Industry News
In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz gave some insight into how he and Vail Resorts view high ticket prices, crowding, and dwindling Epic Pass sales. Katz seldom gives interviews, so his conversation with WSJ Correspondent Roberto Ferdman gives a rare glimpse into his thinking on some of the more contentious issues facing skiers today.
Katz completed a 15-year run as CEO in 2021, but returned to the top job in May 2025 after the board ousted Kirsten Lynch, who served as Chief Marketing Officer under Katz for part of his tenure. In 2008, Katz launched the Epic Pass and revolutionized the ski industry, shifting the majority of lift revenues away from day tickets and towards the Epic Pass and other season pass products. Revenue streams partially decoupled from weather and snow conditions allowed Vail Resorts to make significant capital investments, including the acquisition of several dozen ski resorts and hundreds of millions of dollars in lift upgrades.
The rise in popularity of the Epic Pass has been accompanied by an explosion in day ticket prices at Vail Resorts and across the rest of the ski industry. Ferdman asked Katz about high ticket prices directly, to which Katz responded:
“I think it’s a fair point. This was an industry-wide, ultimately global transformation that happened that our company absolutely led. And part of that was making the season pass the absolute best opportunity that you could have, and then making a lift ticket more expensive. If you’re going to walk up to a ski resort and buy a lift ticket, you’re not giving the ski resort any advanced commitment.”
Higher day ticket prices, which doubled at some Vail Resorts between 2010 and 2019, were designed to drive more skiers towards the Epic Pass, which in turn gave Vail Resorts more revenue stability. After more than 10 years of exponential growth, Epic Pass sales have declined for the last two years, causing a shift in focus back to day tickets. “I would say that we grew Epic Pass sales, if you look over the last four years, by about 50%. I think when you have that kind of explosive growth over a few years, it’s not surprising that we might come down one or two points,” Katz said.
Ferdman asked Katz about overcrowding at Vail Resorts, and Katz connected the overcrowding problem with investments in lift upgrades, saying:
“There is a little bit of a concern that if we make the sport more accessible and more people come, that it will be overcrowded. Our job is to ensure the vitality of this industry 5, 10, 15, 20 years from now. In our minds, the way you deal with crowding is that you invest in the lifts, you invest in infrastructure, you invest in parking. You’re ensuring that you’re providing a better experience for people when they come.”
To be sure, Vail Resorts has turned many of its doubles and triples into detachable quads, and many of its quads into six- and eight-pack chairlifts. However, changes to parking more often than not have been instituting paid parking, not necessarily expanding capacity or providing alternate ways of getting to the mountain.
Katz started to suggest that crowding was actually becoming less prevalent, which Feldman interjected, “So, it’s in their heads?” “No, I think at every single resort, you will have a moment of crowding all the time, and it’s always been that way. When I started skiing back in the ’70s, it was crowded, and you actually waited longer on a lift then, because the lifts were slow,” Katz responded.
Katz mentioned early in the interview the necessity of a large team of mountain workers, which includes ski patrollers, lift operators and mechanics, food and beverage workers, and others, to operate a ski area each day. But Katz and Feldman were both silent on labor issues in the ski industry, including a wave of ski patrol and lift mechanic unionization over the last five years. Ski patrol unions have continually expressed frustration with wage stagnation while Epic Pass revenues continue to grow. In December 2024, ski patrollers at Park City, owned by Vail Resorts, went on strike for 13 days before finally securing pay raises, training incentives, and enhanced benefits. Though Katz was not CEO during the strike, he returned to the post with a much stronger and more widespread labor movement.
Katz’s first season back as CEO has certainly been a challenging season, with record-low snow at its largest resorts. With season pass sales for next season just around the corner, Katz and Vail Resorts will have their work cut out for them, convincing the public that next season will be worth the investment.
I grew up in the Whistler area and learned to ski at arguably one of the best resorts in North America. It’s now almost $300 for a single day pass putting a random ski day out of the question for most of us. A season pass doesn’t make sense for anyone but the people that live within an hour of the mountain. Vail has absolutely decimated a favourite winter pastime for thousands with its shareholder appeasement. No-one local needs to ski 10+ other mountains. Its ridiculous, it’s false value no-one can use. Luckily there are many other mountains around me that Vail has not bought yet.
Arlberg, $70 day ticket…Spätzle…wienerschnitzel super modern 88 interconnected Lifts Trams gondolas modest but superclean Ski in Ski out Hotels for $200 a night with an awesome breakfast and pm buffet included (2 people) Vail corp can crawl into a hole and curl up in utter shame.Luckily Most gringos are to scared of the Alps and will continue to Bend over and take it again and again. Whistler used to be so Sweet
It’s ridiculous that these asshats are controlling who can or cannot afford the sport!! It’s ridiculous to come out here on vacation and my 1 day lift ticket costs as much as my flight!!! That’s absolutely ridiculous. So they only want to sell Epic passes, they cannot support these resorts with locals alone. I will go somewhere else… like Banff where lift tickets are $155. The greed is disgusting.
