Epic Pass Sales and Revenue Soar for 2022/23

If you thought the boom in skiers and riders using Vail Resort’s Epic Pass had peaked, think again.

On June 9th Vail Resorts (which owns Stowe, Okemo and Mount Snow) released its quarterly earnings reports and guess what? Already, the number of Epic Passes sold for the 2022/23 season is up by 9% in units sold over last year. This takes into account Vail Resort’s 2022 purchase of Seven Springs Resort in Pennsylvania. The company also increased the percentage of its visitors who use a pass, versus a day ticket, to 72%, up from 60% in 2021-22.

All that translates into more than a 35% increase in revenue. Vail Resorts reported earning a net income of $372.6 million for the third fiscal quarter of 2022 compared to a net income of $274.6 million in the same period in the prior year.

While many skiers at Vail Resorts’ three Vermont ski areas complained of long lines, traffic and crowding this past season (see Why Is Everyone So Angry At Vail Resorts?). CEO Kirsten Lynch claimed the numbers show there is still room for growth. “Despite the growth in overall visits this past season, very few of our resorts even approached their historical maximum daily visitation, as our resorts averaged only 1 day this season exceeding 95% of their historical peak daily visitation and only 6 resorts had more than 1 day above that level, excluding the recently acquired Seven Springs Resorts. All of this highlights that there is considerable opportunity to continue to grow the overall industry and skier visits outside of peak periods,” she said in a release.

Of course, if you look at an average of 40 resorts across the globe, lumping in Jack Frost, Pa., say with Stowe, Vt. the numbers tend to flatten.

Lynch also noted that there is a trend toward weekday and off-peak visits. “We are very pleased to see the growth in visitation this season, and in particular that it primarily occurred during off peak periods… For the season-to-date period ended April 30, 2022, compared to the season-to-date period ended May 5, 2019, visitation on weekday and non-holiday periods increased approximately 8% while visitation on weekend and holiday periods decreased approximately 3%, excluding Peak Resorts visitation in both periods,” she said, referring to resorts such as Mount Snow, Vt. and Hunter, N.Y. that Vail Resorts acquired from Peak Resorts.

The entire release is below: