I gotta give a shout out to my man Stuart Winchester over at The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast again. He inspired me to dig deeper into Vail and Beaver Creek’s holiday lift ticket prices and write this article.

That dude is just absolutely all over the ever-changing prices of daily lift tickets, season passes, mega-passes, and more. He’s well worth a follow on Twitter, and you should check out his blog and podcast when you have a sec.

The Tweet below is what inspired me to dig into these lift ticket prices. I wondered, could Vail and Beaver Creek really charge $275 for a lift ticket on a holiday/peak day? Keep reading for more.

The short story is, yes, Vail Resorts’ flagship properties will charge $275 for those looking to purchase walk-up tickets on Holidays. That’s alarming by all stretches of imagination, but it doesn’t quite paint the whole picture.

When navigating Vail Mountain’s website for lift tickets, prospective buyers are offered two options. Wait to purchase their holiday lift tickets day-of and spend $275 OR purchase an Epic Day Pass starting at just $116/day.

Essentially, Vail Resorts is trying to encourage skiers to purchase their tickets well in advance, and are offering a significant price cut for those willing to buy now.

This helps the company front-load on revenue before the season even begins, and helps the individual resorts plan for how many skiers and riders to expect on any given day.

The prices really aren’t that bad for a family who is planning a big trip out to Vail or Beaver Creek. Unrestricted tickets, meaning those without blackout dates for holidays, and can be used at any time, drop in price with the amount of days purchased.

For example, 1 individual ticket for an adult is $116/day, while 7 days of skiing averages out to just $96/day. That’s lower than the majority of day passes at ski resorts across the country.

Seeing a resort charge $275 for a day of skiing is shocking, don’t get me wrong. It pretty much eliminates any skier or snowboarder looking to go out for a spontaneous day out on the mountain, and that’s most likely Vail Resort’s intention.

That sucks, but we shouldn’t be surprised.

Vail Resort’s main business is selling their Epic Passes, and that’s obviously what they’re going to favor. This is a business, and Vail Resorts, the biggest company in the business, is going to well… do business.

I could go on and on about how these pass deals end up overcrowding the mountains, but that’s for another article.

Good luck to anybody that is willing to shell out nearly $300 for a day of skiing at Vail or Beaver Creek this season. You probably have more money than me, but you certainly have less common sense…

Featured Image Credit: Steven Taylor on Unsplash 

Header Image Credit: Glade Optics on Unsplash 

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