Magic, the Swiss version of Epic

Three winter seasons ago, a group of 30 Swiss ski areas, mostly in the French speaking region of the small Alpine country, decided to emulate Vail Resorts' Epic Pass and united in offering for about $400 their Magic season ski pass.

According to what I've been able to gather 85,000 passes were sold in 2017-18, then 102,000 this past season and next year's is anyone's guess, as skiers must commit by early May. At any rate, that's more than $40 millions in the till, more than six month before ski season starts.

For next season, the price of the Magic pass has been hiked by more than 7% to about $430, compare this to 5-6% for both Epic and Ikon.

According to Swiss ski industry sources this initiative is credited with a 10% uptick in skier-days for the whole country and a stunning 30% increase in visitations at participating ski areas.

What's notable is that weekend traffic on major southern Swiss highways has increased too, bringing Sunday returns to a snarl!

Unlike the Epic and Ikon passes, don't expect to see a roster of ski resorts chuck-full of prestigious names like Gstaad, St Moritz or Zermatt, but you'll still find places like Arolla, Crans-Montana or Saas-Fe among all the destinations offered.

So, just like for our multi-area passes, the future of the Magic pass is something that we'll follow with great interest over the next coming winters...