On Tuesday, Vail Resorts introduced its suite of Epic Cross merchandise for the 2025-26 winter season. Entry will stay just like final yr, which means Epic’s phrases will probably proceed to undercut its predominant competitor, the Ikon Cross, though costs have elevated throughout all ranges of passes.
The highest-of-the-line Epic Cross, which gives limitless entry with no blackouts to all resorts owned by Vail, will begin at simply $1,051—a rise of seven%, a barely decrease fee hike than final yr. The lower-level 2024-25 Epic Native Cross, which comprises vacation blackouts and restricted entry at some resorts, begins at $783—additionally a 7% enhance from final yr. Each merchandise are more likely to stay cheaper than their Ikon Cross rivals. Regional Epic merchandise, such because the Northeast Worth Cross and Tahoe Native Passes, stay accessible for a cheaper price; these merchandise sometimes include extra restrictive blackouts than the complete Epic and Epic Native Passes.
The Epic Day Cross product, which is actually a versatile 1-to-7-day raise ticket, will proceed to be supplied in the identical three value tiers as final yr—however with a a lot steeper 25-30% value hike, relying on the tier. The higher “All Resorts” tier begins at $118 for a 1-day non-holiday cross. The “32 Resorts” tier, which excludes high-caliber locations comparable to Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Park Metropolis, and Whistler, begins at $91 for a 1-day non-holiday cross, whereas the bottom “22 Resorts” tier, which fully excludes all mountains exterior New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and the Midwest, now begins at $56.
Epic has not gained or misplaced any main North American companions for the upcoming winter. Nevertheless, a couple of additions have occurred abroad. The cross suite will increase entry to Verbier 4 Vallées, Switzerland, with 5 consecutive days of entry on the Epic Cross, Epic Native Cross, Epic Australia Cross, Epic Adaptive Cross, and Epic Australia Adaptive Passes. Notably, Verbier remains to be absent from the Epic Day Cross product.
Epic can also be persevering with to supply no-interest cost plan for his or her 2025-26 cross merchandise. Pending creditworthiness, cross purchasers will be capable of lock in a 6-month installment plan, with $49 down, no curiosity, and remaining funds beginning in mid-September. The cost plan continues to be unavailable to Iowa and West Virginia residents.
All 2025-26 Epic Cross merchandise are on sale now on the Epic web site.
Our Take
As with final yr, the 2025-26 Epic Cross suite is extra evolutionary than revolutionary. Moreover the addition of Verbier on the complete Epic and Epic Native Passes, the upcoming 2025-26 Epic Cross suite is actually the identical because the 2024-25 one. That being mentioned, these planning a visit to Europe shouldn’t sleep on Verbier 4 Vallées as a resort vacation spot; the ski dominion gives an enormous footprint comparable in measurement to the most important North American resorts plus among the most excessive in-bounds ski terrain in Europe. These planning to go to Verbier 4 Vallées with a full Epic Cross final yr wanted to guide an costly resort to make use of the cross days, making all of it however not possible to make use of for budget-conscious vacationers, however with that restriction gone, the resort is now a lot simpler to utilize with an Epic product. And whereas Verbier remains to be absent from the Epic Day Cross suite, its raise tickets—even on the window—are nonetheless fairly a bit cheaper than the value one must pay if utilizing one among these versatile cross merchandise.
We anticipate Epic’s cross suite to undercut Ikon price-wise for the fourth yr in a row, and a few Ikon clients eligible for renewal reductions might pay much less in the event that they swap to an equal Epic product—though we received’t know for positive till Ikon releases their 2024-25 passes (which can probably occur a while within the subsequent week or two).
Epic has misplaced floor in sure North American areas in comparison with Ikon lately, and Telluride and the Canadian RCR resorts on the complete cross stay the one North American mountains not owned by Vail. Nevertheless, along with the expanded Verbier entry we talked about earlier, Epic continues to supply aggressive European choices in Crans-Montana, Andermatt-Sedrun-Disentis, Les 3 Vallées, Skirama Dolomiti, and Ski Arlberg—though the latter three are nonetheless solely accessible on the complete Epic Cross, and entry to the latter is conditional on reserving a (sometimes very costly) associate resort.
We’re excited to see how the Epic Cross suite stacks up towards the 2025-26 Ikon Cross suite, which has not debuted but. We’re watching to see whether or not Ikon maintains a established order just like Epic or decides to shake issues up with extra radical entry modifications—final yr, there weren’t too many shakeups on both aspect.
For extra data on resorts on the Epic Cross, see our Epic Cross mountain opinions in addition to our Colorado, Tahoe, Utah, Vermont, and Washington rankings.
