Quick status check (July 2026): The 2026-27 Indy Pass is sold out. It went off sale on April 3, 2026, after selling out in 37 minutes during the public sale. The only way in now is the waitlist, which is where any future buying window will start. So read this as a guide to whether Indy belongs in your season, and whether you should get on that list now or wait to grab it the second it reopens.
The Indy Pass is worth it for one specific kind of skier.
Not the one who wants to lap the same high-speed quad every Saturday. Not the one who grades a season on vertical feet. And definitely not the one who needs a slopeside village, a gondola, and six good lunch options at every mountain.
Indy is for the skier who still gets a kick out of going somewhere new.
It's built for the person who pulls into a lot they've never parked in, squints up at a trail map they've never read, and spends the whole first chair ride guessing where the good stuff is hiding.
That's the pitch. Indy doesn't just make skiing cheaper. It makes mountains you'd otherwise scroll past feel close enough to try.
Yes, if you'll ski four or five days across a few different partner mountains.
It gets really sharp if:
- You live within driving distance of several Indy partners.
- You'd rather explore than go back to the same resort every weekend.
- You already hold an unlimited season pass at an Indy partner and qualify for the discounted Add-On.
- You want an alternative to the increasingly consolidated corporate ski map.
- You care about independent ski areas and you'll actually show up for them.
Skip it if:
- You want unlimited access to one home mountain.
- You can only ski holidays.
- There's nothing on the Indy map within a reasonable drive.
What Do You Actually Get?
For 2026-27, Indy gets you into more than 300 alpine and Nordic destinations across the United States, Canada, Japan, Europe, and South America. Twenty-six of them are new this winter.
Pass structure
The fine print: Individual mountains can still require reservations or run capacity limits, even for Indy+ holders. This isn't an unlimited pass and it isn't always frictionless. Depending on the hill, you might need to book ahead, stop at the ticket window, or work around a resort-specific policy.
The 300 Resort Guarantee: If the partner count drops below 300 by November 1, 2026, you can request a refund before December 1. Small thing, but it tells you the network is the product, and Indy knows it.
What It Costs
Here's what the 2026-27 passes cost while they were on sale. These are the numbers to have in your head if you land a waitlist spot.
Waitlist pricing generally runs about $20 above renewal pricing. That $50 gap between Base and Indy+ is the easiest call on this page. If you mostly ski weekends, school vacations, and holidays, losing the blackouts is worth a lot more than fifty bucks. Unless you know you can dodge peak dates, take Indy+.
The Math: How Many Days to Break Even?
Usually four or five.
Using the day-ticket prices we track, a weekend at Black Mountain in New Hampshire plus a weekend at Catamount runs roughly $348 in regular lift-ticket value. That's the whole Base Pass, right there.
You don't need 30 resorts
Eight days at four mountains is a great Indy season
The marketing says 300
A handful of well-chosen trips pays for it
Two-day cap at each partner
The limit is what pushes you outward
$100 at a window for somewhere new
Indy deletes that hesitation
Black Mountain: Why Indy Is More Than Cheap Tickets
If Indy were just a bundle of discounted lift tickets, it'd still be a great deal. Black Mountain makes it something bigger.
In 2024, the teams behind Indy Pass and Entabeni Systems bought Black outright, after years of closure threats hanging over the historic New Hampshire ski area. The long-term plan points toward a community cooperative, but Indy leadership committed to holding full ownership for now and running Black as a real-world test bed.
Old lifts. Deep history. Trails that look like somebody followed the shape of the hill instead of a capacity study. A mid-mountain Alpine Cabin where champagne and fondue somehow make complete sense. That connects straight to Here's to the Two-Seaters.
Indy didn't invent any of that. Black always had it. Indy just worked out that it was worth paying for.
The Honest Drawbacks
Indy isn't a pocket-sized Epic or Ikon. Buy it expecting that and you'll be disappointed.
- Dense Northeast partner map
- Breaks even in 4-5 days
- Two-day cap pushes exploration
- Add-On pricing if you have a home pass
- Indy+ clears holiday blackouts
- Mountains are inconsistent
- Two days isn't a home mountain
- Access can take effort
- Geography always wins
- Sold out - waitlist only
Is Indy Worth It in New England?
Up here, it's an easy yes. The Northeast has enough Indy density to build a whole winter around the pass without booking a flight: local Massachusetts hills, Berkshire mainstays, southern Vermont independents, classic New Hampshire terrain, deep Maine ski areas.
That variety lets you play the weather. Night skiing midweek at a local hill. A storm chase to something bigger on Friday. A quiet old New Hampshire double on a crowded Saturday.
Which is exactly what we built WhereToSkiNext to do. Pick Indy Pass in your filters, punch in where you're starting from, and let the snow forecast, drive time, and crowd pressure tell you where the pass should take you next.
The Verdict
The Indy Pass pays for itself on ticket math alone. It earns its spot by taking you somewhere you'd have driven right past.
It's not the pass for doing the same thing every weekend. It might be the best pass for remembering there's more than one way to have a great ski day. If that's the winter you want, get on the waitlist now.
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