In West, Local Vibe Thrives At Mountains Despite No Pass Affiliations
There are 153 ski and snowboard areas expected to open in the West this winter and, to no one's surprise, only a fraction of them come without some sort of connection to a national, regional, or local multi-mountain pass that is purchased separately.
That being said, SnoCountry wanted to give a shout-out to ski areas where the only way to get on the hill for the 2025-2026 season is with a season or day pass sold exclusively at that mountain -- and to the skiers and riders who enjoy that down-home vibe.
With the help of Stuart Winchester at StormSkiing.com, SnoCountry went hunting for these singular outliers where their skiers and riders know their season pass money goes into local coffers and stays there.
We eliminated any resort that accepts non-local, separate-pay ticketing such as Epic, Ikon, Power Pass, Cali Pass, Indy Pass, state kids passes, state- and neighbor-specific passes. Most of those remaining accept partners' season pass -- without cost -- for a few days off-site, as Powder Alliance and Freedom Pass do for three free days with a season pass from another network resort.
What the list whittled down to were 30 mountains, almost all of the day-trip variety, many locally owned and "family-friendly", all with fewer than a dozen lifts. Only a couple have lodging on site, quite a few sit far from the nearest town. Nearly half of these "unaffiliated" mountains reside in the far north of Montana (9) and Alaska (4).
Top of the list is Wolf Creek. The renowned powder pocket in southwest Colorado has no affiliation at all with anyone. No multi-passes accepted, no partners ski free. Also unaffiliated in Colorado are Monarch, Ski Cooper, Kendall Mountain and Silverton, during guiding season.
In New Mexico, Ski Santa Fe, Angel Fire and Ski Apache eschew mega-pass relationships. There's just one in Arizona: Sunrise Park that is owned and operated by the Mescalero Apache tribe in the White Mountains.
Wyoming is home to three unattached mountains, including Snowy Range, Hogadon and Pine Creek, the latter of which has a long-distance reciprocal deal with Cherry Peak in northern Utah.
Next door in Idaho -- home to 13 skiable locales -- publicly owned Bogus Basin near Boise is the only one that requires its own season pass. And, in Nevada, the sole unaffiliated resort is Diamond Peak on the north shore of Lake Tahoe, which is operated as part of the recreation district of Incline Village.
Of all the 36 ski and snowboard mountains in California -- the most among Western states -- only little (600 a.) weekends-only Alta Sierra above Bakersfield comes in without an outside affiliation. And it didn't open last season.
In the Pacific Northwest, the only ski area in Washington that accepts only its own pass is Mt. Baker, owned and operated by a local group. In Oregon, Anthony Lakes and Warner Canyon go it alone, too.
In Montana, the none of sizable Bridger Bowl (2,600 a.), Whitefish (2,353 a.), Discovery (2,388), Turner Mountain (2,110 a.) are signed up with any other their own season passes. Neither are five others among the state's 24 mountain resorts.
In Alaska, four of the states' nine ski and snowboard mountains -- all town-type hills under 1,000 acres -- remain unaffiliated.
