Pocono ski season starts on the pricing pages well before it starts on the snow. Between now and Thanksgiving, Montage, Elk, Shawnee and Blue Mountain all raise their season pass prices. For the past two winters, though, Camelback and Blue Mountain didn't run their lifts until December, and last season both opened in the first week of the month. As of today, October 8, that leaves several weeks in which you're deciding what to pay for a winter you can't see yet. And this winter, the parts you can't see yet are the most changed in decades.
The Calendar Runs Ahead of the Snow
Last season, Camelback opened on Wednesday, December 3, 2025, and Blue Mountain followed on Friday, December 5, according to The Morning Call. The winter before, lehighvalleylive reported Blue Mountain open as of December 6, and Camelback was scheduled to open Saturday, December 14. Nobody has announced a 2026-27 opening date for either mountain yet. In its August release, Vail Resorts said more opening dates would come later and that every date depends on weather.
Here are this fall's posted deadlines, using that December pattern as the baseline:
Mountain | Current price | Deadline | What happens after |
|---|---|---|---|
Montage Mountain | $499 season pass | October 12 | Full price is $799 |
Elk Mountain | $960 adult all-season | October 20 | $1,050 through December 1, then $1,130 |
Shawnee Mountain | $519 regular, $449 youth | October 31 | $549 for all passes from November 1 |
Blue Mountain | $759 All Access, $959 Peak-to-Peak | November 18 | Listed prices increase |
Jack Frost and Big Boulder | $1,145 Epic Pass, $690 Epic Northeast Value Pass | Lowest price ended September 7 | Current prices shown |
Montage's sale window closes four days from today. Elk is the one to plan around most carefully. Its adult pass goes up twice before last year's opening dates would come around again, and its posted schedule makes December 1 the second cutoff. Elk's Big & Friendly adult pass follows the same steps: $700 through October 20, $750 through December 1, and $785 after that, in either the Weekend or Midweek version. Elk also asks that pass applications be returned by mail or in person, not by email, so the October 20 date means a little more than clicking a button. If you're weighing Montage, its pass page lists early Northface access, Tuesday group lessons and 10% off food among the benefits.
Blue Mountain's increase comes on November 18. Its listed All Access ($759), Off Peak ($499), Youth ($359), Senior ($149) and Peak-to-Peak ($959) passes all show an increase that day. The Child pass, listed at $79, does not.
What Camelback Is Adding
For anyone deciding in October, the biggest unknown is terrain they've never skied. The Valley Ledger carried the resorts' September announcement, and it says this is the first time in 30 years that Camelback has added trails. The resort will have 45 trails for 2026-27, which the announcement says is the most of any Pocono ski area.
The three new runs, as the resort describes them:
- A double-black-diamond at the top of the Stevenson Lift that connects to Pharaoh's.
- A blue-square branching off skier's left of Upper Cleopatra and connecting to Big Pocono.
- A black-diamond beneath Black Bear 6 that gives skiers a new route from Basilisk to John Bailey.
Two of the three are expert terrain, and the blue fills a gap in a part of the mountain intermediates already use. POWDER reported the same additions on September 8.
The food changes are aimed at families more than at experts. Alpine Outpost is a new food-and-beverage stop along the Coolmoor teaching trail, where most of Camelback's ski and snowboard lessons happen. The resort pitches it as a spot where parents can grab something while watching the teaching hill. A new hot chocolate bar will also open off the trail coming down from Upper Cleopatra, near the new blue run.
Behind the scenes, the Bailey Lift is scheduled to run on opening day with a new gearbox, which the resort says adds lift capacity for the season. Every lift on the mountain has also been repainted evergreen.
On price, Camelback's online store currently lists the 2026/27 Value Pass, for ages 6 to 69, at $269 and the Senior Pass, for ages 70 and up, at $109. Those prices have already gone up since February 18, when the launch announcement listed the Value Pass at $239 and the Senior Pass at $99 and called that launch pricing the lowest since 1999. Child add-ons are $79 with an Unlimited or Value pass. We couldn't confirm the current adult Unlimited price or Camelback's next increase date from its sales pages, so check the season pass page directly before you assume you have until any particular date.
What Blue Mountain Is Adding
Blue Mountain's upgrades are about extending each ski day and keeping the snow coming. The resort is installing 315 new LED trail lights, which it says will make the mountain 100% LED-lit. The new lighting covers Vista, Easy Out, School Hill, Come Around, Lazy Mile, Tut's Lane, Sidewinder and Valley School East and West. WFMZ reported the same list.
For people who drive up from Allentown or Bethlehem after work, the lights matter more than the trail map does. Blue Mountain's 2026/27 Night Ticket is good from 4pm to close on the day you pick. The ticket page doesn't list a set closing time or a day-by-day night schedule, so check before you head up on a weeknight.
The snowmaking work is aimed at reliability. Crews are laying new underground pipe on School Hill and Vista, and the Creekside pumphouse is getting automated pump controls. School Hill and Vista show up on both the lighting list and the snowmaking list, so both upgrades meet on those two trails.
Why One Pass Covers Both Mountains
The Peak-to-Peak pass is listed at $959 at both Blue Mountain and Camelback. It covers unlimited 2026/27 skiing at both. The shared pass goes back to Blue Mountain's 2021 sale. The Morning Call reported that the buyer, BMR Resort, traces to KSL Capital, which is affiliated with KSL Resorts, Camelback's operator. Blue Mountain CEO Barbara Green stayed on as an owner.
That connection also explains the deadlines. Blue Mountain posts November 18 as the date its Peak-to-Peak price goes up. So if you want both Camelback's new trails and Blue Mountain's newly lit night skiing, that's the only firm date we could confirm. Peak to Peak child add-ons at Camelback are $149. In February, the launch release listed Peak to Peak at $899, $60 less than it costs now.
Jack Frost and Big Boulder Already Passed Their Date
Vail's two Pocono mountains, Jack Frost and Big Boulder, run on the Epic calendar, and that calendar moved early. Vail's August 18 release set September 7 as the deadline for the lowest Epic Pass price of the fall and said prices would go up after that. Today, the Epic Pass page lists an adult pass at $1,145, and the Epic Northeast Value Pass at $690. Both include Jack Frost and Big Boulder. We found no new lift, lodge or restaurant announced for either mountain this year. The opening schedule in Vail's August release didn't include them.
Shawnee, Montage and Elk didn't announce any new terrain or facilities in the material we reviewed, either. That isn't proof that nothing is planned. It does mean that this season's biggest physical changes in the Poconos are at Camelback and Blue Mountain.
What Isn't Known Yet
No mountain in the region has posted a 2026-27 opening date. Camelback's current adult Unlimited price and its next deadline weren't visible on its sales pages. Everything above about December comes from the last two seasons, not from any promise for this one. If this winter follows that pattern, Montage's, Elk's and Shawnee's current prices will have expired by the time the Stevenson Lift's new double-black opens, and Blue Mountain's November 18 increase will land about two weeks before the first night under the new LEDs.
If you own a home near Tannersville, Palmerton or the I-80 corridor and want to know where its value stands heading into ski season, Daniel Witt Team can run the numbers for you. Visit our Poconos page or get your free home valuation.
