CRESTED BUTTE MOUNTAIN RESORT JOINS EPIC PASS

Crested Butte Mountain Resort has been added to Vail Resorts’ Epic Pass for the 2018-19 season.

Vail Resorts said Thursday that Epic, Epic Local and Epic Australia pass holders will get seven unrestricted days of skiing each at Crested Butte and its sister resorts of Okemo in Vermont and Mount Sunapee in New Hampshire, and then 50 percent off of lift tickets after their days have been redeemed.

Vail Resorts touted the deal as a long-term alliance that brings access to 64 mountain resorts in 11 states and provinces and eight countries to Epic Pass holders.

The union also turns up the heat in the ski-pass war between Colorado’s ski resort behemoths — Vail Resorts and Alterra Mountain Co. — which have been making deals with high-profile independent resorts like Jackson Hole, Telluride, Alta and Snowbird for their Epic and Ikon passes.