THE VERDICT
Wisconsin’s fragmented ski geography is the product.
For $249 plus tax, one skier gets one day at each of 17 hills. No repeats. That is the point. Granite Peak can feel like a weekend away; Little Switzerland can turn an empty evening into fast laps. The Passport makes both part of the same winter.
The catch is calendar-shaped. Alpine Valley, Devil’s Head and Granite Peak are non-holiday weekday tickets, while Wilmot blocks Saturdays and listed holidays. This works best for a curious skier who sees the drive as part of the day, not dead time between home and the lift.
SCORE APPROVED · HUMAN APPROVED · LOCKED
PassTracks Score breakdown
The statewide reach is real and the price is unusually good. One-day depth and weekday rules keep this from becoming an automatic yes.
PassTracks Score: 8.4/10. Human approved and score locked.
THE TRAIL-MAP VERSION
One ticket at each hill. Not 17 tickets wherever you want.
PRICE
$249 + tax
TICKETS
17 total
REDEMPTION
One per area
HOLDER
One named person
The Passport is digital, limited in quantity, nontransferable and nonrefundable. The buyer uploads a photo; the named holder presents photo ID at the ticket window. Equipment rental is not included. More than one participating area may be visited on the same day, with each ticket redeemed separately.
HOW IT WORKS
Seventeen separate invitations.
- Buy online from Skiing Wisconsin and assign each Passport to one person.
- Create or use the holder’s account and upload a current photo.
- Bring photo ID to a participating ticket window.
- Redeem that area’s single included ticket, subject to its restrictions.
- Move on. That area’s Passport access is finished for the season.
One ticket at each hill. No repeats. That is the point.
COMPLETE ACCESS
Every hill gets one day. The calendar decides which days count.
The complete roster belongs in the decision, not below it. Important resort-specific limits are surfaced with each entry.
17 resorts
Passport access17
- TrollhaugenKIDS SKI FREE · 5 & UNDERDresser · 1 day · Standard Passport terms
- Christie MountainBruce · 1 day · Standard Passport terms
- Mont du LacSuperior · 1 day · Standard Passport terms
- Mt. La CrossePSIA-AASI SCHOOLLa Crosse · 1 day · No Jan. 15–17, 22–24, 29–31; Feb. 12–15, 26–28; Mar. 6–7
- Mt. AshwabayBayfield · 1 day · Standard Passport terms
- Whitecap MountainsUpson · 1 day · Valid 9 a.m.–4 p.m.
- Granite PeakPSIA-AASI SCHOOLWausau · 1 day · Weekdays only; listed holidays excluded
- Christmas MountainWisconsin Dells · 1 day · Standard Passport terms
- Alpine ValleyPSIA-AASI SCHOOLEast Troy · 1 day · Weekdays only; listed holidays excluded
- Cascade MountainPSIA-AASI SCHOOLKIDS SKI FREE · 12 & UNDERWisconsin Dells · 1 day · Standard Passport terms
- Crystal RidgeKIDS SKI FREE · 6 & UNDERFranklin · 1 day · Standard Passport terms
- Devil’s HeadKIDS SKI FREE · 5 & UNDERMerrimac · 1 day · Weekdays only; listed holidays excluded
- Grand GenevaPSIA-AASI SCHOOLKIDS SKI FREE · 6 & UNDERLake Geneva · 1 day · Standard Passport terms
- Little SwitzerlandKIDS SKI FREE · 6 & UNDERSlinger · 1 day · Standard Passport terms
- Nordic MountainPSIA-AASI SCHOOLKIDS SKI FREE · 6 & UNDERWild Rose · 1 day · Standard Passport terms
- Tyrol BasinPSIA-AASI SCHOOLMount Horeb · 1 day · Standard Passport terms
- Wilmot MountainKIDS SKI FREE · 4 & UNDERWilmot · 1 day · No Saturdays or listed holidays
VALUE
The Passport can work long before day 17.
Seventeen days is the theoretical ceiling, not the break-even requirement. Move the slider to the number of Passport tickets you realistically expect to use.
You do not need to collect all 17 tickets to win the math. Four days puts the effective cost at $62.25; six drops it to $41.50. Several expensive redemptions can make $249 sensible quickly. But the best retail-value tickets and the easiest weekend tickets are not always the same thing.
The practical rule
A skier who uses four to six well-chosen tickets can make the $249 purchase look sensible. A buyer who reaches only one or two hills probably bought an itinerary, not a bargain.
THE CATCH
Some of the best tickets are weekday tickets.
The $249 math looks almost absurd until the calendar enters the room. Saturday-only skiers should read the fine print before falling in love with it.
| Area | 2026–27 Passport rule |
|---|---|
| Alpine Valley | No Saturdays, Sundays or listed holidays; effectively non-holiday weekdays. |
| Devil’s Head | No Saturdays, Sundays or listed holidays; effectively non-holiday weekdays. |
| Granite Peak | No Saturdays, Sundays or listed holidays; effectively non-holiday weekdays. |
| Wilmot Mountain | No Saturdays or listed holidays. Ordinary Sundays are not listed as restricted. |
| Mt. La Crosse | No Jan. 15–17, Jan. 22–24, Jan. 29–31, Feb. 12–15, Feb. 26–28, or March 6–7, 2027. |
| Whitecap Mountains | Included lift ticket is valid 9:00 a.m.–4:00 p.m. |
Listed holiday periods are Dec. 22, 2026–Jan. 3, 2027; Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, Jan. 15–18; and Presidents Day weekend, Feb. 12–15. Wilmot also excludes listed holidays.
