How Ikon & Epic Are Making Skiing and Snowboarding Better

Last week we published an article with the headline, “Are Epic and Ikon Ruining Ski Culture in America?” by a contributing writer. We shared several reasons, with supportive claims as to how conglomerates such as Vail and Alterra are impacting the ski industry in negative ways, from increased traffic at mountains, higher-priced day tickets, and a real estate boom that drives out the middle class in ski towns. The points listed were understandable, but they only showed one side of the coin. Truth be told, ‘ruin’ was not an accurate word to describe what these corporations are aiming to accomplish—nor even what they are doing. It was a subjective way to describe what’s happening—one that many use as a means to point a finger when they see changes in their ski towns that they don’t like. We don’t want to buy into this sort of finger-pointing, as we mistakenly did so in that piece, because it’s not a standpoint that we actually believe in or want to take. Because of this we have since taken down the article. We felt it was only fair to provide the other side of that coin—that very same coin that pays for everything that goes into building the foundation of an industry we’ve come to know and love—that same industry that provides us with the most real sense of ‘freedom’ we’ve ever known. Sure, the Ikon and Epic Pass are changing ski culture in America. Change is one of the only certainties in the universe. But whether you want to view that change as a good thing or a bad thing is entirely up to you. However, we certainly don’t necessarily view change as something negative—especially when it comes to skiing or snowboarding.

You could argue that Ikon and Epic passes have increased visitation at ski areas across the United States. But what you are neglecting to mention by saying this is that Ikon and Epic have also made skiing and snowboarding much more accessible to the general public. People who would never have bought a season pass before are now buying passes that allow them to ski as much as they reasonably can or want to, for roughly the fixed price of any other ski area season pass out there. The only difference is they are not limited to one mountain, but to many, in all reaches of the country. This is a game changer for say, someone living in the inner-city of Chicago, New York, or any other large metropolitan area where there are no big mountains nearby. Instead of driving to a small ski area with less than exciting ski terrain, or having to fork over thousands of dollars on flights, lodging, and day passes to Colorado, California, or somewhere out west, they now have a plethora of mountains to choose from across the country that make it extremely more affordable to go skiing. Vail Resorts and Alterra have dramatically lowered the price of a season pass while adding the flexibility of being able to choose from a much larger group of resorts. In short, the lower cost they provide equates to more choices available to the people. This is not a bad thing.

It’s about perspective. You could argue that making skiing and snowboarding more accessible to people is a good thing that promotes growth, or you could argue that growth is bad and it leads to things like lift lines. Here’s an example, as shared by a commenter on the previous article that we took down. Picture a family of five from Ohio who would never have decided to travel to a world-class ski hub such as any of those in Colorado or Utah or Wyoming and bought tickets that would have cost upwards of $100 per person per day for a week. With an Epic or Ikon pass, they could afford to go on a trip like this when before they wouldn’t even consider it. Day tickets at places like Vail and Aspen are now around $200 a day. Yet in reality, those ski areas have had their lift tickets priced at over $100 for quite some time now—it’s not fair to act like this is something new. If anything, Epic and Ikon passes are a remedy to the overpriced day tickets—not an obstacle. When considering buying food at big resorts where there are no other dining options unless you venture off the mountain, this too has not been affordable for a while. It’s no surprise. Have you ever eaten at the airport? You already know it’s going to be pricier than stopping on the way and picking up a burrito or a sandwich.

A lot of these “holiday skiers” are often casual skiers who don’t ski that much and aren’t going to resorts to shred the gnar, send cliffs, or tear up the powder. They are mostly there to enjoy themselves and have a good time—to enjoy life. What we’re saying is that even if your ski area is a little more crowded with tourists who happen to have an Ikon or Epic pass, the vast majority of them won’t be skiing the steeps and the trees and all your stash spots that you so love much anyway, and therefore you won’t have to worry about all the snow getting skied up, as is a common fear held by locals when it comes to resort crowds.

Growth is not a negative thing but quite the contrary. More money being funneled into ski areas, maybe as a result of more Ikon and Epic Pass sales, or real estate investments, or whatever, is only going to lead to more growth at ski resorts. This is only going to lead to more improvements, such as infrastructure upgrades like updated snow removal services, more plow drivers, or additional chairlifts to spread skiers out across the mountain. How about new cafés and restaurants that allow you to eat lunch more quickly and maximize the time you want to spend skiing or snowboarding? All of these improvements are only going to lead you, the skier or snowboarder, to trying new things, skiing new chairs, exploring new zones, trying new restaurants and bars, making new friends, and ultimately having more fun. Because if you don’t try new things, how do you know what you like? A lot of these improvements and experiences at resorts wouldn’t be possible without the income received from tourists with multi-resort passes.