F ing sham journalism. Ask Andy Daley what he thinks!
Nice story! I think you have something on your chin.
Maybe just your subject going off ….
Maybe …. Ask Andy Daly what he thinks.
$10 lift tickets 50 years ago brought about protest!
You’re a swallower.,
I actually need to thank the asshat that appears in the article. Thanks to his hare-brained schemes I nearly tripled my.money shorting Vail resorts since 2022. In spite of my indebtedness I can’t get myself to thank him because he such an odious twit. The unbridled greed and money grubbing nature reflected in how Vail resorts is run makes him an unbearable personality.
I have been shorting Vail resorts since 2022 and have nearly tripled my money. I have to thank this meat head CEO for making it all possible. However, he is such misanthropic scum I can’t bring myself to do it. You have to be a moron to ski at the big resorts. They are crowded, have long liftlines. the worst food and generally because
Skiing’s never been cheaper with the mega pass. If you can get 20+ days in a season it’s cheaper than ever. BUT.. that only rewards the frequent skier with the means to live that lifestyle, and not the new skier or casual skier who can’t plan in advance. How that grows the future customer base is beyond me, if the barrier to entry is so high. Shareholders may be happy but standing in 45min liftlines on a weekday at Whistler is not my idea of fun.
This reads like fluff and avoids addressing the real concerns many skiers have about how the Epic Pass model is impacting the ski industry. There’s no acknowledgment of the frustration felt by longtime customers or the strain placed on local mountains and communities.
I live in the mid-Atlantic region and used to purchase an Epic Pass every year, primarily using it for trips to Colorado, Vermont, and Utah. When Epic acquired many of the local mountains in this region, it felt like little consideration was given to the existing customer base or the unique challenges of these resorts.
In the mid-Atlantic especially, it’s increasingly difficult to count on getting your money’s worth from the pass. Snow conditions are inconsistent from year to year, and climate trends only add more uncertainty. On top of that, the passes appear oversold. Weekend visits can mean waiting 20 minutes in a lift line for a run that lasts less than a minute. That kind of ratio makes for a frustrating experience and diminishes the value of what was once a dependable season pass.
I have been skiing my whole life, it’s always been an expensive sport but nothing like now. The Corporate greed mongers are destroying the industry. I used to look forward to taking trips to big resorts with the family to ski new places we had never been for a long weekends but now it has become unaffordable to do as a family for most middle class Americans. I’m getting back to small independent areas which feel more down to earth, and home for real people. Big US resorts have become overpriced glam resort Richie rich fakeness. Thanks for ruining skiing for the middle.
I was just there, spent a small fortune. You would think it was a good time, but was a horrible experience. Went to Steamboat. Was a lot better experience, still spent another small fortune. ♀️
Think I am done skiing. Snow shoes are my future.
Go ahead, travel out of country. The Japanese don’t really want you there and I guarantee a trip to the Alps is far more costly. Really!
Why has no one mentioned the number of skiers these cheap season passes and high speed lifts put on the hill. Forget about expensive, it has become extremely dangerous. Someone I know was in intensive care in a coma last year after being hit on the slopes. He will never be the same. I have heard there were 2 fatalities this season at a Tahoe resort from people getting hit. I walk to the largest resort in CA, yet I only have 5 days there and 62 days at small local resorts. The reason- I don’t want to be injured or killed at one of these resorts that put 1000’s of people on the hill every day. Give me a small resort with a double chair any day
This is a garbage fluff piece about the ceo. Skiing in the US isn’t worth it anymore. If you live on the East coast it makes more sense to fly to the Alps which is just as close to Vail and much better in everyway. It is also half the price for everything.
Mr Katz is pushing the bar forward for the elites while promoting more nasty Corporate Statism. His crassness will destroy the Vail Corporation’s name including the Epic pass plus ruining a towns economy. His picture should show him in a uniform, not as a tie less innovator or an Epic wannabe.
Fascism is running amok in the USA.
This article doesn’t really scratch the service of how bad Vail resorts have become in just a few short years. My family went to a Vail resort this year out of desperation. We’ve avoided them the last few years because they’re expensive, gouge the customer and the service is abysmal. It turned out nothing has changed. Our experience was even worse. Ancient slow lifts, long lines, a restaurant that was understaffed, offered overpriced inedible food and was out of a lot of standard items. The hotel was expensive but a dump. We actually left early just to avoid having to spend another night in that dump or eat at their horrible restaurant. Where are the upgrades the CEO referred to? He probably just meant he made upgrades to his bank account.
