season pass. That didn’t last long.
Now as the price increase continues, the growing list of added destinations I will never visit just becomes more infuriating.
Looks like Epic and Ikon both are offering a discount for the sub 30 crowd. Truthfully I see this as an extension of a college discount. Ikon only offering it as a group discount is… weird, but I will throw a differing perspective out there, for the sake of conversation. In the current day and age, unfortunately, the 40 since 2020!). This group of people just don’t have disposable income right now, and are reprioritizing their $$$ they do have.
The way I see it, yes, ageism is wrong. However- senior discounts are a total norm that we have come to accept. This is the same thing, just for a different group.
Okay rant over. I’m one year closer to jumping ship and just getting a Rose pass. I didn’t do it this year, I won’t do it next year, but maybe some year. For now I will keep enjoying the skiing while we have it 🙂
Thanks for writing this Mark. Another thing I’ll add is that the amount of marketing junk sent out with the pass is ridiculous. As a skier with 50+ seasons in the Tahoe region I have boycotted Alpine for the past five years. Some say I have cut off my nose to spite my face but I just cannot stomach participating in their marketing scheme.
I look forward to the day that an anti-trust investigation is brought against Alterra and Vail Resorts. Until then I will ski Alpine vicariously through your wonderful site.
Last year Costco had a discount on the Ikon Pass I heard about too late. Buy a full Ikon and they’ll give you a $300 cash card and other small deals.
I hope they’ll do it again this year. This would make the Full Ikon cheaper than the Base Pass.
Keep us appraised here if they do!
From what I see on the internet, the Costco discount was only after prices were raised after the initial offering. The cash back card brought the price back to the original price.
Well as much as I understand the sentiment we have to deal with what’s offered. So since the pass induces us to travel maybe you should try it. Headed north to ski an almost 6K vertical and 60 inches of fresh. Try it you might like it.
I did a lot of ski travel in a previous lifetime while my son was competing. I will be fine not chasing powder.
A recent, hilarious, and dead-on video recently put out by the Norwegian Government on this general topic comes to mind: “A Day in the Life of an Ensh*ttificator”! Highly recommended for comic relief, as we face all the things we love being commodified, debased, and enshittified to appease The Shareholders *___*
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=T4Upf_B9RLQ
😂…🥲
“You will be assimilated by the Borg. Resistance if futile” Well, maybe, maybe not. This gigantic corporation BS just sickens me. So much “wallet capture” in so many ways, often at the expense of the disposable employees. An affordable locals pass should be offered, as so many others had mentioned. I would prefer just an Alpine Meadows pass, but wait, Alpine Meadows does not exist anymore! Didn’t they originally say, upon the acquisition of our lovely special mountain, that they would keep the uniqueness of each resort? What happened there? We are now just the Alpine side of something much bigger. Also, I just read the the Epic pass went up 3.6% for next year. Looks like the Ikon renewal, with now a $50 discount (if you choose that) will go up from $1229 (with the $100 discount last year) to $1349 which is over a 10% increase.
With all of the mountain credits they’ll be giving away, won’t they just increase food prices? Gotta keep the earnings curve up!
Oregon now has the smallest snow pack in its history as of the date. A longtime skier friend who grew up skiing the northern annex traveled to Alta in February and found not enough snow to ski on. I, who grew up skiing Alpine, just traveled to northern Arizona in early March reasonably planning to ski and instead bicycled in temperates rising well into the 60s. Unofficial Alpine Meadows reported the untimely closure of the Sherwood lift, possibly for the season.
Ten years, or 15? 20? from now we may look back to our present time and marvel it was still possible to ski at all in western North America. So why are these shortsighted imbeciles at the hedge funds turning people away from skiing by pricing them out or annoying them with low- or no-value extras rather than setting policies that invite as many as possible to ski and ride, while we still can? Nail in the coffin indeed, as Mark the Ski Bum says.
thanks for the commentary. That was helpful and therefore u earned a friday night beer, or beverage of your choice!
I think what is needed here is a South Park episode about the Ikon Pass and all of its issues.
My parents had a place on the west shore and their eight kids grew up skiing Tahoe Ski Bowl. After we all got to be better skiers we graduated to Alpine Meadows in the early 60’s. The day my father got his first free season pass at the age of seventy at Alpine was a day to celebrate!! That was his reward for raising his kids as skiers and spending all that money. He continue to get those free passes for another eleven years!
This brings me to my story. Several years ago my wife had a knee operation and was unable to ski the upcoming season. I did not have the pass insurance they offered. I called many levels of management to roll her pass over to the following year. I finally reached Dee Byrne, who at the the time was head of ops. She was great! She listened to my story and family history and granted my request to roll over my wife’s Ikon pass. At the end of our conversation, I asked her why there was not a local pass and what ever happened to senior discounts and passes. She simply said that corporate had decided that todays babyboomers had too much money, were too healthy and had too much time!! She went on to become the president of Palisades.
What is this mountain:????
Doesn’t have a bullshit parking reservation system, doesn’t have insane lift lines every Fri-Mon, and doesn’t have holiday crowds (except on beginner terrain). That mountain also has great terrain parks, the best grooming in Tahoe, and one of the most fun local vibes of any mountain in Tahoe
Where is this magic ski area mentioned in the first post or is it hush hush?
I guess as an SLV area alumni you’d appreciate the notion: time for a drum circle !
Thanks for sending the stickers.
I totally agree 👍 it’s ridiculous. I just want to ski. I don’t want all that stuff!