The U.S. Forest Service is allowing Vail Resorts to continue building a new lift at Keystone after the company submitted a plan to repair tundra damaged by a temporary road that extended beyond permitting boundaries. But the monthlong delay in construction will prevent the resort from opening new terrain in Bergman Bowl by this winter. White […]
Vail Resorts
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Town of Vail blocks all permits for Vail Resorts housing project
The blows keep coming for Vail Resorts in Colorado. The Vail Town Council on Tuesday night approved an emergency ordinance that suspended all permits for any activity on Vail Resorts’ property in East Vail where the company wants to build worker housing. The town earlier this year approved a resolution to begin condemnation of the […]
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Forest Service halts new Keystone chairlift after resort mistakenly builds road in protected tundra
The U.S. Forest Service has halted construction of a new lift in Keystone after the resort mistakenly built a temporary road in protected alpine tundra. Keystone has Forest Service permission to build a road to the bottom of its new Bergman Bowl chairlift and a temporary road higher in the bowl to access lift towers. […]
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Q&A: Alterra CEO Rusty Gregory steps back and reflects on next generation of ski resort bosses
The U.S. ski industry was forged by soldiers. We all know the story about 10th Mountain vets returning from war with visions of ski runs and chairlifts that would spark dozens of American resorts. Innovators who worked every job at the ski area took the reins from those soldiers, creating even more lifts, better grooming […]
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First Vail Resorts got into a fight with Vail’s town council. Now it’s tangling with Park City’s planning commission.
The rollercoaster ride continues for Vail Resorts. On the heels of reporting record season pass sales, skier traffic and revenues, the largest resort operator in North America again is grappling with a local community impacted by crowds. For the second time in two months locals in one of the company’s resort communities — this time […]
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Colorado ski areas set a new visitor record during the 2021-22 ski season
The ski industry has bounced back from COVID. Vail Resorts made $372.6 million in February, March and April this year. That’s about $100 million more than the same quarter last year, $220 million more than the same three months in 2020 and $80 million more in net income than the company reported for those critical […]
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Record number of skier days at American resorts this year despite so-so snowfall
For decades, traffic to American ski resorts has relied on one thing: Snow. Big snowfall meant big business. But the busiest season ever in American skiing — 2021-22, with an all-time high of 61 million skier days — was not a remarkable snow year. The previous high points for national skier visits were set in […]
Posted inHousing, News, Outdoors
Vail Resorts promises to fight Town of Vail after council condemns parcel planned for affordable housing
The largest resort operator in North America is going to war with its namesake town. The Vail town council late Tuesday voted to condemn a parcel where Vail Resorts plans to spend $17 million to build affordable housing for 165 workers. Dozens of Vail Resorts executives, employees and managers crammed into the council’s chambers Tuesday […]
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Colorado’s mountain resorts cut back their summer offerings as labor crisis persists
Vail Resorts announced its summer plans at its major resorts last week and one thing was conspicuously absent. Ziplining and canopy tours, once the foundation of an industry-wide expansion of summer amenities, have been dropped from the resort operator’s offerings at Vail and Breckenridge, apparently a victim of the labor crisis strangling ski areas. Company […]
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Town of Vail moves to condemn parcel where Vail Resorts plans affordable housing project
VAIL — The Vail town council on Tuesday voted 4-3 to condemn a parcel where Vail Resorts plans to build affordable housing, citing concerns over the impact of development in winter habitat for a herd of bighorn sheep. A final vote in early May could prevent any development on the 23 acres owned by the […]