Tom Key Sometimes the most interesting moves in business aren’t moves at all. They’re embraces of reality.
Loveland Ski Area just joined the Indy Pass for 2024-25. The easy narrative is “David joins forces with other Davids to fight Goliath.” But that’s not quite it.
Here’s what’s actually happening:
The ski industry has bifurcated. On one side, you have the mega-passes (Epic and Ikon) with their 130+ resorts, their infrastructure requirements, and their corporate partnerships. They’re playing a game that requires massive scale, massive investment, and massive crowds to work.
Not everyone gets to play that game. Not everyone should want to.
Loveland, sitting 53 miles from Denver, faces a choice that isn’t really a choice. They could try to compete in the mega-resort arms race (they can’t) or they could turn their constraints into advantages (they did).
This is where it gets interesting.
The Indy Pass started in 2019 with 34 resorts and has grown to 230. Not because they outspent the giants. Not because they offered more. But because they turned “small” into a feature, not a bug.
Think about that for a second:
- The mega-resorts sell unlimited access
- Indy Pass sells limitation (two days per resort)
- The mega-resorts sell luxury
- Indy sells authenticity
- The mega-resorts sell “everywhere”
- Indy sells “somewhere specific”
This isn’t just about skiing. It’s about what happens when markets mature.
The big get bigger. The small get specific. And in that specificity, they find their strength. Their tribe. Their reason for existing.
Loveland joining Indy Pass isn’t a consolation prize. It’s an acknowledgment that being small and specific beats being a mediocre version of big.
The future of skiing won’t be found in trying to compete with the mega-resorts at their own game. It will be found in the places that understand this truth: When you can’t win by being bigger, win by being more meaningful.
That’s not just smart business. That’s how small becomes mighty.
