Evan Glassman has been visiting Utah’s Deer Valley for more than a decade, drawn to the meticulously maintained trails, reliable service, and convenient location, a four-hour flight from his home in New York. That loyalty lasted for years, until this winter.
This season, Glassman moved his annual family ski trip to nearby Solitude Mountain Resort and Brighton Resort. These two mountains are popular with locals for their steep terrain and low prices. On peak days, a one-day lift ticket in Deer Valley can reach about $340, while in Brighton it’s about $137, a difference of more than $200 per person. Multiply a few ski days and multiple family sizes and the difference quickly turns into thousands of dollars.
“I love Deer Valley, but at some point the price changes your mindset for the day,” Glassman said. “You’re not just skiing, you’re justifying it all the way. At Solitude and Brighton, you can ski and enjoy the mountains without thinking too much.” All three resorts are included in the Icon Pass, and daily rates are lower if you purchase a season pass in advance. At Solitude, you get unlimited access to Icon, and at Deer Valley and Brighton, you can use your pass for 7 days of skiing.
A similar readjustment is underway in the mountains of the East Coast. Adam and Lacey Cohen, who ski and snowboard with their daughters at their home outside Boston, used to use the Epic Pass to plan their winters around famous destinations. The Epic Pass is Vail Resorts’ mountain multi-resort season pass, which also offers significantly lower daily rates. But they were disappointed by Epic’s high price tag of about $1,050 per adult and early commitment deadline.
Instead, they chose the Indy Pass. This is a more affordable pass, with a top price of $599 for adults and limited access to privately-owned mountains in the U.S. and abroad. This change led them to modest, family-friendly hill country destinations such as Vermont’s Bolton Valley, Maine’s Saddleback Mountain, and New Hampshire’s Pat’s Peak.
“The day just feels brighter in these mountains,” Lacey Cohen said. “I don’t feel like I have to be there at 8:30 a.m. and stay until 4 p.m. just because I spent a lot of money. If the kids want a break, that’s fine. I’m not always thinking about whether it’s worth the money.”
They said the difference is not only in price, but also in atmosphere. Parking is usually free. Even on busy weekends, elevator lines tend to be short. Meals can be brought into the lodge.
“When you pull into the parking lot, people actually say ‘hello,'” Adam Cohen said. “It feels like a skier’s mountain.”
The growing preference among some skiers for smaller, independent mountains reflects a realignment in the American ski world, with companies like Vail Resorts and Alterra Mountain Company building vast networks of mountains connected by products like Epic Pass and Icon Pass.
While these passes offer relative value to skiers who book early, they have also led to sharp increases in walk-up ticket prices. Window prices on peak days at major resorts like Vail, Beaver Creek and Park City now routinely exceed $300. The economic climate increasingly favors skiers who take advantage of the pass ecosystem, and those who don’t end up paying some of the highest daily rates in the sport.
“The conglomerates want you to buy a pass, so they’re raising the daily price,” Adam Cohen said. “That’s the business model: You lock people in early, and you basically lower the price of skiing for people who don’t buy passes.”
For industry players, this trajectory is more than just a pricing story. That’s a warning sign. The shift to pass-driven revenue and destination-scale resorts is beginning to reshape the ski audience, potentially narrowing the pipeline of future skiers. Beyond climate concerns and this season’s disastrously low snowfall in the West, there are serious concerns about the long-term health of skiing.
“We’re definitely seeing this kind of backlash,” said Phil Pugliese, founder of SkiTalk.com, an online ski forum that receives about 250,000 unique visitors a month and more than 15 million views a year. “In the Tahoe region alone, Epic owns three major resorts in Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood, and Icon has locations in Palisades Tahoe and Mammoth. This means there’s quite a bit of consolidation in one location.”
In that landscape, he said, smaller mountains like Tahoe Donner and Mount Rose have emerged as pressure valves, places that balance ski areas and ski resorts.
“They’re not trying to be a destination resort,” said Pugliese, who frequently tests ski equipment at Mount Rose near his home in Reno. “The big resorts expect you to stay there for a week and spend your money there. They’ll let you in for a relatively attractive pass price, and then you’ll pay for the whole day. That’s the Disney model. A pass gets you through the gate, and then it’s a $28 burger and a $14 Gatorade.”
While Pugliese worries about the long-term effects of ski resort pricing, he recognizes that the time has come for small local mountains. He points to Utah’s Sundance Mountain, Wyoming’s Grand Targhee and Maine’s Sunday River Resort as just a few options that appeal to skiers.
For the Cohens, the appeal of small mountains isn’t chasing big terrain or steep lines. It’s about continuing to integrate skiing into family life.
“We may not have the latest infrastructure, but we value the old-school skier atmosphere,” Cohen said. “We joke that the tagline should be ‘slow lift, good vibes.’”
Solitude Mountain Resort and Brighton Resort (Utah)
Just 15 minutes apart in Big Cottonwood Canyon, Solitude and Brighton serve as near-paired alternative cities to Park City. Tickets are issued separately, but skiers often choose one or the other based on snow conditions and crowd flow, and it’s also quite possible to ski or take a short drive from one mountain to another via the Solbright Trail.
Why it works: Wasatch snow with no Wasatch window fees, and two different experiences within one valley.
Day passes start at around $99. Both mountains can be accessed by Icon Pass.
Bridger Bowl, located just outside of Bozeman, is still community-owned and very independent. There are no resort villages or corridors of luxury real estate, just some serious terrain rising steeply from the Gallatin Valley. Ridge Peak and Saddle Peak’s terrain provides sustained, technical lines for strong skiers, and lift lines remain manageable even on busy weekends. Walk-up one-day tickets are typically much cheaper than other well-known destinations in Montana.
Why it works: Large terrain, small crowds, and pricing built for local repeat use.
Day passes start at around $84.
Saddleback Mountain, Maine
Maine’s Saddleback has been re-opened under local ownership after many years of dormancy and has quietly become one of New England’s most desirable options. Located in Rangeley, far from Vermont’s busiest corridors, it offers wide open spaces, long cruisers, and consistent snow with minimal traffic. On busy weekends, lift lines remain surprisingly short compared to Vermont’s larger, more well-known resorts.
Why it works: Enjoy the big mountain feel of the Northeast without the pricing and pressure of destination resorts.
Day passes start at around $60.
Separate and separated from the Stowe Corridor, Bolton Valley combines ski-in/ski-out accommodation with a relaxed, community-driven atmosphere. The terrain is suitable for open areas and varied pitches, and the compact base simplifies logistics.
Why it works: A practical, low-stress Vermont option that can withstand even snowy years.
Day passes start at around $99.
Perched above Reno and away from Tahoe’s busiest resorts, Mount Rose offers a balance of topography and access. It doesn’t have the resort theater of nearby Epic or Icon mountains, but it does offer spacious bowls, high snow elevations, and relatively affordable day tickets. Locals appreciate its easy-to-understand parking, easy-to-manage lift lines, and lack of destination-scale congestion.
Why it works: Enjoy Tahoe-area skiing without the Tahoe-area premium.
Day passes start at around $139.
Grand Targhee Resort (Wyoming)
Located on the west side of the Teton Mountains and accessible via Idaho, Grand Targhee offers consistent snowfall and vast open terrain without the price range of nearby Jackson Hole. This mountain is known for its wide bowl, soft snow, and culture of minimal lift lines, even on weekends.
There is accommodation on the base, but the atmosphere leans more towards practicality than aspirational. Powder days are frequent and terrain rewards flow rather than competition.
Why it works: Teton-quality snow and scenery without the Jackson-level day rates or destination intensity.
Day passes start at around $125.
