TELLURIDE — Local skiers are wailing in Big Sky. Sobbing in Jackson Hole. Whining in Aspen. The source of the angst: the “Ikoneers,” aka the new visitors using the Ikon Pass. But while the weeping is likely misguided — the surge in visitation this season seems to be largely homegrown, with skiing locals in growing […]
Vail Resorts
Posted inBusiness, News, Outdoors
Vail’s new Epic day pass lowers pre-purchased lift tickets to as low as $89
Vail Resorts on Tuesday dropped a new product that the resort conglomerate hopes will end the persistent argument that skiing is too expensive. The “Epic for Everyone” offers pre-purchased lift tickets for as low as $89 a day, extending to infrequent skiers the same discounts delivered to Epic Pass buyers who paid as much as […]
Posted inBusiness, Culture, News, Outdoors
What really led A-Basin to quit the Epic Pass cash cow? “Parking is our pinch point.”
The deluge of weekend Epic Pass skiers has forced Arapahoe Basin to abandon its decade-long partnership with Vail Resorts. “We are pretty darn full on weekends and we don’t need any more people on weekends. If anything, we could probably whittle those numbers down a little bit,” Arapahoe Basin’s longtime leader Alan Henceroth said Monday, […]
Posted inBusiness, Growth, News, Outdoors
Crested Butte may be the gem in Vail Resorts’ portfolio, but its lifts must be fixed before it can shine
MOUNT CRESTED BUTTE — The wind is blowing snow across the mountaintop. Temps are well below zero. Visibility is bad. “This is an adventure,” said Chris Jarnot, sidestepping in his K2 skis up a narrow ridge, heading toward Crested Butte Mountain Resort’s precipitous, powdery Teocalli Bowl. The executive vice president of Vail Resorts’ mountain division […]
Posted inBusiness, News, Outdoors
Slower growth in Epic Pass revenue, wider than expected first-quarter losses trigger steep drop in Vail Resorts stock
The rise of a competitor to Vail Resorts’ industry-transforming Epic Pass this year has slowed the growth in season-pass revenue for the continent’s largest resort operator, which on Friday announced a big boost in capital spending as yet another volley of a blossoming pass war. The market apparently did not like the decline in pass […]
Posted inBusiness, News, Outdoors
More Colorado ski areas — including Vail, Beaver Creek and Aspen — to open early for 2018-19 season
Vail and Beaver Creek mountains will join other Colorado resorts in opening early for the 2018-19 season. The Vail Daily reports Vail, originally slated to open Friday, will open for the season at 9 a.m. on Wednesday. Beaver Creek will open Saturday, four days ahead of its scheduled Nov. 21 opening date. The early openings come as […]
Posted inBusiness, News, Outdoors
Alterra expects to sell 250,000 Ikon Passes, Vail Resorts says Epic Pass sales are up
VAIL — When executives from Vail Resorts and the nascent Alterra Mountain Company get together to discuss skiing, there are never fireworks. Or even a hint that the fiercely competitive rivals are locked in a raging season-pass battle. This is not surprising. Ski industry execs from competing companies do not gather in public meetings and […]
Posted inBusiness, Environment, News, Outdoors, Water
How Colorado’s ski resorts can continue making snow in drought years like this one
Reservoirs have turned to dust. Farmers have fallow fields. But don’t expect the skiing to languish. Ski resorts have spent many decades amassing water rights and water storage and continuously upgrading snowmaking systems to make the state’s vibrant, multibillion-dollar resort industry virtually immune to drought — so long as this winter, farmers and ranchers have […]
Posted inBusiness, Coloradans, Crime and Courts, News, Outdoors
Colorado Ski Safety Act tested in two trials involving in-bounds avalanches
EAGLE — Every skier in central Colorado was fired up when the snow finally arrived that fourth Sunday in January six years ago. It had been a cold, dry season with too few powder days. By the end of the day, inbounds avalanches had killed two skiers, marking one of the darkest days in Colorado […]
Posted inBusiness, Outdoors
At the height of the ski pass war, Wolf Creek — with its $70 lift ticket — remains defiantly independent
WOLF CREEK — As the first flakes frost the highest peaks, the Colorado-sparked season pass war is ablaze. It’s a new world for skiers, with resorts across the U.S. aligning into two distinct camps. In one corner, the nascent Alterra Mountain Company this week fired off a list of new partners for the Ikon Pass, which offers unlimited […]