What about industry jobs? At Vail and Alterra-owned ski areas, only more jobs are being created as a result of this recent growth. Many of those jobs are increasingly being filled with international workers, giving those individuals experiences of a lifetime that they came to our country seeking in the first place. “It’s kind of like a passing the ski culture torch,” another commenter wrote us. More jobs further increase growth, stimulating the economy, and leading to potential upgrades across resorts in the future. The industry doesn’t need fewer jobs right now—it needs more of them.

Then there’s the topic of real estate. Housing and lodging purchased by Vail and Alterra in ski towns have seemingly influenced markets, where many places have increased their average rent prices. But can you blame this solely on Vail and Alterra? Inflation existed long before Vail or Alterra ever did, and the ski industry is not the root cause of why it exists in America. To go into detail, following the abandonment of the gold standard in the early 1970s, the United States transitioned to a fiat currency system. With the flexibility to print money and implement varied monetary policies, central banks, particularly the Federal Reserve, gained the ability to influence interest rates and manage the money supply. This newfound flexibility, while beneficial for addressing economic conditions, also introduced the risk of overexpanding the money supply, contributing to inflation. Additionally, the shift allowed for currency depreciation, impacting the cost of imports and further influencing inflation.

The move away from the gold standard increased the money supply. This provided greater flexibility in monetary policies and introduced factors like currency depreciation, all of which contributed to inflation in the United States. This trickles down through the entire economy, and ski towns are not exempt. This inflation is not a direct result of Vail and Alterra buying up properties there. Sure, more affluent people are moving to ski towns, and Vail and Alterra play a role in this. But these individuals are also the people who pay a lot of taxes, which thus go back into roadways, school systems, and public works projects—like state transportation crews that mitigate the avalanche danger on the avalanche paths that intersect the roads up to resorts. It’s easy to point fingers when we don’t understand what’s happening, or better yet when we’re afraid of it. The first good scapegoats will do, which are often the most obvious ones.

And ski area traffic? Yeah, it sucks. We can all agree there. But that’s not something that you can solely blame on Ikon or Epic. Yes, more individuals with those passes are traveling to those ski areas, contributing to poor traffic conditions. But do you know what else contributes to traffic? Mother Nature when she dumps a foot of powder on the mountain. Or resort workers who are coming up to spin the chairs of your favorite lifts, including the new ones that were just added recently as a result of the income funneling into these resorts and their partnerships with Vail and Alterra. If anything, more people coming also persuades the state to better maintain its highway systems, many of which were already outdated or lacking well before the ski area at the end of them joined a multi-resort pass model. Now the roads are guaranteed to be salted and plowed in preparation for the line of cars that were expected to form at 8 on a Saturday morning, which was probably already happening on powder days anyway. It’s a privilege, after all, to be sliding on snow and having fun when most of the rest of the world is struggling to make ends meet and stuck at work at a job they don’t even like but have to do so their family can have sufficient food for the day. It’s better to be stuck in traffic on the way to the mountain than the office anyway.

It’s our opinion that just because it’s not as cool or convenient for you anymore, it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be off-limits for others. Weren’t you once introduced to the art of skiing or snowboarding—to mountain culture itself—by someone else in the first place? Again, there are downsides to growth. Concerns about consolidation have been shared with us, and rightfully so. However, there are still plenty of examples of independent ski areas that have willfully chosen to remain independent and are still doing quite well. How is this bad? We get that having more people participating in the sport increases traffic, can shorten the window for fresh tracks on popular runs on a powder day, and may cause real estate prices to rise, but we’d still rather have a thriving industry than a stagnant one that doesn’t attract new consumers. The benefits of growth far outweigh its drawbacks in our eyes.

Skiing and snowboarding are positive things. They are beneficial things for individuals and they are healthy for society. More people skiing and snowboarding is only also going to be a good thing. It’s healthy for every person who does it, and for the communities that are completely based on skiing and snowboarding like so much of this wonderful country. Positivity can create inspiration which can lead to things such as opportunity and growth. Where would DaVinci be had he not been shown what a painting is, or better yet, told that he, too, could be an artist if he tried? That’s a bit of a ‘big picture’ scenario, but still, you get the idea; that sharing beautiful, fun things leads to more beauty and fun. Whereas things like stubbornness and negativity only lead to more closed-offness and negativity, and more of this ‘us vs. them’ mentality, which just isn’t productive for anyone. On the other hand, something like gratitude only leads to more gratitude. Ikon and Epic passes are a gateway to all of these positive things mentioned here. Fun. Memories. Growth. Inspiration. Gratitude. Just like any season pass that makes your life better, Ikon and Epic are no different, except that now the whole country is up for grabs on a ski day. This directly makes skiing and snowboarding better. There’s a whole world out there that can become available to you as a result of just being open. By trying new things and going to new places. That’s why we urge you to open up your minds and your hearts—and your ski areas. There might just be something great that comes out of it.