Want to buy a multi-resort season ski and Snowboard Pass for Korea but the details seem a little fuzzy? We purchased ours for the first time this year and wanted to share our experience. The following post may help clarify the X5 process and share a few tips and tricks we wish we had known.
My Experience with X5 Multi-Pass
Before we start talking about the passes, I want to say that my only regret is that I didn’t buy mine in past years. As a person who lives to ride, the multi-pass improved my season immediately. For example, now that I have my X5 pass:
- I attended two opening days instead of waiting to start until later in the season. Since I have my pass I didn’t care about potentially wasting money on bad snow days. Therefore, I started hitting the slopes in late November rather than late December.
- I stopped to eat. I’m always worried about missing a run and wasting my ski time so I often don’t eat when I should and sometimes get in a bit of a situation. Now that I have my pass, I take a lunch break.
- I will drop in for a few runs on the way to another event. Since we have X5 passes, we can stop for a few runs on the way through an area. Instead of wasting my money on a short day, I’m maximizing my pass.
- I can take a rest. Before I was pushing myself past a safe place because I wanted to get in as many runs as possible. Now I start earlier in the day and let myself take some time whenever I need it.
After just one month with my X5 Pass, I’m a true believer and I want other people to get them as well. So if you love skiing and snowboarding, here is what you need to know about the X5 multi-resort season passes.
About X5 Multi-Resort Season Passes
The X5 Multi-Resort Season Passes started a few years ago. The passes allow pass holders to ski or snowboard at multiple resorts across Korea while only paying for one pass. X5 Multi-Resort Season Passes are still pretty new to the scene and a great deal. The passes often don’t get marketed to the international community so many folks miss out on the lowest deals for becoming a snow bum in Korea.
When and Where to Buy X5 Passes
If you want to get the best deals on the X5 passes check the TMON website or check Naver regularly starting in mid-September or early-October. Have all your banking, phone, and ID information registered and ready to go in Korea before purchasing. More about this later in this post.
The Exact Pass Name Might Change Each Year
Each time they come out with the pass they change the number. Maybe they call it the X4 or X3 pass. This makes it very annoying to find online. That means you need to know the websites to check to see what it’s called each year. Specifically, you need to check the TMON website. We will say this many times in this blog to make sure you know where to find and buy passes quickly.
Knowing Korean Helps
The entire process for purchasing and activating the X5 seasonal passes is in Korean. If you don’t speak Korean you need 1) a friend to help you or 2) excellent Papago translation skills and time to figure things out. Don’t let this stop you though, it’s doable and worth it if you love skiing all season.
Price
In 2023, the earliest X5 Multi-Resort Season Pass cost 430,000 KRW. Of course, prices change from year to year. It also depends on when you purchase them. This price is not a promise, just information.
Generally speaking, 4 hours of snowboarding costs between 50,000 – 80,000 depending on what discounts you find. So if you want to ski more than 4 hours a day / 7 days in the year, you may want to get the X5 pass.
Sales Period
The X5 Multi-Resort Season Passes often start selling in the first week of October. The cheapest deals end around the last week of November. The passes may continue to well after that for increased rates.
Participating Resorts
The resorts that participate in the X5 pass may change each year. In 2023 the season passes include:
- WelliHelli Park
- Pyongyong Resort
- High1 Park
- Elysian Gangchon
- Eden Valley
Each Adult Pass Includes One Free Child Under 18
That’s correct, families get the most out of the ski pass because kids ski for free.
Signing up Your Child
In 2023, South of Seoul volunteer Molly Hayden signed up her child with her X5 Pass. Molly and her family don’t speak Korean and they went through the process at the ski resort without a translator. Here was her family’s experience:
“So registering our kid was super easy. Everything comes to your Kakao talk through Play story, so when we went to get our passes, they just added our kid. We didn’t fill out any info prior (apparently you’re supposed to, but we didn’t get to it), so they helped us translate and the whole process took about 10 minutes. Super easy. And so worth it for the price. Last year kiddos were 30k, this year, 50k.”
The 30,000 – 50,000 KRW fee is for the child’s physical pass. So they ski for free, but you still need to get them a pass when you sign up. Be prepared for that additional fee.
Resort Discounts & Access
The X5 Season Pass doesn’t just give you discounts on skiing, it also has many hotel and resort discounts and increased access to booking dates. Once you purchase your X5 passes you will get messages about such discounts and booking links. This will all be in Korean. I recommend putting them into Papago and reading them. There are some solid deals.
You will also get a discount book when you get your X5 Seasonal Pass activated. The book is filled with different discount offers that we haven’t had the chance to use yet.
Purchasing Options
You will need to follow one of two paths for purchasing your X5 passes:
Purchase Them Independently
You can independently purchase the X5 Season Ski Passes through TMon online or through their app. If you have your Kakao setup correctly to validate your identity and your Korean accounts connected to Kakao Pay, the entire payment process through the app is incredibly easy. However, if you need to use the TMon website things get complicated quickly. Also, if you don’t have all your payment processing setup for your phone, things can be tough.
Get Help from a Service or a Friend
If you have no idea how to navigate the online Korean banking systems and purchasing sites, you need to get help from either a professional service or a friend. They will purchase the tickets for you and then help you activate them at the resort.
You Need to be a Resident of Korea with Your ID Synced with Your Phone
Keep in mind that each person who has an X5 Season Pass needs to have a phone registered in South Korea and synced with their Korean residency card. I’m saying this specifically for US Military-affiliated individuals who do not have a Korean Residency Card, don’t have a Korean smartphone number, or don’t have their Korean smartphone synced with their Korean residency card. Do NOT have another person buy you an X5 pass thinking you can get the ID issues worked out later. It takes up to 30 days to get your Korean ID.
