According to Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz, all Rocky Mountain ski resorts saw 24% less visitation during the 2025-2026 winter compared to the year prior.
He mentioned the industrywide data on Vail’s third-quarter earnings call June 8. Katz pointed to the record-low snow year in the Rockies region, which in the ski industry includes Utah and Vail-owned Park City Mountain.
“When you look back over 40 years, the prior worst decline in visitation — outside of COVID-related closures for the Rockies — was down 8% in 2012,” Katz told shareholders. “Which illustrates the unprecedented severity of the conditions and the anomaly we just experienced.”
He thinks the weather is also driving a 10% decrease in early Epic Pass sales year-over-year this spring.
But weather-related hits to Vail’s bottom line haven’t stopped its chief executive from taking a long-term view. Katz believes skiers may be simply delaying their decision to buy a season pass.
“Looking back over the past several decades, U.S. ski market data indicates that visitation typically fully recovers following a season with poor conditions if the subsequent season has normal conditions,” he said.
Vail stock prices rose steadily with the advent of the Epic Pass and resort acquisitions under Katz’s first tenure as CEO. But they've been falling from their November 2021 peak.
Katz resumed the CEO role in May 2025, midway through former CEO Kirsten Lynch’s two-year “resource efficiency” effort, which has included layoffs. Vail Resorts' third-quarter earnings report says it exceeded the amount of expected savings as part of that effort.
Park City Mountain laid off some staff earlier this year but could not provide a number in time for this report.
Vail said in 2024 the efficiency effort as a whole was to include reducing its corporate workforce by 14% and operational workforce by 1%. Frontline resort employees were not the primary target of layoffs.
While the company is leaner in terms of personnel, Vail has not trimmed its assets, as Park City billionaire Matthew Prince has continually and publicly urged it to do.
Vail has instead been focused on buying back stock shares to increase their value.
Prince gave The Colorado Sun an interview published days before the June 8 earnings call in which he says Vail’s future is “asset-light.” The Old Town resident wants to buy Park City Mountain, which Vail has said is not for sale.
Katz indicated that owning resorts has its advantages. Being asset-heavy may provide Vail considerable upside next season since it cut season pass prices for younger skiers by 20%.
CFO Angela Korch hinted that the discount has been successful, despite the drop in pass sales, but Katz declined to give specific numbers.
“To the extent that we're being more aggressive with young adults, no matter where they ski — largely in our North American network — we're getting the benefit of that full 100% of lift revenue plus we're also getting the benefit of everything they spend on the mountain,” Katz told shareholders. “I can see how that makes it a little bit trickier if you don't have that setup.”
Vail’s primary competitor and the owner of Deer Valley Resort, Alterra Mountain Company, operates fewer ski areas but does provide access to other resorts on its Ikon Pass. Alterra is privately owned and therefore does not have public earnings calls.
Vail Resorts’ EpicPromise foundation is a financial supporter of KPCW.
