Downhill skiing on a trail at Vail ski resort in Colorado. Photo: Shutterstock
Vail Resorts shared a handful of season metrics with its investors Thursday, revealing that lift ticket revenue across its North American resorts in 2024-2025 was up. This news comes in spite of the company revealing that total skier visits were down.
According to the April 24 report, season-to-date total skier visits were down 3.1 percent compared to the prior year, season-to-date period. Meanwhile, season-to-date lift ticket revenue, which includes the company’s allocated lift ticket revenue with its Epic Pass, was up 3.4 percent.
“As the 2024-2025 North American winter season nears completion, our overall results highlight the stability provided by our season pass program, our investments in the guest experience, and the strong execution of our teams across all of our mountain resorts,” said Vail CEO Kirsten Lynch. “Season-to-date visitation across the Company’s 37 North American mountain resorts reflects the benefit of improved conditions, offset by the expected continued industry demand normalization. Destination visitation among pre-committed pass-holder guests improved as expected in March and April; however, visitation from lift ticket guests was below expectations. Although visitation declined, lift revenue increased compared to the prior year period, driven by the growth in season pass revenue committed ahead of the season….Overall revenue growth in our ancillary businesses was impacted by the lower mix of destination visitation. Overall, the results throughout the 2024-2025 North American ski season demonstrate the resiliency of our strategic business model and our network of resorts and loyal guests.”
The results reinforce Vail’s commitment to its season pass structure, which will see the company’s 2025-2026 Epic Pass prices rise by seven percent. According to NPR affiliate KPCW, Vail Resorts’ stock was slightly up following the news on Thursday. Shares of MTN (NYSE) had started at $135 on Thursday morning and ended the trading day at $140. That’s still down significantly since prices began to slide earlier this season, plummeting from above $195 on December 10, 2024, to around $175 in the first week of January. By January 28, 2025, one shareholder sent a letter to the company calling for a dismantling of leadership, including CEO Lynch, CFO Angela Korch, Executive Chairman Rob Katz, and called Vail Resorts “the evil empire.”
The letter didn’t explicitly point to the high-profile labor disputes, including one dispute with ski patrollers at Park City Mountain Resort resulting in a 13-day strike. The resort remained open through the strike, which spanned the New Year’s holiday, but complaints from visitors were made public in media outlets across the country.
