Vail Resorts Announces 2022-23 Operating Plan, Plans Cap on All Lift Ticket Sales
On Monday, Vail Resorts announced its operating plan for the 2022-23 winter season. Most notably, lift ticket sales will be limited at every Vail-owned resort every day of the season next winter. If tickets are sold out online, guests will not be able to purchase them at ticket windows.
Epic Pass products, including Epic Day Passes, and Pass Holder benefit tickets will not be subject to any caps this season. In addition, those who purchase lessons with lift access, or those who make use of an employee or dependent pass, will also not be affected.
Vail also announced its 2022-23 opening schedule in their statement, with Keystone scheduled to open in October and both Breckenridge and Whistler Blackcomb scheduled to stay open through late May. In addition, the company stated that all COVID-related indoor restrictions, including proof of vaccination and dining reservation policies, have been removed for the upcoming winter.
Vail’s full press release can be found here.
Our Take
2021-22 passholders will know that several Vail-owned resorts experienced an onslaught of problems this season, increased crowding among them. We previously wrote that changes to the Epic Pass suite would likely have a minimal impact on resort traffic, but lift ticket caps may very well be effective, depending on how stringent the caps are. Vail Resorts did cap Epic Pass usage during the COVID-impacted 2020-21 season—and also capped ticket sales on peak days at some resorts last year—but neither seemed to have a significant impact on crowding.
With Epic Pass purchases continuing to have no sale limit through at least December—including Epic Day Passes, which are basically just any-day lift tickets—the visitation behavior of these passholders will likely have a serious effect on the crowds at each resort next winter. Passholders have historically generated more than 60% of Vail’s ticket and pass revenue, and they presumably make up an even higher percentage of resort traffic. As a result, there’s only so much of an impact that limiting lift ticket sales but not pass sales will have.
It remains to be seen how these next ticket limitations shape up next winter; popular Vail-owned resorts such as Northstar, Park City, Breckenridge, Okemo, and Stowe could really use them. We plan to return to major Epic mountains next season to re-evaluate crowd logistics.
For more information on resorts on the Epic Pass, see our Epic Pass mountain reviews as well as our Colorado, Tahoe, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and Western Canada rankings.
