Vail Resorts’ Epic Pass hits highest launch price point yet
Passes for next season went on sale Tuesday
Chris Dillmann/Vail Daily
Vail Resorts started selling 2024-25 season passes on Tuesday, with the full Epic Pass, which offers unlimited access to Vail and Beaver Creek, going for $982.
The $73 jump is an 8% increase over last year’s pass launch price for the current season and is the most expensive price launch point the Epic Pass has yet to reach since launching during the 2008-09 season.
That 2008-09 pass was $579 and gave skiers unlimited access to Vail, Beaver Creek, Keystone, Breckenridge and Heavenly. Today’s Epic Pass offers access to more than 80 resorts across the globe.
The Epic Local Pass — offering 10 days at Vail and/or Beaver Creek — went on sale Tuesday for next season for $731.
Since 2008-09, the Epic Pass saw steady increases through the 2020-21 season, when it reached a launch price of $979. Later that selling cycle, from Nov. 22 to Dec. 6, 2020, the Epic Pass reached $1,099. Following that season, Vail Resorts carried out what it called a price reset, knocking the cost of a season pass back down to 2015-16 prices.
Support Local Journalism
Last year’s jump from $841 to $909 was also an 8% jump, something that contributed to an 11% increase in sales dollars, said Vail Resorts CEO Kirsten Lynch.
“Pass sales dollars benefited from the 8% price increase relative to the 2022-23 season and new pass holders coming into the program in higher priced products relative to the sales results in the prior year period, partially offset by the mix impact from the growth of regional and Epic Day Pass products,” Lynch said in December.
Vail Resorts launched a new Epic Day pass option in 2022-23 which allowed skiers to choose from different levels of resort access. For skiers who only want a few days of access to small ski areas like Seven Springs outside of Pittsburgh, Mount Sunapee in New Hampshire, and Afton Alps in Minnesota, a low-price option is now available for $44 per day.
For larger resorts like Vail and Beaver Creek, the Epic Day Pass is now $93 per day, down from $101 per day last season. Following the company’s 2021-22 price reset, a premium Epic Day Pass was $87 or $172 for a two-day pass. The low-end Epic Day Pass price point at $44 marks a return to 2022-23 prices for the company.
Be more informed in 2025.
Sign up for daily or weekly newsletters at VailDaily.com/newsletter
Lynch, in December, said the new Epic Day Pass options “drove significant acquisition of new pass holders late in the selling cycle last year.”
New for the 2024-25 season, the Epic Pass will provide access to Switzerland’s Crans-Montana Mountain Resort. Vail Resorts completed the purchase of an 84-percent ownership stake of Crans-Montana in November, but the 2023-24 Epic Pass did not offer access to that resort.
Vail Resorts’ major competitor, Alterra Mountain Company, has not yet revealed its 2024-25 IKON season pass prices, but last season the IKON pass was $250 more than the Epic Pass at $1,159. The Ikon Pass offers access to resorts that compete with Vail and Beaver Creek like nearby Copper Mountain, Steamboat Ski Resort and Aspen Snowmass.
This story was edited to reflect that the 2024-25 Epic Pass price is the highest pass launch price, not the highest absolute price. The full Epic Pass’ highest price was $1,099 from Nov. 22 to Dec. 6, 2020.
