California Ski Pass Break-Even Calculator
Every price here was read from the operator's own site on October 14, 2026 · Epic raised prices after October 7 and Ikon after October 8, so any figure published before mid-October is a cycle behind · the Cali Pass states prices increase November 1
The number that matters most is $800. An Ikon Pass is $1,529 for an adult. The Cali Pass is $729. Both are unlimited California season passes. They simply cover different mountains.
And here is the thing almost no comparison says plainly: the three big passes do not share a single unlimited California resort between them. Ikon buys Palisades Tahoe, Mammoth, June, Big Bear and Snow Valley outright, plus seven days at Sierra-at-Tahoe. Epic buys Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood. The Cali Pass buys Mountain High, Bear Valley, Dodge Ridge and China Peak. Nothing on one list appears on another.
So the question is never which pass is cheapest. It is which mountains you will actually drive to. Pick those first, then the pass picks itself, and only then does the break-even maths below mean anything.
Work out your own cost per day
Enter how many days you actually skied last season — not how many you meant to — and what you typically pay for a lift ticket. The maths is simple and you can check all of it.
| Option | Season cost | Per day | Breaks even | vs day tickets |
|---|
What each pass actually buys you in California
Read this table before the price tables. A cheaper pass that does not cover your mountain is not cheaper, it is useless.
| Pass | Adult price | California resorts | Blackout dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ikon Pass | $1,529 | Palisades Tahoe, Mammoth, June, Big Bear, Snow Valley — all unlimited · Sierra-at-Tahoe, 7 days | None |
| Ikon Base Pass | $1,099 | The same five unlimited · Sierra-at-Tahoe capped at 5 days instead of 7 | Dec 26-30, Jan 16-17, Feb 13-14 — 9 days |
| Epic Pass | $1,169 | Heavenly, Northstar, Kirkwood — all unlimited | None |
| Epic Local Pass | $869 | The same three, holiday-restricted | Nov 27-28, Dec 26-31, Jan 16, Feb 13-14 — 11 days |
| Cali Pass | $729 | Mountain High, Bear Valley, Dodge Ridge, China Peak — all unrestricted · plus 3 days each at 14 Powder Alliance destinations | None |
| Mountain High Base | $629 | Mountain High only | None stated |
The Ikon Base blackout count is worth doing yourself, because several much bigger sites get it wrong. December 26 to 30 is five days, January 16 to 17 is two, February 13 to 14 is two. That is nine days, not seven. Epic Local blocks eleven: two at Thanksgiving, six at Christmas, one in January and two in February.
A correction worth making loudly: some widely-read sites state that Ikon Base caps Palisades, Mammoth, June, Big Bear and Snow Valley at seven days. Ikon's own destination table shows all five as unlimited on Base. The real Base restrictions are the nine blackout days and Sierra-at-Tahoe dropping from 7 days to 5.
What each pass costs per day
Price divided by days, rounded to the nearest cent. No assumptions required — check any cell with a calculator.
| Days skied | Ikon $1,529 | Ikon Base $1,099 | Epic $1,169 | Epic Local $869 | Cali Pass $729 | Mtn High $629 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | $509.67 | $366.33 | $389.67 | $289.67 | $243.00 | $209.67 |
| 5 | $305.80 | $219.80 | $233.80 | $173.80 | $145.80 | $125.80 |
| 8 | $191.13 | $137.38 | $146.13 | $108.63 | $91.13 | $78.63 |
| 10 | $152.90 | $109.90 | $116.90 | $86.90 | $72.90 | $62.90 |
| 15 | $101.93 | $73.27 | $77.93 | $57.93 | $48.60 | $41.93 |
| 20 | $76.45 | $54.95 | $58.45 | $43.45 | $36.45 | $31.45 |
| 30 | $50.97 | $36.63 | $38.97 | $28.97 | $24.30 | $20.97 |
The cheaper tiers, for the same days:
| Days skied | Ikon child 5-12 · $499 | Epic child 5-12 · $599 | Cali child 6-12 · $389 | Cali College 18-25 · $249 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | $99.80 | $119.80 | $77.80 | $49.80 |
| 10 | $49.90 | $59.90 | $38.90 | $24.90 |
| 15 | $33.27 | $39.93 | $25.93 | $16.60 |
| 20 | $24.95 | $29.95 | $19.45 | $12.45 |
The day you break even
Against a day ticket at a given price, this is the first day the pass has paid for itself.
| If a day ticket costs… | Ikon | Ikon Base | Epic | Epic Local | Cali Pass | Mtn High |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $80 | 20 | 14 | 15 | 11 | 10 | 8 |
| $89 | 18 | 13 | 14 | 10 | 9 | 8 |
| $105 | 15 | 11 | 12 | 9 | 7 | 6 |
| $120 | 13 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 6 |
| $169 | 10 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 |
| $189 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 4 |
| $249 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| $269 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
Two reasons every table like this flatters passes, and nobody says so.
