A lawsuit filed this week in Denver U.S. District Court on behalf of American skiers argues the peddling of megapasses by Vail Resorts and Alterra Mountain Co. is “an anticompetitive scheme” that violates federal antitrust laws.
The complaint, which seeks class-action status, argues that day lift tickets costing more than $300 is an illegal scheme to force skiers to pay more than $1,000 for a season pass.
“Both the lift ticket and mega pass are over-priced,” reads the lawsuit filed by lawyers from three firms representing four skiers, three of whom are from Colorado.
Vail Resorts owns 42 ski areas and has deals for access on the Epic Pass to another 30 ski areas around the world. Alterra operates 18 ski areas and has Ikon Pass deals with close to 70 other resorts.
Of the 31 U.S. ski areas the National Ski Areas Association defines as “extra large,” based on skier lift capacity greater than 20,000 vertical feet per hour, 12 are accessible on the Epic Pass and 17 of them are part of the Ikon Pass. Those extra-large ski areas host more than 40% of the nation’s skier visits.
Vail Resorts, which is publicly traded, over the last three years has sold more than 2 million Epic Pass season passes and advanced-purchase lift tickets. The lawsuit estimates Alterra Mountain Co., which is privately owned and does not release any financial information, sells about 1 million Ikon Pass products a year.
The price of the Ikon Pass has climbed 40% since 2021, to $1,399 for 2026-27, from $999. In that same six-season span, the Epic Pass price has climbed 37%, to $1,089 from $793. (When the Epic Pass debuted in 2008, a season pass to Vail and Beaver Creek cost around $1,850.)
Both companies have spiked the cost of single-day lift tickets even more — from $219 at Vail ski area in 2019 to $356 this season and $159 at Alterra’s Steamboat ski area in 2019 to $339. Vail Resorts has developed more than a dozen discounted offerings in recent years, including resort-specific value passes, discounted lift tickets for friends of passholders and 30% discounts for skiers who buy lift tickets 30 days in advance.
The pass and lift ticket price increases violate federal antitrust laws, argues the 74-page lawsuit, the first to pursue anticompetitive charges against North America’s largest resort operators. Specifically, the lawsuit argues that the operators are “bundling,” in a way that “economically coerces” skiers to buy the Ikon or Epic pass by charging exorbitant prices for the “unbundled” lift ticket.
This is hardly a secret. Vail Resorts leaders have been aggressively pricing lift tickets as a tool to push at least 75% of their visitors into purchasing season passes long before the snow flies. The strategy has reduced reliance on snowfall, as evidenced this season as Vail Resorts reports steep declines in visitation due to weak snow, but less than a 4% decline in lift-ticket revenue.
Citing “the most difficult weather environment in the Rockies we have ever seen,” Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz earlier this month told investors that the company’s income was slowing but not cratering, with “modest declines in lift revenue in what many would consider a worst-case weather scenario.
“We’re proud of the resilience of our business model that is now more durable, more diversified and well positioned for our next phase of growth,” he said during his presentation of Vail Resorts second-quarter earnings for its fiscal 2026.
A Vail Resorts spokesman said in an email: “We believe these claims are without merit.”
“We launched the Epic Pass in 2008 to make skiing and riding more accessible, reducing the price of a season pass by 60%,” reads the email, which noted the company was proud of being “one of the best values in the industry” and that day tickets purchased in advance can drop to less than $100 at its major resorts.
“We will always give the best value to our pass holders who commit ahead of the season,” the spokesman said, noting recent discounts offered by the company’s individual resorts that lower walk-up prices.
An Alterra spokeswoman said the Ikon Pass “provides the best value” with its access to more than 70 ski areas. And, like Vail Resorts, Alterra offers a suite of products with deeply discounted prices for skiers who buy early.
“We believe these claims have no merit and intend to defend ourselves vigorously,” the spokeswoman said in an emailed statement. “It is disappointing that we are forced to defend this baseless claim and divert any attention away from operating our business and delivering incredible experiences.”
The lawsuit argues that the two companies, while competitors, are not competitive, with Alterra debuting its Ikon Pass in 2018 and following the Epic Pass model with pricing and access to multiple resorts. The “parallel adoption” of the same pass strategy, the lawsuit claims, “confirms that (the two operators’) competition does not constrain pricing” and forces skiers into buying their passes.
The lawsuit, using social media photos of long lift lines at Vail and Winter Park ski areas, argues the Epic and Ikon passes harm casual skiers who want to buy single-day lift tickets as well as local skiers “who lose meaningful choice about where to ski.” The suit also claims independent ski areas are injured because Ikon and Epic passes “steer skiers to ski what they already paid for.”