Industry News
Vail and Beaver Creek in Colorado have revealed that their single-day walk-up price during the holiday period will be $219 this year. Similarly, Deer Valley in Utah will charge $209.
Elsewhere, Aspen Skiing Co. will charge $184 per day if purchased in advance, but they have yet to release their walk-up price.
Last season, Vail and Beaver Creek caused an uproar when they became the first resorts to break the $200 barrier for a single-day lift ticket, charging $209. This year’s price signals an almost 5% increase on last year.
These numbers seem huge – and make a great headline – but here’s the thing: most skiers and snowboarders do not have to, and should not, pay anywhere near that. There are many way cheaper options, such as season passes, or multi-resort passes, which often pay for themselves after a handful of uses. Or sites such as Liftopia offer cheaper lift tickets for those just able to plan ahead a little.
Even at their highest prices, the Ikon Pass costs $1,099 and the Epic Pass $989. 5 days of holiday skiing and they’ve paid for themselves. And you get so much more.
In the last 10-years, sales of lift tickets, both multi-day and single-day, have dropped from 55.5% of a resort’s business to 43.5% last year, according to the Aspen Times. During that time, pass visits have increased to 43.4% from 34.7%.
If you’re walking up to the window and paying full price, you’re doing it wrong.
Vail Resorts that just bought Peak Resorts where my home mountain, Hunter Mtn. is located is planning on going up 211% next season for their LOWEST PRICED season pass. I know It’s a for profit business, but 211% is outright GREED!!!!
wow thats awful..how do they justify that. Killing the sport
Jobs that offer ski passes continue to become more and more important.
The ski industry is on its way to pricing itself out of reach to many customers. A $219.00 walk up lift ticket? Really? That is insane. People have other priorities like house payments, kids and putting food on the table.