Visiting a ski resort has become a bigger and bigger ask each year. Photo: Vail Resorts
Lift tickets are expensive. And they’re getting more expensive every year. However, while most skiers either quietly shoulder that burden or simply don’t go to the slopes as often, a few are fighting back. This week, four skiers filed a proposed class action against Vail Resorts and Alterra Mountain Co., accusing them of artificially inflating the cost of passes.
According to Reuters, Goloja v. Vail Resorts Inc . was filed on Monday in U.S. federal court in Denver. In it, three plaintiffs (three from Colorado and one from Massachusetts) accuse Vail and Alterra of violating federal antitrust law. They claim that the two companies, which now own, or are contractually tied to, nearly every marquee ski destination, have restrained competition and forced consumers to pay unfairly high prices by bundling access to resorts into multi-mountain season passes.
“For years, skiers have been told that soaring lift-ticket prices, reduced choice, and overcrowding are simply the new reality,” their lead attorney, Greg Asciolla, said in a statement. “Our complaint alleges that these outcomes are not the result of healthy competition, but of exclusionary conduct by two companies that dominate access to the most desirable destinations.”
Vail made a statement in response, saying that the claims were without merit. The company also asserted that its Epic Pass reduced the price of a season pass by 60 percent and that they have launched other, lower-priced options. Alterra declined to comment.
The irony is that, despite how high these companies have set ticket prices, they’re still struggling. At the beginning of this year, Vail reported an unusually slow ski season, which the brand claimed was fueled by one of the worst early season snowfalls in the western U.S. in over 30 years.
