SAM Magazine—Broomfield, Colo., Sept. 29, 2026—Vail Resorts pointed to historically low snow in the western United States during its 2026 fiscal year as the primary culprit for declines in financial results over the past 12 months, as well as slow season pass sales heading into the 2026-27 winter season in North America.
For the full year ended July 31, resort net revenue decreased $131.9 million, down 4.5 percent, and resort reported EBITDA declined 11.7 percent compared to fiscal year 2025. Total lift revenue was down just 3.5 percent despite skier visits for the year being off by 13.4 percent. Vail Resorts also reported a 47 percent decline in net income for fiscal 2026.
Fourth quarter results were more positive year-over-year, with resort net revenue up a slight 0.3 percent “primarily driven by strong performance at Grand Teton Lodge Company (of which VR is the concessionaire), partially offset by unfavorable weather conditions in Australia,” the company reported. Resort reported EBITDA gained 1 percent compared to the 2025 fourth quarter.
Total snowfall in Australia was 57 percent below the 10-year average, but Epic Australia Pass sales leading into the Southern Hemisphere winter were up about 26 percent in units and 31 percent in dollars as of May 27, 2026, which helped offset the impacts of the low snow season.
Pass product sales for winter 2026-27 continued to lag behind FY 2025. Through Sept. 19, 2026, units sold decreased roughly 12 percent and sales dollars decreased about 6 percent. Days sold—a metric VR started publishing this year that measures an estimate of how many days of access are sold—was down 10 percent compared to the same period ending Sept. 19, 2025.
In the year-end report, Vail Resorts said, “unit declines remain concentrated among Destination frequency pass products,” but it “believes these trends may reflect delayed purchase behavior among less committed guests rather than fully lost demand.” The company sees an opportunity to recapture visitation with additional pass sales ahead of the season and lift ticket sales during the season.
While taking questions from analysts during the earnings call, CEO Rob Katz expressed hope for the upcoming winter to be a “normal ski season” in which visitation rebounds year-over-year. “On the other hand, we are going through a transition where people are going to be moving from passes to lift tickets. There’s clearly more variability and risk in that,” he said.
The company said its multi-year “resource efficiency transformation plan” remains on track and should result in about $110 million of annualized cost efficiencies by the end of fiscal year 2027. Katz said an expansion of the plan is expected to result in an additional $30 million of savings by fiscal 2028.
As part of its new “Epic Experience” initiative teased over the summer, which the company sees as its next growth opportunity, Vail Resorts today launched “Epic Ascent,” a high-end private lesson product being offered at Colorado’s Vail Mountain and Beaver Creek this winter, with plans to expand the offering to other owned resorts for 2027-28. The product includes instruction, concierge service with “white-glove rental gear arrangements, mountain transportation and dining reservations,” and the ability to skip the line at lifts.
Online pricing runs from nearly $1,100 for a half-day (3-hour) session midweek at Beaver Creek to more than $1,800 for a full day at Vail Mountain during the holidays per person.
“Looking back over the past year and a half, we have taken decisive action and accelerated the pace of change across our business, strengthening leadership, advancing growth initiatives, enhancing the guest experience, and improving operational efficiency,” said Katz. “While this past season had a challenging weather backdrop, we are encouraged by the early progress we are seeing across these strategies, including strong performance from our new product and pricing initiatives, lift ticket and pass sales trends that are outperforming the industry, increased brand awareness, and exceeding our original resource efficiency plan savings.”
