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Crowds have subsided at Vail following New Year’s holiday, but lift ticket prices remain high

National Weather Service reports a chance of snow every day for the next week

A skier heads for the fresh snow under the Skyline Express during the lift's first day of operation for the 2023-24 ski season on Dec. 25, 2023.
John LaConte/Vail Daily archive

Guests visiting Vail Mountain this week will see less crowds than the New Year’s holiday weekend, but lift ticket prices remain the same.

Vail Mountain was busy during the week between the Christmas and New Year’s Day holidays, with cars spilling out of the town of Vail parking structures on four consecutive days Dec. 27-30.

Wednesday, Dec. 27, saw 309 cars parked along South Frontage Road in Vail, Thursday had 198, Friday was the busiest day of the holiday break with 340 cars parked along South Frontage Road, and Saturday had 185.



By Sunday, the crowds had subsided, with no cars spilling out of the structures. The New Year’s Day holiday on Monday was also relatively slow on the mountain, with the Vail and Lionshead parking structures able to accommodate all the cars.

Lift tickets still $299

While Vail Mountain has informed guests that it reserves the right to limit lift ticket sales, it has not yet exercised that option. But prices remain at the resort’s highest recorded price point — $299 for a single-day lift ticket purchased at the window on the same day of use. Tickets purchased online in advance receive a $15 discount.

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Tickets will stay at that price point for the remainder of the week, according to vail.com, before dropping to $269 on Monday.

Vail Mountain spokesperson John Plack says approximately three-quarters of the mountain’s visitation comes from guests using a pre-purchased Epic Pass product. Epic Passes were on sale until Dec. 3.

“Guests are strongly encouraged to secure their lift access in advance,” Plack said. “We always recommend that guests without an Epic Pass purchase lift tickets online, since buying early can save up to 15 percent.”

In a call to investors on Dec. 8, Vail Resorts CEO Kirsten Lynch said the total number of pre-paid passes sold this season increased 4% over last year. While specific numbers weren’t given, the 4% increase likely brings Vail Resorts’ total number of pre-purchased passes to about 2.4 million as last year the company announced it had sold 2.3 million passes.

“We were able to grow across all major product segments including Epic and Epic Local,” Lynch said.

Snow likely this week

One factor that can quickly change traffic patterns on the mountain is snowfall.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture maintains a snow telemetry (SNOTEL) site on Vail Mountain, where remote measuring devices monitor snowpack by weighing the snow through something called snow-water equivalent, or the amount of water in the snow.

While snow totals in Vail are outpacing much of the Western United States, the snowpack remains well below average. On Tuesday, the Vail Mountain SNOTEL site showed a snow-water equivalent of 5.4 inches, while the 30-year average for Jan. 2 is 7.6 inches.

That puts Vail Mountain’s snow-water equivalent at about 71% of normal as of Tuesday.

But that could soon change, as the National Weather Service reports a chance of snow showers occurring every day throughout the next week.

The National Weather Service’s Grand Junction office says there’s a 20% chance of snow to start after 11 p.m. on Wednesday, and then snow is likely for Thursday, with an 80% chance of precipitation.

Snow showers are likely again on Friday, mainly after 11 a.m., with a 70% chance of precipitation.

By Saturday, the National Weather Service lowers its expectations of snow to 40%, but on Sunday and Monday the Grand Junction office again reports that snow showers are likely, continuing into Tuesday.


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