Tahoe Ski World

skiing in Lake Tahoe

Vail Resorts makes skiing with friends more affordable

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Got a friend you want to ski or ride with, yet unlike you, they don’t have the Vail Epic Pass for Lake Tahoe? That issue just got less problematic from a financial standpoint, thanks to a new ticket plan offered for the 2025-26 ski season.

Thanks in part to its convenient location in South Lake Tahoe, Heavenly is the most popular of the three Vail Resorts in Tahoe.

Vail Resorts wants to make it easier for season ticket members to bring their friends to the slopes in Tahoe and nationwide. Earlier this week, the company announced its “Epic Friend Tickets” plan, a new benefit for Epic passholders that is provides discounts to non-passholders.

Vail Resorts has three ski resorts in Lake Tahoe – Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood. Epic Friend Ticket passes are on sale here. Note, the lowest ticket prices end Sept. 1.

Passholders with an Epic Pass, Epic Local Pass, Epic Military Pass, Northeast Value Pass, and most of the company’s other season-long passes will receive 6-10 Epic Friend Tickets, depending on when they purchased their season pass.

Epic Friend Tickets provide 50% off lift tickets at the company’s 37 North American resorts for the 2025/26 winter season. Plus, friends can also apply 100% of the cost of one redeemed Epic Friend Ticket toward an eligible 2026/27 Epic Pass – providing double the savings.*

“Skiers and snowboarders know this sport is magic; a passion you can’t help but pass on,” said Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz. “If you ski or ride, chances are someone brought you into the sport and we want to make it easier for you to pay it forward. Epic Friend Tickets are the next step on our nearly two-decade-long journey to find ways to make skiing more accessible to more people.”

An under-rated ski resort due to its somewhat isolated location near South Lake Tahoe, Kirkwood offers a good combination of challenging terrain and short lift lines.

With the introduction of Epic Friend Tickets, eligible passholders who purchased before April 14, 2025, will receive 10 Epic Friend Tickets. Those who purchase after the April date will receive six Epic Friend Tickets.

Epic Friend Tickets replace and upgrade Buddy Tickets, a former pass benefit, which generally offered much lower savings off lift ticket prices that were offered by other resorts.

Epic Friend Tickets can be used at all 37 of the company’s North American resorts, including big destinations like Vail Mountain and Whistler Blackcomb; regional destinations like Stowe, Heavenly, and Crested Butte; and local ski areas like Mount Sunapee and Afton Alps.

Epic Friend Tickets can be redeemed through EpicPass.com, then activated in the My Epic app for direct-to-lift access. The accompanying passholder must scan their pass in a lift line before an Epic Friend Ticket becomes scannable.

Epic Friend Tickets provide significant savings this winter and next. Friends get 50% off lift tickets this season. Whatever they pay for that ticket can be used as a credit toward an eligible 2026/27 Epic Pass. Read more about Epic Friend Tickets here.

“By making it easier for our passholders to share the ski experience with friends – through savings across not one, but two winter seasons – we hope to help spark traditions that will inspire groups of friends to return to the mountains for years to come,” Katz said.

Located in North Lake Tahoe, Northstar is a ski resort that caters to families.

SEASON PASS PLANS

  • Epic Pass ($1,075 adults; $548 children): Offers unlimited, unrestricted access to Vail’s 42 owned and operated mountain resorts including Whistler Blackcomb, Vail Mountain, Park City Mountain, Breckenridge, Beaver Creek, and Stowe, plus access to iconic partner resorts and ski areas like Telluride, Colorado; Rusutsu and Hakuba Valley, Japan; Verbier 4 Vallées, Switzerland; Sölden, Saalbach and Zell am See-Kaprun, Austria; and more across Europe.
  • Epic Local Pass ($799 adults; $416 children): Provides unlimited, unrestricted access to 29 resorts, plus access to more destination resorts with some restrictions.
  • Epic Military Pass: Provides access to all of the company’s 42 resorts is currently $190 for active and retired military and their dependents, and $614 for veterans and their dependents.

More details on pass options for the 2025/26 season are linked here.

*Friends who don’t hold a 2025/26 Pass can apply the full cost of a single redeemed Epic Friend Ticket towards eligible 2026/27 Passes including Epic Pass, Epic Local Pass, and other regional passes for a limited time. The full list of eligible passes will be available once 2026/27 Passes are on sale. 2025/26 passholders are not eligible for this promotion.