Vail Resorts have unveiled the latest of the many incarnations of their Epic Pass.
The company launched their Epic Pass 11 years ago, transforming the ski industry, particularly in North America, by offering access to dozens of ski areas for one relatively low-priced pass.
The company stressed the high value of the pass by saying that if you skied more than 4 or 5 days at one of their Colorado resorts the season pass would cost less than buying a 4 or 5 day pass in resort.
The Epic Pass has been a huge success and is rumoured to now sell around a million passes each season, and with the full pass launched at $939 for 2019-20, that appears to mean that the company will probably bank the best part of $1 billion in ticket sales revenue before next season begins.
Part of being able to claim the “cheaper than buying a 4-5 day ticket” relies on Vail Resorts having the most expensive day passes in the world at some of their resorts. Their ticket pricing is fluid but prices were reported to go above $200 a day at peak times this season.
Now the new “Epic For Everyone” pass tackles those day pass prices too by allowing skiers to buy a ‘Restricted day pass’ which excludes peak holiday dates from $106 for a single day, or an unrestricted version which can be used any day for $125 – so probably around half the cost of a ‘buy on the day in resort’ ticket.
Passes can be bought for any amount of days up to 7 days for $621 (restricted) or $731 (unrestricted) bringing the per-day cost down a little.
