Buying an Epic Pass this ski season? Here’s a breakdown of all the options for Lake Tahoe

Choosing the right Epic Pass for your upcoming ski season can be daunting.

There are 27 different pass options available, including various price points and changing availability for certain resorts and dates throughout the country (and even other continents). But what’s most important for Sacramento-area snow enthusiasts: Epic Pass options include some of Lake Tahoe’s most popular and prestigious resorts.

The start of November is a good time to buy yours before prices go up Nov. 19.

What you need to know about the Epic Pass

Epic Pass is a product from Vail Resorts, a publicly traded company that operates many of the most popular resorts throughout the United States. Its Tahoe resorts include Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood, which is why their Epic Passes are popular for Northern Californians who hit the slopes multiple times a season.

Prices range from $172 for active military members to $969 (before prices go up in a few weeks). There are a slew of options in between, including regional passes, day passes and local passes for different regions throughout the country, which can be broken down on the company’s website. Their popularity stems from being far cheaper over time than buying daily lift tickets, which can cost nearly $300 apiece after taxes in Tahoe. And many of the Epic Passes come with the chance to buy discounted single-day passes for friends and family members.

Most of it works through the My Epic smartphone app, and many passes include 20% discounts for food, lodging, rentals and lessons at participating resorts. There are also financing options that include no money down and 0% financing to those who qualify.

In the most simple terms, the more you’re willing to pay, the more optionality you can get. The $969 Epic Pass allows unlimited access to Vail’s 37 North American and international properties, up to seven total days at resorts in the Canadian Rockies, and five days at the Rusutsu Resort in Japan. That’s the best value for those who travel across the country, or internationally, to ride different mountains and get as much time on the slopes as possible.

There’s also the $719 Epic Local Pass, which allows unlimited days for nearly the same group of resorts but excludes peak dates at all three Tahoe resorts, Park City in Utah, and 10 total days at Vail and Beaver Creek in Colorado and Whistler Blackcomb in Canada.

But for our purposes, we’ll take a look at the options that make sense for those who live in the Sacramento area and are considering an Epic Pass to enjoy what Lake Tahoe has to offer.

The Epic Pass and Epic Local Pass cover all three Tahoe resorts, while the latter excludes peak dates (Nov. 24-25, Dec. 26-31, Jan. 13, Feb. 17-18).

Epic Day Pass

A popular option is the Epic Day Pass, which can be bought for one to seven days, and buyers can choose to include peak dates for a higher price. For example, a seven-day pass including peak dates costs $755 (roughly $108 per day) and $639 without peak dates ($91 per day). There are also options based on resort tiers. For example, a one-day pass covering peak dates at all resorts is $129, while a one-day pass for the 32 resorts (which includes Tahoe resorts) is $98. The third-tier option, which is $63, doesn’t include Tahoe resorts and serves mostly the Midwest and Northeast.

The day pass could offer a significant savings for those going to Tahoe. One-day lift tickets at Northstar cost $269. They are $259 at Heavenly and $179 at Kirkwood. Epic Day Passes could also be an option for owners of the Tahoe Local Pass or Tahoe Value Pass on peak dates, since those Tahoe-specific passes exclude peak dates or certain Saturdays. The price per day drops the more days are on a pass. A seven-day pass, not including peak dates, goes for $489, roughly $70 per day to hit the Tahoe resorts.

The downside? You are limited to seven days on a single pass. There are better values if you plan on spending more than seven days on the slopes — or if you don’t want to have to purchase multiple day passes. Either way, Epic Day Passes offer a significant discount over single-day lift tickets at the three Tahoe resorts. They are a good option if you have the Tahoe Local or Value Pass and want to go on a peak date.

Tahoe Local Pass

For $615, the Tahoe Local Pass offers unlimited access to the three Tahoe resorts. But it doesn’t include peak dates, which might lead to some buyers adding Epic Day Passes to their wallets if they want to go Thanksgiving weekend, between Christmas and New Years, the Saturday of Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend, or the Saturday and Sunday of Presidents’ Day weekend.

Otherwise, the Tahoe Local Pass pass is cheaper than three regular-priced lift tickets at the three Tahoe resorts. And it includes five days — not including peak dates — at five resorts in the Colorado Rocky Mountains: Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Crested Butte. Also included, the popular Park City resort in Utah.

Tahoe Value Pass

Those wanting to save a little bit more can get the Tahoe Value Pass for $524, which might be best for those with non-traditional work schedules who can get up to the mountain on weekdays during non-peak hours.

The value pass allows unlimited access, during non-peak dates, to Heavenly, and access to Northstar and Kirkwood on every day but Saturday. But unlike the local pass, there’s no access to any other resorts in Vail’s system. It only applies to those three Tahoe resorts.

Suffice to say, there are a slew of options when it comes to buying an Epic Pass. The best advice? Plan out your upcoming ski or snowboarding schedule as much as possible to figure out what you might need. Getting to the slopes can be an expensive hobby, and anyone doing it multiple times a season — or even just once — can find good value with one of the Epic Pass options. Look around the website and figure out what’s best for you, but do it before prices go up Nov. 19.