Indy Pass: The Multi-Mountain Ski Pass to Utah’s Hidden Gems

Multi-mountain ski passes (multi-resort passes) are the hottest ticket in skiing today. These passes give guests access to dozens of resorts making skiing more accessible and affordable than ever. The biggest names, Ikon and Epic, have brought skiers to Utah to ski some of its best-known resorts. However, it is Indy Pass that's getting those in the know excited. Like the Sundance Film Festival with independent films, Indy Pass is introducing people to the best undiscovered terrain at even lower prices, while retaining the pioneer spirit found in some of the most peaceful settings in the world.

Notice that I didn’t say ‘remote.’

Indy Pass Resorts in Utah are Like Its Indy Films

Indy Pass is the multi-resort pass you probably haven’t heard of. However, that doesn’t mean it isn’t good or only covers resorts with a single chair and a hot chocolate hut. ‘Indy’ anything in Utah is synonymous with under-the-radar, over-the-top, yet-to-be-discovered amazing. Indy Pass member resorts are the vanguard for protecting and preserving the “authentic culture” of skiing, where the focus is on the landscape and the connection made by people who are called to it. "The most common thing we hear is ‘This is awesome!’” chuckled Eagle Point’s Scott Curry, “You can meet people on the lift and see them later in the bar…You leave with a wholesome feeling that you connected with people, shared stories. You can’t do that at a resort with 30k people.” From indy movies to indy spirit, here, Indy Pass means access to open-air powder paradise at three local favorites: intimate Eagle Point, inviting Beaver Mountain, and, new this season, the expansive Powder Mountain. 

Indy Pass Lets You Leave More on the Mountain and in Your Wallet

For $299 until December 1 ($399 without blackout dates), Indy Pass allows you to ski two days at each of these resorts in Utah and over 75 other resorts in all regions of the U.S., as well as Canada and Japan. It also provides a 25 percent discount for a third day. 

How far can you go? Here is a maxed-out itinerary on Indy Pass: If you want a ski week over New Year’s or Spring Break, fly into Salt Lake City (SLC) on Saturday, rent a car to hit Powder Mountain on Sunday and Monday, ski Beaver Mountain on Tuesday and Wednesday, rest and head south on Thursday (trust me, you’ll need the break), hit Eagle Point on Friday and Saturday and fly out of SLC or Las Vegas (LAS) on Sunday…all for the price of a single Indy Pass! Compare this with buying six daily lift tickets at a large resort which can run over $1,300 on peak days. Be sure to check out the new lodging deals page for Indy Pass members. For further inspiration, here’s an interactive map with all multi-resort pass options for Utah resorts.

Pro Tip: “Powder Friday” at Eagle Point is one of Utah’s best-kept secrets. Because the resort is closed Tuesday–Thursday, snow accumulates for epic Friday ski days. Locals and debaters mentioned above are growling, “You just broke the ‘First Rule of Ski Club!’”

How hidden are these gems? If you’ve visited Utah in winter or summer, then you’ve probably passed right by them. Powder Mountain is an hour north from SLC, Eagle Point is a three-hour drive south from SLC (3.5 hours from LAS) and Beaver Mountain is just over two hours north of SLC, all primarily on interstate highways. 

Art House Versus Blockbuster

They’re exclusive solely by staying elusive.

Indy Pass resorts are the art-house flicks—highly respected but lesser-known properties that eschew big marketing budgets and campaigns and are the darlings of critics, connoisseurs and awards committees. They’re for people who want to gorge themselves on pristine powder in the company of close friends, families and other aficionados. With some of the best lift and lodging prices anywhere, they’re also not pretentious (no red carpets or influencers here). They’re exclusive solely by staying elusive. Indeed, Indy Pass will introduce more people to its member resorts, but it won’t make them any more mainstream than Netflix made Oscar-winners Nomadland and Roma into blockbusters.

Powder Mountain, in particular, knows its audience. While it’s premiering as one of Indy Pass’ newest stars, using Indy Pass here is still subject to the resort’s 1,500 daily pass cap (like its 5-pack and other non-season passes). As JP Goulet, its Marketing Director explained, Powder Mountain has “put parameters in place.” It will set aside 100 Indy Pass tickets each weekend day and peak holiday, and 250 tickets for each weekday. Indy Pass holders can reserve tickets for ski days starting November 1, with any unreserved tickets released five days prior the visit. Based on prior seasons, this arrangement doesn’t mean turning away droves; it actually should help the resort reach attendance projections and anticipate on-mountain needs, such as safety, staffing and maintenance. Moreover, Powder Mountain will still be PowMow, one of the largest resorts in terms of land mass in the country. You’re still likely to find fresh tracks at 2pm…or 3. As Goulet mused, “ perceive how big 8,000 acres is.”

Beaver Mountain, the resort owned by the Seeholzer Family near Logan, has welcomed guests for over 80 years and was one of the first to adopt Indy Pass. The tremendous growth in the number of member resorts and people purchasing the pass doesn’t surprise Travis Seeholzer, who regularly sees long-time guests bringing the next generation to “Ski the Beav.” “They walk into the pass office and say, ‘We’re so-and-so’s kids,’” chuckled Seeholzer. With the Indy Pass, even more patrons, however, are discovering what these legacies have long known: Beaver Mountain feels like their mountain. It feels like home. Road trippers and short-term renters in nearby Bear Lake are also wandering up Logan Canyon and skiing here, too, but these changes won’t alter Beaver Mountain’s soul. It doesn’t try to cultivate a family atmosphere. “It’s just what we do,” says Seeholzer, “It’s our culture, in general.” As folks here half-joke, “If you lose track of your kids, someone will take care of them.”

Indy Pass is the multi-resort pass we have all wanted, giving us access to fresh tracks and few lines, new expansive views and scenes of Nordic nostalgia. In Utah, it represents the resorts that locals—the harshest critics—go back to remembering what skiing was and was meant to be, being pioneers, adventurers and dreamers in a land of endless snow.