Our Experience Activating Our Season Passes
For our group, one person purchased three X5 Season passes for a group. Once the tickets were purchased, PlayStory immediately messaged the purchasing person 3 different messages in Kakao. Each message contained an ID number for one pass.
Activate Your Passes in Person
You need to visit the X5 desk at one of the participating resorts to activate your pass for the season. Each resort has a specific office that manages the X5 Passes. You should get text messages with the opening hours and locations of each of these offices after you purchase your pass and right after opening days are announced.
This means that if you purchased your tickets very early, you will not get the text message with X5 office locations for a few weeks. This often occurs around the last week in November and the first week in December. However, any gear rental spot or hotel near the resort can let you know where the X5 office is near them.
Arrive at the X5 Office Early
Arrive at the X5 office before they open if possible. On opening day, we arrived at the season pass office 30 minutes after they opened and that was a mistake. We should have arrived early. There were already 50 people ahead of us in line when we took a number. It wasn’t cramped but we would recommend arriving 10-15 minutes before they open to get the process finished as soon as possible.
Registration Starts on Your Phone
While waiting our turn, Lisa noticed we could start the registration process on our phones. To start the pre-registration process, each person was advised to download the PlayStory app to their phone. However, when we downloaded PlayStory we found that Android and iPhones don’t work the same. Here is what you need to know:
Download PlayStory
Even though we purchased the tickets through the TMon app, we learned that PlayStory manages the tickets themselves. This means that every person with an X5 Season pass needs to download the PlayStory app to their individual devices.
The iPhone and Android PlayStory Apps Work Differently
The iPhone and Andriod PlayStory apps didn’t work the same. Here is what we found. Our 3 passes were purchased on my iPhone. Lisa could use the Android PlayStory app to activate her X5 Season Pass using the ID number included in the text message sent to the purchasing phone. However, Harry could not use the iPhone PlayStory app and could not use the ID number included in the text message sent to the purchasing phone to activate his pass.
Instead, I had to register Harry through the PlayStory on my phone, and then it sent the verification notification to his phone. At that point, he was able to verify and activate the pass on his phone. Needless to say, this complicated things a bit. Next year, we will have the purchasing person activate all the passes from the start now that we know it’s possible and easy to do.
Also, if this sounds hard, just have the assistance at the X5 desk walk you through completing the process. It might mean more time at their desk but it will go more smoothly. It’s all in Korean.
PlayStory Manages X5 Resort Liability Waivers
Part of the process of activating your X5 Seasonal Pass includes the liability waivers for all of the resorts. This means you don’t need to fill out the paper liability waivers that may or may not be found in the waiting area.
Meet With an X5 Agent and Get the Pass
Once your number is called you go to an X5 Season Pass Agent. If you completed pre-registration on the phones, you will hand your phone to the rep and they will complete the process on their end and print out your season pass. This takes about 5-10 minutes per person if you did everything correctly.
If you did not figure out how to pre-register in the app, then the X5 Season Pass Agent will walk you through the process from beginning to end. It will take about 10 -15 minutes per person in your group.
Registering the Palm of Your Hand
Now that you have your physical X5 card, you need to register the palm of your hand with your card. You need to do this because your physical card will be activated each time you visit a participating resort by scanning the palm of your hand.
To register the palm of your hand, visit the attended palm registration area next to an X5 office. You place your X5 Season Pass on the card reader and then your palm on the scanner. You may need to have your palm scanned about 3 times to get the final scan. So, pick up your hand and put it back down between each scan. All of this will be prompted in Korean. Once you have your card and registered your palm, it’s time to hit the slopes.
Using the X5 Pass
At the start of each day of skiing, locate the scanners in the lobby of the resort or near the X5 office. Place the card on the reader and then scan your plam, this will activate your X5 Season Pass for the day. At each run gate, you will need to scan your X5 Pass. Keep in mind, at YongPyong Resort you might need to rescan your palm separately for night skiing. Honestly, the X5 passes feel incredibly easy to use once everything is in the system
Losing Your Physical X5 Pass
If you lose your pass it will cost around 30,000 – 50,000 KRW to replace it. We have not gone through this process, but we did see the prices so we know it’s possible to replace a lost pass.
Feel Free to Correct Us or Add Information
Our goal at South of Seoul is accuracy. Sometimes we don’t get it right on the first try. If we left out the information you find important or didn’t explain something clearly, or now things are different – tell us in the comments or send us a message.
Learn More About the Included Resorts
Here are some South of Seoul blog posts about:
Lanae Rivers-Woods moved to Korea in 2011 where she lives in the countryside with her family, friends, and puppies. She holds a BSSW (Bachelor’s of Science in Social Work), a MAIT (Master’s of Arts in International Teaching), and registered by the Pyeongtaek Korean Times with the Korean government as a Cultural Expert.
Ms. Rivers-Woods used her 15 years experience as a social architect, UX/UI designer, and technology consultant to found South of Seoul in 2015. South of Seoul is a volunteer organization that leverages technological tools to mitigate cultural dissonance in multi-cultural communities.
Through South of Seoul, Ms. Rivers-Woods works with independent volunteers, non-profit organizations, businesses, local & federal government, universities, and US military organizations to develop solutions to support English speaking international residents in rural South Korea.
Additionally, Ms. Rivers-Woods founded the South of Seoul smart phone app available for Google Play and iPhone. The app provides information a resources for those living and traveling in South Korea.
When she isn’t in South of Seoul development meetings or working her day job, Ms. Rivers-Woods loves to be outside at skate parks, the beach, or playing in the mountains.
