By Megan Michelson, Outdoors

There’s still plenty of summer left, with grilling and mountain biking in full swing. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be getting ready for winter. If you’re planning to buy one of the season’s hottest passes, which grant access to multiple major resorts, consider booking now.

Prices tend to shoot up the closer you get to opening day and some passes sell out completely even before the start of the season, so the best advice we can offer: Buy your pass early.

Take the Epic Pass, Vail Resorts’ massive pass, which gives you full access to Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Arapahoe Basin, Park City, Heavenly, Northstar, Kirkwood, and more. The current price is $769 and although Vail won’t yet say when the deadline for that price is, or what the price increase, if any, will be, chances are the pass price will go up — and soon. If you’re in the market for an Epic Pass, get it while you still can. “We historically don’t announce a specific date that Epic Passes will go off sale entirely, but it will certainly be before the ski season begins,” says Lesli Carlson, corporate communications coordinator for Vail Resorts.

The Tahoe Super Pass Gold, currently on sale for $809, grants you unlimited riding at Squaw Valley and Alpine Meadows, as well as four days at Sierra-at-Tahoe and Sugar Bowl. Plus, Squaw’s offering a new worry-free guarantee this year, so if Tahoe gets skunked again this winter and you don’t use your pass at least five days, the resort will issue you a credit for a pass for the following season.

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