Which Catamount pass covers a Sunday-morning skier this winter? Last season the answer was the Locals Summit pass. Through November 30, 2025, adults could buy it for $569 to ski Catamount and Berkshire East Sunday through Friday. That pass is gone. Catamount's current season pass page lists four products for 2026–27: AIM High, Midweek, Night and College. None of them offers six days a week at a reduced price.
The new lineup follows from a change of ownership structure, and that change points the mountain on Hillsdale's stretch of Route 23 in a new direction. The passes now face north toward Vermont. They used to face across the Berkshires. Which pass gives a Hillsdale household the best value now depends more on the days of the week you ski than on how often you go.
Why the passes now point north
On March 23, 2026, Catamount announced that it and Berkshire East were joining Bear Den Partners. The independent ownership group, founded in 2025, already held Burke Mountain and had announced a joint ownership transition with Smugglers' Notch. Day-to-day leadership stays the same. The Schaefer family has run Catamount since 2018, and General Manager Mark Smith remains in place. In the release, Bear Den CEO Jon Schaefer called the move "an evolution for my family, not an exit." Jonathan Butler of 1Berkshire told The Berkshire Eagle that the arrangement kept "a very heavy local presence."
The pass that came out of the deal shows what changed. Last winter's top product, the Unlimited Summit, covered Catamount, Berkshire East and Bousquet in Pittsfield. Catamount called it "our only pass option that includes access to Bousquet." This season's AIM High pass drops Bousquet. It adds two days each at Burke and Smugglers' Notch, half-price days beyond those, unlimited midweek skiing at Burke in March, and 25 percent off non-holiday lodging at the Burke Mountain Hotel and at Smugglers' Notch.
Bousquet's own pass page says the shared Summit Pass "is not being offered by Berkshire East for the 2026/27 season." Bousquet General Manager Kevin McMillan explained the change to The Storm. He said the Berkshire East and Catamount business structure had "become more complex," which made it "difficult for them to continue offering a shared pass product outside of their own network."
The result for Hillsdale is that the season pass sold at the end of Catamount's driveway now includes days at the Northeast Kingdom and the Smugglers' Notch area of Vermont. Pittsfield, half an hour away, is no longer part of it.
What the Sunday skier pays now
Comparing prices side by side shows who gains and who pays more. Prices for the full-season, Sunday–Friday and weekday passes are early rates, which ran through November 30 last year and run through November 30 this year. Both years, the Night pass is listed at a single price.
| Pass, early price | 2025–26 | 2026–27 |
|---|---|---|
| Full season, adult | $729, Unlimited Summit | $799, AIM High |
| Full season, youth or senior | $619 | $679 |
| Sunday–Friday, adult | $569, Locals Summit | No equivalent |
| Weekday Monday–Friday, all ages | $419 | $429, Midweek |
| Night | $199 | $199 |
The full-season adult pass costs $70 more at the early rate. AIM High's $799 matches what the Unlimited Summit cost once its price went up on December 1 last season. Skiers who can use the Vermont days get something last year's pass did not include.
The Sunday skier faces a bigger jump. With the Locals Summit gone, an adult who skis Sundays can either buy AIM High at $799, which is $230 more than last year's $569, or buy day tickets for the weekends. The Midweek pass does not help, because it is valid Monday through Friday and "not valid on Saturdays or Sundays."
Last year's Locals Summit pass called Sunday through Friday "when locals ski the most." This year's lineup offers nothing between a Monday-to-Friday pass and an every-day pass.
Midweek and night passes cost about the same
For Hillsdale households that can ski on weekdays or after work, the price change is small. The Midweek pass rises $10 to $429 at the early rate. It now covers day and night skiing Monday through Friday at both mountains. It also includes two midweek days each at Burke and Smugglers' Notch with 50 percent off additional days, plus the same 25 percent lodging discount. Last year's weekday pass came with two $10 lift-ticket vouchers that expired December 24 and gave no Vermont access.
The Night pass stays at $199, and the hours are now fixed. It runs Wednesday and Thursday from 3 to 8 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 3 to 9 p.m., at Catamount and Berkshire East. Catamount says night skiing typically runs from late December into early March. Last season's page said only "after 3pm" and said night skiing was scheduled to start in January. For someone who works near the hamlet, Saturday from 3 to 9 p.m. is the only weekend skiing this pass covers, and it costs a quarter of AIM High.
Some things carry over. On every Catamount pass, skiers 80 and older and children 6 and under ski free, and a child counts as a tot if 6 or under on December 1, 2026. A College pass also returns, sold under the Berkshire College Pass name and valid at both mountains.
Here is how the passes line up with different schedules:
- Weekday, day or night: Midweek at $429 covers it and adds the Vermont midweek days.
- Weeknights and Saturday evenings: the Night pass at $199.
- Sunday skiing: at Catamount, AIM High is the only pass that covers it, at $799 for adults and $679 for youth and seniors.
- Trips north: AIM High's Burke and Smugglers' Notch days and lodging discount add the most value here.
The Pittsfield option, and the Indy Pass
Skiers who relied on the Sunday pass have another option now, and it is in Pittsfield. Bousquet sells its own passes this season. Its unlimited season pass costs $599 for adults ages 30 to 59 and $499 for juniors and seniors. Bousquet's Locals'+ pass, at $449, covers Sunday through Friday on non-holidays plus twilight skiing from 3 to 8 p.m. on Saturdays and holidays. That is the Sunday-to-Friday pattern Catamount's own lineup dropped, now offered by a different mountain.
The Indy Pass links the two mountains again. Bousquet sells an Indy Add-On at $339 for adults and $219 for juniors, and its page names Berkshire East and Catamount among the 300 independent resorts it covers. Catamount says it is on the 2026–27 Indy Pass and that AIM High holders can buy the Indy Add-On, which gives two days at each of the 300-plus Indy resorts and a third day at up to 25 percent off. That means a qualifying Bousquet passholder can add two days at Catamount, and an AIM High holder can add two days at Bousquet. No pass gives unlimited skiing at both anymore.
Before the lifts start
Last season, Hudson Valley Magazine reported that Catamount opened the weekend of December 5, 2025. It then closed for snowmaking and reopened December 13. The early prices on the Catamount passes run through November 30, which falls ahead of any opening on that schedule.
Catamount's dining page lists Campfire Bar & BBQ, which serves barbecue and has a full bar. The page also lists bagels from Great Barrington Bagel Company and seasonal specials at the Stateline Grill, including fried chicken and Cubano sandwiches. On the way back down Route 23, the town's business directory lists Cook & Larder at 2642 Route 23 and Hillsdale Supermarket at 2628. Around the corner on Anthony Street, it lists Hillsdale House at number 1, and Books & Cake and Hillsdale Fine Wine & Spirits at number 8.
Catamount's new owners kept the same family and the same general manager in charge while changing what its passes cover. Our team has spent more than a century helping families in this corner of Columbia County pass on land while keeping what matters about it, combining local knowledge with the reach of Compass. If a change in your own property's future is on your mind this winter, the Hudson Valley Team at Compass is ready to talk it through with you. Start a Confidential Consultation.