One: it compares a pass against the window rate, and almost nobody pays the window rate. At Mammoth and Sugar Bowl, where an advance price and a walk-up price are published side by side, the advance price runs 20 to 67 percent below the window price depending on which advance tier and which date you pick. Use the price you would really pay and every break-even day above moves later.
Two: it assumes you ski the days you planned. A warm November, an injury or a busy winter at work all cut the count, and the pass was paid for in October. Use the days you actually skied last season, not the days you intended to.
What a California day ticket really costs
This is the number the break-even maths depends on, so it is worth getting right. Below is every published 2026-27 adult rate we could read off an operator's own site on October 14, 2026 — including, importantly, whether the page carries a season label at all. Several of these resorts publish prices with no season stated, which is exactly how last season's price ends up quoted as this season's.
| Resort | Cheapest advance | Window / walk-up | Season label on the page |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sugar Bowl | $89 Sun-Fri · $114 Sat and holiday | $189 · $249 | 2026/27 |
| Big Bear (Summit + Bear Mtn) | $89-$169 day ticket · $105-$179 all three mountains, 18-64 | Not published | 26/27 |
| Snow Valley | $89-$109, ages 18-64 | Not published | 26/27 |
| Sierra-at-Tahoe | Not published separately | $167 non-peak · $191 peak | 2026/27 |
| Mammoth | From $89 · $119 January midweek | $149-$269 | None |
| Mountain High | $84 eight-hour Flex · $49 night | Not published, but the resort states tickets cost $10 more at the window | None |
| Palisades Tahoe | Online only, no figure published | $289 | None — the rate sits on a 25/26 asset |
| Heavenly · Northstar · Kirkwood | No static rate published — Vail prices dynamically and reveals the figure only inside the booking cart | — | |
| Mt. Baldy | Coming soon, no price published | None | |
| Bear Valley · Dodge Ridge | Still TBA and TBD respectively | None | |
| June Mountain | Percentages only, no dollar figure outside the booking calendar | 26/27 | |
| China Peak | $99-$119 advance, $169 window — but the page is labelled 2025-2026. Treat as last season's price. | 2025-2026 | |
Two traps in that table. China Peak publishes a confident, complete, clearly formatted price table that reads as current until you notice the heading says 2025-2026 — it is the easiest wrong number in California to repeat. And snow-valley.com still serves a legacy ticket page quoting 2019 prices and 2019 dates; Snow Valley's real 2026-27 rates live on the Big Bear Mountain Resort site, which is where ours come from.
Big Bear's own page also contradicts itself: the day-ticket block says $89-$169 while the pricing table says $105-$179 for all three mountains. We have given both rather than pick one, and the resort labels its own pricing approximate and subject to change.
The $100 upgrade, tier by tier
Within California, the sharpest decision is between the Cali Pass and a single-mountain Mountain High pass. Both are sold by California Mountain Resort Company, which owns all four Cali Pass mountains, so this is one operator's two products rather than a cross-brand guess. Our Big Bear vs Mountain High comparison covers the mountains themselves rather than the money.
| Age tier | Mountain High Base | Cali Pass | Cost of three more mountains |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adult (23-69) | $629 | $729 | +$100 |
| Young Adult (13-22) | $579 | $679 | +$100 |
| Senior (70-74) | $579 | $679 | +$100 |
| Child (6-12) | $369 | $389 | +$20 |
| Military | $419 | $469 | +$50 |
| Age 75+ | $10 | $159 | +$149 — the one that reverses |
| Age 5 and under | $10 | 2 free with a paying adult | Cali Pass is cheaper here |
If you are 18 to 25 you fall inside two tiers at once — Young Adult and College — and the College pass is much the cheaper of the two, so check that one first.
