Don’t look now, but Indypass is eating Vail’s and Alterra’s lunch as the best value in the mega-pass game. Already amassing an impressive lineup of winter sports parks including Jay Peak, Cannon Mountain, and Magic Mountain in the east, and Red Lodge, Brundage, and Tamarack out west, Indypass, just added east coast grande dame Waterville Valley and feisty Saddleback. From the press release:
“Waterville Valley Resort in Waterville Valley, New Hampshire and Saddleback Mountain in Rangeley, Maine will join the Indy Pass through the end of the current 2020-21 season and for the 2021-22 season. Both resorts will provide two days of skiing and riding to all Indy Pass holders during both seasons and there are no blackout dates for the remainder of the current season. Waterville Valley visits will be no charge; and for the current season, Saddleback will be $10 per visit….Saddleback Mountain will also be a part of the film “In Pursuit of Soul” produced by action-sports media leader Teton Gravity Research and shot at 12 Indy Pass resorts this winter.”
We profiled Waterville here as part of our Border War series breaking down Vermont and New Hampshire. Known as a playground for Boston’s most affluent, including the Kennedy’s, Waterville Valley hearkens back to the Golden Age of American skiing. Bobby’s Run, Wong Way, and the Boneyard are personal favorites. Waterville is a huge addition, as now a 2-day trip with Cannon in the mix will increase tourism in New Hampshire even further, something they richly deserve.
Meanwhile these are the 62nd and 63rd resorts on the Indypass. At $259 it’s a steal, a far…FAR…better price point than its competition with some equally iconic venues. Magic Mountain alone says more in 55 trails than some mountains say in 110, punching far above its weight in terms of both quality and difficulty. (The proof of the pudding is in the expert terrain.) Jay Peak is legendary, spoken of in holy whispers by those who made the long trek past seemingly every other resort in Vermont before finally arriving in the Northeast Kingdom. Once you get there, if the Jay Cloud weather system doesn’t intimidate you, the sheer drop of the Face Chutes will. And mighty Cannon Mountain is just a frozen, bad tempered, mean old man that wants throw you off his shoulders. There’s few things more satisfying than braving the gnar of Avalanche when its iced out, except maybe lapping the frigid summit cone on a bluebird day, with the majestic eagles soaring overhead.
Indypass brought back the soul of skiing for the masses. You want inclusion? You want equity? You just need to remember three words: STEEP AND CHEAP! STEEP AND CHEAP! STEEP AND CHEAP! That’s how you get everybody skiing. And once we’re out there, we’ll all get along just great. That’s what the mountains do best.
