Everything below comes from skiidaho.us and the resorts' own pages — no aggregator sites. The program's official name is the Idaho Ski Areas Association 5th and 6th Grade Peak Season E-Passport.
5th graders: three all-day lift tickets at each participating area. 6th graders: two at each. Cost: a one-time processing fee — Ski Idaho's main pages list $29 (see the conflict below). You don't have to live in Idaho: Ski Idaho states any 5th or 6th grade student is welcome if they plan on skiing at participating Idaho resorts.
The participating areas: Bald Mountain, Bogus Basin, Brundage Mountain, Cottonwood Butte, Grand Targhee, Kelly Canyon, Little Ski Hill, Lookout Pass, Lost Trail, Magic Mountain, Pebble Creek, Pomerelle, Schweitzer, Silver Mountain, Snowhaven, Soldier Mountain, Sun Valley, and Tamarack. That list includes Sun Valley and Schweitzer, which are not small hills.
Worth flagging, since we'd rather tell you than pretend. The processing fee reads $29 on Ski Idaho's main passport pages and on Grand Targhee's page, but a separate Ski Idaho FAQ page lists $18. The number of participating areas reads 18 on the rules-and-regulations page and 17 on another. Neither discrepancy is a dealbreaker at this price, but confirm both at checkout rather than budgeting off an article — and remember the 2026-27 figures may differ from either number once registration reopens in October.
A parent must be present
The passport has to be shown at the resort to receive the lift ticket. This is not a pass you hand your kid before a school trip.
Payment is PayPal only
No credit card payments over the phone. You don't need a PayPal account to check out — but if you've ever had one you never formally closed, PayPal will make you log in to finish.
Nothing arrives in the mail
Your passport generates automatically once payment clears and is emailed to you. Print it or show it on a phone at the ticket office. It's non-refundable and non-transferable — each carries a unique tracking number, and mountains track visits against it. Transfer it and it's revoked immediately.
Don't buy this in the car on the way up
The passport is valid immediately at nine areas: Brundage, Bogus Basin, Grand Targhee, Lookout Pass, Pomerelle, Schweitzer, Silver Mountain, Sun Valley, and Tamarack. At the remaining mountains it may not be valid until 3pm the Friday after your purchase date, and use before then is at the mountain's discretion. Blackouts and race days also vary by hill — Ski Idaho tells you to check with each one directly.
🛰️ A bonus nobody mentions: the passport includes a complimentary family subscription to AirFlare, a safety app that turns a phone into a locator beacon for ski patrol. Ski Idaho says it's endorsed by Ski Patrol Directors across the state.
Here's the part that makes this page useful well outside Idaho. Grand Targhee is in Wyoming and participates in Idaho's passport — Targhee's own site puts it plainly: they know they're in Wyoming, but they like to play in Idaho too. Lost Trail straddles the Montana border, and Lookout Pass sits on the Idaho-Montana line on I-90. We found no statewide grade-based passport in Montana, Wyoming, or New Mexico — so for families in western Wyoming and western Montana, Idaho's $29 passport is the closest thing available, and a bargain even counting the drive.
⚠️ One caution on Targhee: its holiday blackouts under this program ran December 14–January 5, plus January 16–19 and February 13–16 last season — a long shutout across exactly the weeks school is out. Check the current season's dates before planning a holiday trip around it.
How much does the Idaho ski passport cost?
A one-time processing fee, listed as $29 on Ski Idaho's main pages. One of their FAQ pages says $18 — confirm at checkout.
What grades qualify?
5th and 6th. Fifth graders get three days per area, sixth graders get two.
When can I register for 2026-27?
October 2026. The 2026-27 fee and terms aren't posted yet.
Do we have to live in Idaho?
No. Any 5th or 6th grader planning to ski at participating Idaho areas qualifies.
Does a parent have to come?
Yes. A parent or guardian must be present and the passport shown at the resort.
Can I use it the day I buy it?
At nine of the areas, yes. At the others it may not be valid until 3pm the Friday after purchase.
Can I use it at Grand Targhee in Wyoming?
Yes — Targhee participates, though it carries long holiday blackouts.
Four other verified programs: Colorado stacks to 96 days for $77–$82, Utah covers 45 days at 15 resorts for $79, Vermont is 90+ days for $35 (with an adult-ticket catch), and New Hampshire is $59 for 30+ mountains at one day each. Or see the full side-by-side comparison — and remember, for a Boise family Idaho's $29 passport beats everything else on that page once you count only the mountains you can actually reach.
🔎 How we verified this: program terms, participating areas, and restrictions came from skiidaho.us and grandtarghee.com — no aggregator or coupon sites. Two figures conflict across Ski Idaho's own pages and are flagged above. Registration reopens in October 2026 and terms may change, so confirm at checkout.
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