The family case is the striking one. Two adults and two children upgrading from Mountain High to the Cali Pass: $100 + $100 + $20 + $20 = $240 for a household, and the two children's share of that is forty dollars. If you have a child aged 5 or under, the Cali Pass gives you two of those places free where Mountain High charges $10 each.
For scale against the national passes: that same family of four on the Cali Pass pays $2,236. Two adults and two children on Ikon would be $4,056, and on Epic $3,536. Completely different mountains, but the gap is the size of a week in Mammoth.
Two prices the operator buries
Cali College Pass — as low as $249
Ages 18 to 25, listed well below the main tiers on the Cali Pass page and easy to miss entirely. At $249, ten days works out at $24.90 a day across four mountains. For anyone aged 13 to 69 we have not found a cheaper route to this much California terrain — only the Senior+ pass at $159 and the free places for under-5s beat it, and both are age-gated. Check eligibility with the resort.
Mountain High at 75+ — $10
Mountain High's Super Senior pass is $10, processing fee included. That is not a typo and it is not a day rate. If you are over 75 and Wrightwood is your mountain, nothing else in California comes close — and the Cali Pass is a $149 step backwards.
The deadlines, and which ones are solid
| Pass | Next deadline | How solid is it |
|---|---|---|
| Cali Pass | November 1, 2026 | Stated by the operator on its own buy page: prices increase November 1st. The post-increase prices are not published. |
| Epic | Reported as November 15, sales closing December 6 | Not confirmed by Vail. One outlet reported it. Vail has historically announced its off-sale date in mid-November, so expect confirmation then rather than relying on this. |
| Ikon | None published | Ikon's own site shows no upcoming increase. It already raised prices after October 8, and sales have historically closed in December. |
This is the uncomfortable part of pass economics. You have to commit before the season starts — which is exactly when you know least about how it will go. Last season several California resorts missed their announced opening dates by two weeks or more, and only two Tahoe resorts were running lifts at Thanksgiving. The Cali Pass Passholder Assurance deferral, at $50, is the only hedge of its kind on offer here, and it has to be exercised at your home resort by December 1, 2026.
Our early-season guide covers which resorts can realistically open on time and which are gambling. Our Cali Pass guide has the full benefit list — buddy tickets, lodging and food discounts and the deferral terms — and the Central Sierra guide covers the three mountains the upgrade actually buys you.
What the Cali Pass does not cover, stated plainly by the operator: it is not valid at Mammoth, and it is not valid at the Big Bear resorts — Snow Summit, Bear Mountain or Snow Valley. Those are Ikon. See the full pass comparison.
Ski pass break-even — frequently asked questions
How many days do you need to ski to break even on the Ikon Pass?
At the 2026-27 adult price of $1,529, the Ikon Pass works out at $152.90 a day over ten days and $101.93 over fifteen. Against Big Bear's all-three-mountain rate of $105 to $179 you break even somewhere between day 9 and day 15. The Ikon Base Pass at $1,099 breaks even between day 7 and day 11 against the same tickets, and gives up nine blackout days to do it. Use the ticket price you would really pay, not the walk-up rate. Prices verified October 14, 2026, after the Ikon increase of October 8.
How many days do you need to ski to break even on the Epic Pass?
At $1,169 the full Epic Pass is $116.90 a day over ten days. Epic Local at $869 is $86.90. The honest answer is that we cannot give you a verified break-even against a Heavenly, Northstar or Kirkwood day ticket, because Vail does not publish a static day rate for any of them — the price is dynamic and appears only inside the booking cart. Anyone quoting you a precise Epic break-even for California is using an estimate, not a published number. Prices verified October 14, 2026, after the Epic increase of October 7.
How many days do you need to ski to break even on the Cali Pass?
At the 2026-27 adult price of $729, the Cali Pass works out at $145.80 a day over five days, $72.90 over ten and $48.60 over fifteen. Against an $89 ticket you break even on the ninth day; against $120, the seventh; against a $169 peak-day ticket, the fifth. Work from the price you would actually pay on the days you actually ski, not the headline window rate.
Is Ikon or Epic better value in California?
They do not overlap, so value depends entirely on where you ski. Ikon covers Palisades Tahoe, Mammoth, June, Big Bear and Snow Valley with unlimited access, plus seven days at Sierra-at-Tahoe, for $1,529. Epic covers Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood with unlimited access for $1,169. Epic is $360 cheaper and covers three resorts; Ikon is dearer and covers five unlimited plus the only Southern California options of the two. If you ski Tahoe only, Epic is the cheaper route. If you ski Mammoth or Southern California at all, Epic does not get you through the gate.