They do not want any “going skiing today ” skiers, they just crowd the slopes, bring their own lunch, don’t buy lessons or buy a expensive room. Day skiers have no value. Even Mother Nature has rewarded your greedy desires; “NO SNOW FOR YOU” !
I’m surprised by all the negativity here in the comments. Anyone who skis a 10 days or more per year the Epic pass has made skiing much more affordable.
Let’s say your family skis 14 days in a season on the full Epic pass (bought at pre-season pricing) adults are skiing for $75 a day and kids are skiing for $36 day. Go with the cheaper Epic Local Pass and it’s $57 a day for adults and $29. The more days you ski on the pass the more your daily cost drops. There’s a reason all the for all the crowds and that’s because these pass products have make skiing more affordable and accessible.
Of course there are growing pains and that’s the lift lines and parking issues we see while the ski areas work to increase capacity and expand terrain. The only real downsides to pass products in my mind is that people need to plan ahead by being and there is no guarantee that Mother Nature will give you an epic season. Seems like a no-brainer to me.
NEGATIVITY?? There is nothing positive about the Vaillancourt resorts. Nevertheless I turned lemons into lemonade by shorting Vail resorts they SUCK and its sure to show in their stock price. SINCE 2022 I NEARLY TRIPLED MY MONEY. Thanks to this incompetent meat head who appears in this story. If you skied at these resorts 40 years ago you would know how bad they are now and you wouldn’t think.tbe comments are negative but objective.
Skiing/Snowboarding is by far the easiest hobby to quit. Snowboarding for the past 25 years with 20+ days a year. Now I haven’t been in two years due to hassle and costs and I can easily afford ticket prices. The product is just not viable to spend so much money on
Old days I’d take the family to copper for 1500 lifts and lodging now it would be 8K
Short sighted pricing by this CEO. My family (we live on Maui) uncovered the fact that these resorts don’t want us to learn the sport at their mountains as it’s so cost prohibited.
We can travel to Japan (2 hour longer flight) and save 70% of the costs. Not only are my kids learning about different cultures and the wife and I are saving money, but the snow has been better in Japan than any vail resort the past few years.
How in the world does this CEO expect to attract new customers to the sport and his mountains with the pricing structure they have in place?
Maybe a dynamic distance based pricing structure would assist them? Hey this family traveled 2K + miles to get here and they don’t benefit from a season pass. Here’s a better day price to attract you and your family.
They’re addressing that by buying up a lot of Japanese resorts too. I was shocked at how much lift ticket prices had gone up at some smaller resorts I’d been to before in Hokkaido, and how busy they’d become – until I found out they were on one of the passes now.
Glad we got to ski in
The 70’s and 80’s when you could buy lift tickets ahead of time or stop at at King Soopers in Denver, for about &19/day. I quit skiing at 64.
Armstrong didnt ask the key question: what is this strategy doing to the category. If someone wants to try skiing for the first time, it will probably cost them around $1,000 by the time you pay for lift , lesson and rental as well as food and transportation.
How the hell can you grow the category with this strategy? It’s typical short term wall st oriented strategy with long term consequences. Katz is killing the industry for a quick buck – pitiful!
If youre broke just say that.
The Vail issue is a microcosm of the greater issues in our society. Income inequality, corporations putting profit over people by not paying workers a livable wage and by prioritizing growth and profits over quality of services and customer experience. The reason that Rob didn’t bring up the Ski Patrol Strikes is because the strikes worked. They don’t want people to know that you do have the power to demand a livable wage by shutting down their ability to make money by going on strike. Vail Resorts pay most of their employees the same wages that grocery store clerks make in the same town as the ski resorts operate, when these are skilled positions like Ski Patrol and Lift Maintenance that require lots of training and experience. All because they put profit over people. Skiing and riding shouldn’t be about real estate and corporate profits, it’s about people wanting to get outside and have fun.
So long as Whistler is charging $329 for a day pass I will boycott the resort. I wish trade unions for resort staff the best of luck in negotiating fair pay deals from a corporation run by soulless greed heads like Katz.
Ski cross-country or snowshoe at the Whistler Olympic Park at Brandywine Falls instead. A tenth the cost, no crowds and better exercise. Take your dog on the trail with you! Ski under the stars by headlamp! Twilight snowshoe ticket for only $12 CDN! Take biathlon lessons (yes includes target shooting)! Rent equipment or have a meal at reasonable prices at the beautiful Day Lodge! Free parking! Free summer trail access and disc golf!
All run by a non-profit with the help of local volunteers. Katz and BlackRock get nothing!
(Full disclosure: I have family that have been volunteering there for years)
I can’t even afford a single lift ticket and this guy thinks I’m going to pay double or “just buy a season pass!” LOL. I’m just giving up skiing in this economy. Haven’t gone this year because I can’t afford it and jackasses like this aren’t helping.
Indy Pass ?