Comparing All Nationwide Ski Lift Pass Networks by Difficulty Level
There are 5 major multi-resort multi-day ski passes sold in the US and Canada.
- EPIC: Owned by Vail Resorts, and was the first pass like this created (2008).
- IKON: Owned by Alterra, and was created in 2018 as a direct competitor to Epic.
- INDY: Created in 2019 to help independent ski resorts compete with the larger companies.
- Mountain Collective: Created in 2018 by the Aspen Skiing Company. Shares many of its resorts with the IKON network.
- Powder Alliance: This is a different type of pass network. The benefits come free when you purchase a full season pass at any of their associated resorts.
While there is more to a pass network than it’s associated resort difficultly levels, we feel it is an important metric to consider if you are an expert-level skier. Use this as yet another piece of information (along with price, number of participating resorts, and size) when deciding which pass to purchase for the year.
Explaining Our ‘Difficulty Score’
Parks & Trips created a proprietary Difficulty Score that is generated by looking at the number of easy-intermediate-expert slopes by acreage and the maximum vertical drop of the overall resort.
Our algorithm compares each resort’s metrics with all others in North America, then gives each a Difficulty Score, which we use to rank them accordingly. Resorts with a lower score are easier than those with a higher one. However, a high score does not mean that the resort does not have any easy slopes, or vice versa. This is just an overall score given to the resort based on all its metrics grouped together.
Average Difficulty Score per Pass
To determine which ski pass network has the most difficult lineup of resorts, we averaged all their associated resorts together.
The Mountain Collective comes out as having the most difficult lineup of all nationwide pass systems. They win this analysis with a difficulty score that is over 20 points higher than its closest competitor!
IKON comes in second, with EPIC third. The INDY network comes in fourth place, with the Powder Alliance bringing up the rear.
If we look at all 193 US and Canadian resorts that are a part of at least one of the pass networks, the average difficulty score is 51.2%. This means that the average difficulty of all associated resorts, combined, is right in line with the average of all resorts (50%) in North America.
| Rank | Pass Network | Avg. Difficulty Score |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | Mountain Collective | 62.6% |
| #2 | EPIC | 66.0% |
| #3 | IKON | 58.7% |
| #4 | Powder Alliance | 56.6% |
| #5 | INDY | 46.4% |
| All Associated Resorts, Combined | 51.2% |
It may be jarring to see Epic so far down in this list, but they have a different business model than the others. Their Epic pass encompasses all of their Vail Resort-owned properties, no matter how good each one is. Most (if not all) of the other passes go out and choose which resorts are a part of their network. When you get to pick and choose like that, you can choose to pick on the good ones, which would lead to a higher Difficulty Score.
Most Difficult Ski Resort for Each Pass
here, we picked out the top three most difficult resorts for each of the five nationwide multi-resort, multi-day lift pass networks.
IKON
The most difficult US ski resort within the IKON Pass network is Aspen Highlands, CO, by a very slim margin. The Canadian resort Revelstroke, BC is actually the most difficult in the IKON network, with Aspen Snowmass coming in third place. However, all three of these resorts are within a few percentage points of each other.
| Rank | Resort | Summit Elevation | Vertical Drop | Black Trails | Difficulty ScoreTM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Revelstoke, BC | 7,300 ft | 5,620 ft | 45% | 100% |
| #2 | Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, WY | 10,450 ft | 4,139 ft | 50% | 87% |
| #3 | Big Sky Resort, MT | 11,166 ft | 4,350 ft | 52% | 87% |
| #4 | Winter Park Resort, CO | 12,060 ft | 3,060 ft | 74% | 87% |
| #5 | Mt. Bachelor, OR | 9,065 ft | 3,365 ft | 60% | 82% |
Epic
The most difficult ski resort within the Epic Pass network is Telluride, CO. Breckenridge, CO, and Whistler, British Columbia are not too far behind.
Interesting enough, while Epic is fourth in our list of average difficulty passes above, it actually has one of the most difficult US resorts in its lineup (Telluride).
| Rank | Resort | Summit Elevation | Vertical Drop | Black Trails | Difficulty ScoreTM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Telluride, CO | 13,150 ft | 4,425 ft | 54% | 90% |
| #2 | Whistler Blackcomb, BC | 7,494 ft | 5,280 ft | 28% | 87% |
| #3 | Breckenridge, CO | 12,998 ft | 3,398 ft | 64% | 85% |
| #4 | Vail, CO | 11,570 ft | 3,450 ft | 53% | 79% |
| #5 | Park City Mountain, UT | 10,026 ft | 3,190 ft | 50% | 78% |
Mountain Collective
The most difficult ski resort within the Mountain Collective Pass network is Revelstoke, BC, with Aspen Highlands, Snowmass and Jackson Hole right behind it.
| Rank | Resort | Summit Elevation | Vertical Drop | Black Trails | Difficulty ScoreTM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Revelstoke, BC | 7,300 ft | 5,620 ft | 45% | 100% |
| #2 | Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, WY | 10,450 ft | 4,139 ft | 50% | 87% |
| #3 | Panorama Mountain, BC | 8,038 ft | 4,265 ft | 50% | 87% |
| #4 | Big Sky Resort, MT | 11,166 ft | 4,350 ft | 52% | 87% |
| #5 | Arapahoe Basin Ski Area, CO | 13,050 ft | 2,530 ft | 73% | 81% |
INDY
The most difficult ski resort within the INDY Pass network is Castle Mountain, BC. In the US, Red Lodge in Montana is the most difficult.
| Rank | Resort | Summit Elevation | Vertical Drop | Black Trails | Difficulty ScoreTM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Castle Mountain, AB | 7,463 ft | 2,833 ft | 69% | 82% |
| #2 | Red Lodge Mountain, MT | 9,416 ft | 2,400 ft | 56% | 69% |
| #3 | China Peak, CA | 8,709 ft | 1,679 ft | 61% | 66% |
| #4 | Sunlight Mountain, CO | 9,895 ft | 2,010 ft | 55% | 66% |
| #5 | Tamarack Resort, ID | 7,700 ft | 2,800 ft | 35% | 65% |
Powder Alliance
The most difficult ski resort within the Powder Alliance Pass network is Castle Mountain, AB. However, the most difficult US-based ski resort within the Alliance is Timberline Lodge, OR.
| Rank | Resort | Summit Elevation | Vertical Drop | Black Trails | Difficulty ScoreTM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Castle Mountain, AB | 7,463 ft | 2,833 ft | 69% | 82% |
| #2 | Timberline Lodge, OR | 8,540 ft | 4,540 ft | 25% | 77% |
| #3 | China Peak, CA | 8,709 ft | 1,679 ft | 61% | 66% |
| #4 | Marmot Basin, AB | 8,570 ft | 3,000 ft | 40% | 66% |
| #5 | Loveland Ski Area, CO | 13,010 ft | 2,210 ft | 46% | 65% |
