AIN’TNO MOUNTAIN HIGHENOUGH
This spring, Vail Resorts, one of the largest ski-area operators in the world, extended its colossal reach with its first East Coast acquisition, Vermont’s Stowe Mountain. The timing of the buy wasn’t accidental. Late spring and summer, when skiing and snowboarding drop off, are actually Vail’s most important time of the year, because this is the moment when it starts to market next season’s Epic Pass, which offers unlimited access to 45 ski areas around the world. Over the past few years, Vail has used the off-season to beef up the $859 Epic Pass, by acquiring Canada’s Whistler Blackcomb in 2016 and Australia’s Perisher Mountain in 2015. The Stowe purchase allows Vail, which is concentrated in the western half of the U.S., to make a compelling bid for the skiing set in New York and Boston, offering access to a coveted weekend spot as well as its destination locations in Colorado and Utah.
Each Epic Pass sold brings both revenue—sales now make up 40% of lift income—and data on Vail’s active skiers. The most important information is where they come from and how long they stay. Visitors who ski four or more days are likelier to buy an Epic Pass, while information on skiers’ home bases has determined Vail’s recent strategy of acquiring small mountains outside major cities such as Detroit, Minneapolis, and Chicago. “There are more skiers in Chicago than the entire state of Colorado,” says CMO Kirsten Lynch. “The whole concept of, Oh, a season pass is for locals. . . . We’ve completely shattered that myth.” MILESTONES Annual Epic Pass growth is an impressive 16%, and the company expects to sell 650,000 Epic Passes for the 2017– 2018 season. CHALLENGES If climate change starts to shorten the ski season, it will put more pressure on Vail to make its resorts off-season destinations as well.