Does the Ikon Base Pass limit days at Mammoth or Big Bear?
No. Ikon's own destination table lists Palisades Tahoe, Mammoth, June Mountain, Big Bear and Snow Valley as unlimited on the Ikon Base Pass as well as the full Ikon Pass. Several widely read sites state that Base caps these at seven days, and that is wrong. What Base actually costs you is nine blackout days, December 26 to 30, January 16 to 17 and February 13 to 14, and Sierra-at-Tahoe dropping from seven days to five. The saving is $430.
Is the Cali Pass worth it over a Mountain High season pass?
For most people the upgrade costs $100. The Mountain High Base Pass is $629 for an adult and the Cali Pass is $729, and that $100 adds unrestricted access at Bear Valley, Dodge Ridge and China Peak plus three days each at 14 Powder Alliance destinations. For a child aged 6 to 12 the gap is only $20, $369 against $389. The exception is age 75 and over: Mountain High charges $10 for a Super Senior pass while the Cali Pass Senior+ is $159, so the upgrade costs $149.
When do 2026-27 ski pass prices go up?
The Cali Pass states on its own buy page that prices increase on November 1, 2026. Epic raised prices after October 7 and Ikon after October 8, and both of those increases have already happened. One outlet reports the next Epic increase on November 15 with sales closing December 6, but Vail has not confirmed either date. Ikon publishes no upcoming increase date. Pass pricing generally steps up through the autumn, so the cheapest time to buy is early.
What is the catch with season pass break-even math?
Two things. First, break-even calculations compare a pass against the full window rate, but almost nobody pays that. At Mammoth and Sugar Bowl, where an advance price and a walk-up price are published side by side, the advance price runs 20 to 67 percent below the window price depending on the tier and the date, which pushes every break-even day later than the headline suggests. Second, the comparison assumes you ski the days you planned. A warm winter, an injury or a busy season at work all reduce your actual day count, and a pass is paid for up front. Be honest about how many days you skied last season rather than how many you intended to.
How we sourced this, and what is missing
Every pass price on this page was read from the operator's own site on October 14, 2026, except the Epic figures. Those come from an authorised Epic retailer's live checkout and two independently dated price trackers that agree exactly, because epicpass.com blocks automated access to its price pages. Epic's blackout dates do come from Vail's own site. Day-ticket figures are from each resort's own lift-ticket page. Nothing on this page comes from a ski-media aggregator.
Four gaps we cannot close, stated rather than estimated.
Mountain High's $629. We read it from the Mountain High shop in September, but that shop renders its prices in a way we cannot re-read, and Mountain High's own marketing pages still show a 25/26 price ladder carrying the same $629 figure. We believe it is current and we are telling you why we cannot prove it today.
Ikon Base prices below adult. Ikon publishes Base pricing only as from $1,099, age 23 and over. The $499 child figure shown above is for the full Ikon Pass; Ikon does not publish the Base equivalent anywhere we can reach.
Vail's California day rates. Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood publish no static day-ticket price. We will not invent one.
Mountain High's 2026-27 day tickets. The $84 eight-hour Flex rate carries no season label, so we cannot confirm it is this season's. What the resort does state is that tickets cost $10 more bought at the resort than in advance, and that daily sales are capped.
All figures are for the 2026-27 season and were current on the date above. Pass prices moved twice in the week before this update, so treat everything here as a snapshot and confirm on the operator's page before you buy. Calculations on this page are arithmetic on those published prices and you are welcome to check them.
Before you buy
Work out which mountains you would actually use, then do the maths.
Compare all passesIkon in CaliforniaEpic in CaliforniaEarly-season openingsPass and day-ticket prices were read from operator sites on October 14, 2026 and change without notice — the Cali Pass states prices increase November 1, 2026. Epic prices are from an authorised retailer and dated price trackers because epicpass.com blocks automated access; Epic blackout dates are from Vail. Mountain High has not published a season-labelled 2026-27 day-ticket rate. Calculations are arithmetic on published prices. This is not financial advice, and SnoCal is not affiliated with any California ski resort or pass operator and earns nothing from pass sales.