Granite Peak, Devil’s Head and Alpine Valley can be some of the best-looking redemptions. They are also the clearest test of whether your calendar actually fits this pass.
GEOGRAPHIC FIT
The Passport turns the state into a season.
Granite Peak is the heavyweight.
Seven hundred feet of vertical, real lift capacity and enough terrain to make Wausau feel like a ski trip rather than an errand. It is also one of the hardest Passport tickets to use if weekends are your only option.
Cascade is the lap machine.
Close enough to Madison to be casual, efficient enough to make a few hours worthwhile. The lifts do the work quickly.
Devil’s Head stretches the run.
The terrain feels more drawn out than many southern Wisconsin hills. The Passport catch is the same as Granite: this is a weekday ticket.
Trollhaugen brings the culture.
Good snowmaking, lights and rope-tow energy make it more than a box to check. This is Midwest ski culture at full volume.
Wilmot is Chicago convenience.
Nobody drives to Wilmot for massive vertical. They drive because it is close, lit and skiable after work. Sometimes proximity wins.
The small hills are part of the point.
Little Switzerland, Nordic, Mt. Ashwabay, Tyrol Basin and Christie turn curiosity into actual ski days. Wisconsin is not pretending to be Colorado. This pass is better when you stop asking it to.
INSIDE PERSPECTIVE
Small hills are not failed big mountains.
A 300-foot hill can still produce a very good Tuesday night. Cascade is the efficient Madison lap option. Devil’s Head draws the run out. Wilmot and Alpine Valley make proximity useful after work. Little Switzerland turns compact terrain into fast repetition, while Trollhaugen’s lights and snowmaking give it an identity bigger than its trail map.
The Passport gives each kind of hill one turn. That variety is not a compromise. It is the whole idea.
Buy if
- Trying a different Wisconsin hill sounds like part of the fun.
- You can ski at least a few weekdays.
- Four to six Passport days feels realistic, not aspirational.
- You want to discover which hill deserves your next full season pass.
- A Wisconsin road trip sounds like skiing, not commuting.
Pause if
- Saturday is your only realistic ski day.
- You want one home mountain every week.
- You will probably redeem only one or two tickets.
- Your family would need several $249 Passports but mostly ski together at one hill.
- The idea of driving around Wisconsin sounds exhausting.
What works
- $249 can pay for itself surprisingly quickly if you choose redemptions well.
- The roster runs from Granite Peak and Cascade to small local hills you might otherwise never try.
- One day per mountain turns variety into the point instead of a compromise.
- Flexible weekday and night skiers can extract much more value than the sticker price suggests.
- The Passport can double as reconnaissance for a future home-mountain season pass.
What to watch
- Granite Peak, Devil’s Head and Alpine Valley are weekday tickets under current restrictions.
- Wilmot blocks Saturdays and listed holidays.
- One ticket per hill means a great day cannot simply become a repeat weekend.
- Every skier needs a separate Passport, so family cost multiplies quickly.
- Seventeen hills are spread across a large state. The driving is part of the product.
FAMILY ECONOMICS
The solo-skier math is easy. Family math climbs fast.
Every skier needs an individually assigned Passport. There is no child, student, military or senior discount, and Passports cannot be shared.
The family test
The Passport is easiest to justify for one curious skier or a couple that likes to roam. A family that plans to repeat the same hill every weekend should price that mountain’s family season-pass options before buying four Passports.
THE ALTERNATIVES
Compare the kind of winter, not just the price.
One Wisconsin season pass
A home-mountain pass trades variety for repeat access, familiarity and stronger weekend certainty. Choose it when repetition is the plan.
Indy Pass
Indy generally offers two days at participating mountains across a much broader geography, at a higher purchase price and with its own blackout structure. Skiing Wisconsin is the cheaper, one-day statewide sampler.
Legendary Midwest
Legendary builds repeat season access around Lutsen, Granite Peak and Snowriver. The Wisconsin Passport samples far more Wisconsin hills but stops after one visit at each.
Use both?
A repeat-access pass plus the Passport can make sense for a skier with a true home mountain who still wants a reason to explore. Price the realistic calendar first.
The best ticket may be the hill you keep driving past.
The Skiing Wisconsin Passport is for the skier who looks at a state map and sees possibilities instead of mileage. Use four or six good tickets and the math starts to work. Use ten and the price becomes almost silly. But the best part is not squeezing every last dollar from all 17. It is finally taking the exit for the hill you have driven past for years.
Wisconsin has a lot of ski hills. For $249, you have an excuse to go meet them.