Vail Resorts has opened sales for Epic Passes covering the 2026-27 ski season, and the headline change is a new 20%-style discount for teens and young adults. Previously, anyone 13 and over paid the adult rate; now teens (13-17) and young adults (18-30) get their own pricing tier across many pass options. The Epic Local Pass for a young adult is $675 versus $849 for adults — a $175 saving that could be a genuine game-changer for twenty-somethings who ski.

The bigger story is how much cheaper a pass is than buying lift tickets at the window. A single-day adult walk-up ticket at Beaver Creek in Colorado currently runs $230-356. Buy a one-day Epic Day Pass now and you'll pay at most $144, or $171 on a peak date. Even if you only ski one day a year, planning ahead pays.

Here's how the main options break down. The full Epic Pass costs $1,145 for adults ($909 for under-18s and 18-30s, $585 for kids 5-12) and unlocks unlimited skiing at heavyweights like Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Park City, Stowe and Whistler Blackcomb, plus seven days at Telluride and Resorts of the Canadian Rockies, 26 European resorts and five days in Japan. The Epic Local Pass ($849 adult) is the pick if you can dodge holiday periods — unlimited access to 29 resorts, with restricted or capped access to the marquee mountains. Its blackout dates for 2026-27 are Nov 27-28, Dec 26-31, Jan 16 and Feb 13-14.

Regional options exist too: the Northeast Value Pass at $690 covers 21 mountains including Okemo, Mount Snow, Hunter and Mount Sunapee. And there are discounts for students, military personnel, seniors and people with disabilities. Kids under 4 ski free with a pass-holding adult.

One perk has already gone: spring buyers got 10 Epic Friend Tickets offering 50% off window prices for friends at all 37 North American resorts — buy now and that's off the table. What you do still get is Epic Mountain Rewards: 20% off on-mountain food, lessons, lodging, rentals and airport shuttles from Denver and Eagle County, plus Epic Coverage refund protection for job loss, illness or resort closures.

If you're only taking one or two trips, the Epic Day Pass is the flexible play. Tiers cover 22, 32 or all 46 mountains, starting from $70 a day at smaller Midwest and Northeast hills, $106 at most resorts and $144 for full access — dropping to as low as $48 per day on a seven-day pass. Note that Telluride and the Canadian Rockies only come with four-to-seven-day all-resorts passes.

Pricing is expected to rise again before sales close in November, so if a winter trip is already on the cards, buying early is the single easiest way to shave hundreds off the total cost.