Season ski passes are only as good as you make them. You have to use them to get your money's worth, and the newest mountain pass is no exception. At first it might seem silly for someone in Denver to consider buying a season pass to Monarch Mountain — nearly 140 miles away — but this is no ordinary pass. Monarch has teamed up with nine other resorts in three states that are "unique and off the beaten path." Thus, a $399 season pass to Monarch comes with three days each at Crested Butte, Loveland, Durango, Sunlight, Powderhorn and New Mexico's Angel Fire and Pajarito, as well as half-price tickets at Alta, in Utah, and one day in the steep-and-deep extremes of Silverton Mountain. It's the perfect package for an epic road trip. And if those plans crumble, the pass won't be a total loss: Monarch's only twenty miles farther than Vail, and you don't have to deal with bumper-to-bumper traffic on I-70.