Industry News
On Monday, alongside its earnings, Vail Resorts announced a $254 million upgrades and improvements capital investment plan for the 2025 calendar year, focusing on enhancing its ski resorts across the United States, Australia, and Switzerland.
The plan centers on two multi-year transformation projects at Park City Mountain in Utah and Vail Mountain in Colorado. Park City Mountain, a 2034 Olympic Winter Games venue, will upgrade its Canyons Village base area. A new 10-person gondola will replace the Sunrise lift, and the resort will expand the Red Pine Lodge restaurant and improve beginner terrain.
Vail Mountain plans to develop the West Lionshead area into a fourth base village, partnering with the Town of Vail and East West Partners. The project will add lodging, dining options, retail spaces, workforce housing, and improved transit.
At Andermatt-Sedrun in Switzerland, two fixed-grip lifts will be replaced with high-speed six-person lifts and snowmaking infrastructure will be upgraded. Perisher in Australia will see its Mt Perisher Double and Triple Chairs replaced with a new six-person high-speed lift.
The company will also invest in technology, enhancing the My Epic App and expanding AI-powered guest service tools. Sustainability remains a focus, with ongoing investments in waste and emissions reduction projects.
Despite a 2% decrease in season pass unit sales for the 2024-25 North American ski season, Vail Resorts reported a 4% increase in sales revenue. The company anticipates approximately 2.3 million guests committed to its resorts globally, generating over $975 million in revenue.
Here are the details of Vail Resorts’ upgrades for 2025 in full, taken from the press release:
Capital Investments
Vail Resorts is committed to enhancing the guest experience and supporting the Company’s growth strategies through significant capital investments. For calendar year 2025, the Company plans to invest approximately $198 million to $203 million in core capital, before $45 million of growth capital investments at its European resorts, including $41 million at Andermatt-Sedrun and $4 million at Crans-Montana, and $6 million of real estate related capital projects to complete multi-year transformational investments at the key base area portals of Breckenridge Peak 8 and Keystone River Run, and planning investments to support the development of the West Lionshead area into a fourth base village at Vail Mountain. Including European growth capital investments, and real estate related capital, the Company plans to invest approximately $249 million to $254 million in calendar year 2025. Projects in the calendar year 2025 capital plan described herein remain subject to approvals.
In calendar year 2025, the company will embark on two multi-year transformational investment plans at Park City Mountain and Vail Mountain.
- Park City Mountain – The transformation of Park City Mountain’s Canyons Village is underway to support a world-class luxury base village experience. These investments will support Park City Mountain in welcoming athletes and fans from across the world who visit the resort as it serves as a venue for the 2034 Olympic Winter Games. As announced in September, we are replacing the Sunrise lift with a new 10-person gondola in partnership with the Canyons Village Management Association in calendar year 2025, which will provide improved access and enhanced guest experience for existing and future developments within Canyons Village. The Company also plans to enhance the beginner and children’s experience by expanding the existing Red Pine Lodge restaurant to upgrade the dining experience for ski and ride school guests, and by improving the teaching terrain surrounding the Red Pine Lodge. These investments are further supported by the construction of the Canyons Village Parking Garage, a new covered parking structure with over 1,800 stalls being developed by TCFC, the master developer of the Canyons Village, which is expected to break ground in spring 2025. Planning of additional investments at Park City Mountain across the mountain experience is underway and additional projects will be announced in the future.
- Vail Mountain – In October 2024, the Company announced the development of West Lionshead area into a fourth base village at Vail Mountain in partnership with the Town of Vail and East West Partners. The new base village will reinforce Vail Mountain’s status as a world-class destination, and is anticipated to feature access to the resort’s 5,317 acres of legendary terrain, plus new lodging, restaurants, boutiques, and skier services, as well as community benefits such as workforce housing, public spaces, transit, and parking. In addition, the Company is developing a multi-year plan to invest in base area improvements, lift upgrades, and across the beginner ski and ride school and dining experiences. In calendar year 2025, the Company is planning to renovate guestrooms and common spaces at its luxury Vail hotel, the Arrabelle at Vail Square. Additionally, in calendar year 2025 the Company plans to invest in real estate planning to develop the West Lionshead area.
In addition to embarking on two multi-year transformational investment plans, the Company is planning significant investments across the guest experience in calendar year 2025, including:
- Andermatt-Sedrun – The Company plans to replace the four-person fixed grip Calmut lift and the four-person fixed grip Cuolm lift with two new six-person high speed lifts that will increase capacity and significantly improve the guest experience at the Val Val area. The Company also plans to upgrade and expand snowmaking infrastructure at the Gemsstock area on the western side of the resort to enhance the consistency of the guest experience, particularly in the early season, and significantly improve energy efficiency. In addition, the Company plans to complete the previously announced upgrade of the Sedrun-Milez snowmaking infrastructure and improvements to the Milez and Natschen restaurants. Through calendar year 2025, Vail Resorts will have invested approximately CHF 50 million of a total CHF 110 million capital that was invested as part of the purchase of the Company’s majority ownership stake in Andermatt-Sedrun.
- Perisher – At Perisher in Australia, the Company plans to replace the Mt Perisher Double and Triple Chairs with a new six-person high speed lift, following the capital spending in calendar year 2024 that is continuing into calendar year 2025 to be completed in time for the 2025 winter season in Australia.
- Technology – The Company will be investing in additional new functionality for the My Epic App, including new tools to better communicate with and personalize the experience for our guests. Building on the pilot of My Epic Assistant, a new guest service technology within the My Epic App powered by advanced AI and resort experts, at four resorts for the upcoming 2024/2025 ski season, the Company is planning to invest in more advanced AI capabilities in calendar year 2025.
- Dining – The Company plans to invest in physical improvements to dining outlets at its largest destination resorts to improve throughput.
- Commitment to Zero – The Company plans to continue investing in waste reduction and emissions reduction projects across its resorts to achieve its goal of zero net operating footprint by 2030.
- Breckenridge – The Company is making real estate related investments to complete the multi-year transformation of the Breckenridge Peak 8 base area, where the Company has enhanced the beginner and children’s experience and increased uphill capacity with the introduction of a new four-person high speed 5-Chair, new teaching terrain, and a transport carpet from the base, making the beginner experience more accessible.
- Keystone – The Company is investing in acquisition and build out costs for skier services that will reside in the newly developed Kindred Resort at Keystone, a family-friendly luxury ski-in, ski-out lodging residence and Rock Resorts-branded hotel at the base of the River Run Gondola, including new restaurants, a full-service spa, pool and hot tub facilities, and the new home for the Keystone Ski & Ride School, and a retail and rental shop. The Kindred development follows the transformational lift-served terrain expansion project in Bergman Bowl, increasing lift-served terrain by 555 acres with the addition of a new six-person high speed lift, which was completed for the 2023/2024 North American ski season.
In addition to the investments planned for calendar year 2025, the company is completing significant investments that will enhance the guest experience for the upcoming 2024/2025 North American and European ski season. As previously announced, the Vail Resorts expects its capital plan for calendar year 2024 to be approximately $189 million to $194 million, excluding $13 million of incremental capital investments in premium fleet and fulfillment infrastructure to support the official launch of My Epic Gear for the 2024/2025 winter season at 12 destination and regional resorts across North America, $7 million of growth capital investments at Andermatt-Sedrun, $2 million of maintenance and $2 million of integration investments at Crans-Montana, and $3 million of reimbursable capital. Including these one-time investments, the Company’s total capital plan for calendar year 2024 is now expected to be approximately $216 million to $221 million.
