Recent years have seen a flurry of new ski passes pop up for skiers and riders who want options beyond the large ski resorts. Ski passes to lesser-known resorts have gotten increasingly popular, as evidenced by Indy Pass having a waitlist. The benefit of these lesser-known passes is how great of a value they are. That and they often have some nice perks, as long as you don’t mind primarily sticking to a particular region and much smaller ski areas. Recently we’ve highlighted the Power Pass, Powder Alliance, and Cooper ski passes. Today, we bring you the Freedom Pass.
What is the Freedom Pass?
The Freedom Pass isn’t a season pass in the traditional sense, nor is it like the major ski passes, in which a company owns and operates all of the affiliated resorts. Rather, it’s a coalition of ski areas, consisting of independent ski areas around the U.S., and one in Spain. Like the Powder Alliance, it’s a reciprocal pass program, in which you buy a season pass at one of the Freedom Pass ski areas, and then you have three free days of skiing at any of the other partner ski areas. With more than 20 participating ski areas, that means 60-plus free days of skiing on top of your season pass.
Who is the Freedom Pass for?
The Freedom Pass is ideal if you live close to or travel to an area that has several partner ski areas. For example, you live in Idaho and like to ski at Bogus Basin, but then plan on traveling to New England to ski. That’s because there are several New England ski resorts. The Midwest also has several ski areas. This is really not the pass for those who live or ski in the Far West, since there’s only one resort, Mount Spokane, in Washington. For a reciprocal ski pass that has options out West, look into the Powder Alliance Pass.
What are the Freedom Pass ski areas?
Below are all of the Freedom Pass ski resorts. Since it’s a reciprocal pass program, you’ll see some overlap of resorts that are on other reciprocal pass programs. For example, Bogus Basin, Cooper, and Eaglecrest are part of the Powder Alliance.
- Black Mountain, New Hampshire
- Bogus Basin, Idaho
- Caberfae Peaks, Michigan
- Cherry Peak, Utah
- Crystal Mountain, Michigan
- Eagle Point, Utah
- Eaglecrest, Alaska
- Little Switzerland, Wisconsin
- Lost Valley, Maine
- Masella, Spain
- McIntyre, New Hampshire
- Mont du Lac, Wisconsin
- Mount Southington, Connecticut
- Mount Spokane, Washington
- Nordic Mountain, Wisconsin
- Red River, New Mexico
- Skaneateles, New York
- Ski Cooper, Colorado
- Sunlight, Colorado
- The Rock Snow Park, Wisconsin
- Whaleback Mountain, New Hampshire
- Yawgoo Valley, Rhode Island
What restrictions are there with the Freedom Pass?
Among the benefits of the Freedom Pass is that there are no blackout dates and no restrictions. So the three free lift tickets can be used on any day at any of the Freedom Pass resorts.
March 25, 2024
