Wow, how skiing has changed over the last decade. Assuming a family of 4, a full ikon pass will cost almost $5k/year and that is before you take a bite of an overpriced slice of pizza!. On the flip side, an epic pass for 4 will be closer to 4k/year. What do the increases in ski passes mean for ski real estate? How do the increase in prices impact ski real estate? Should the price of the pass impact where you buy Colorado ski real estate? Why is Ikon/Alterra purposefully pricing higher than Vail/Epic?
How much did the Ikon and Epic passes increase?
For the 2025-2026 season, the Ikon Pass costs $1,329 for adults, while the Epic Pass costs $1,051 for adults, making the Ikon Pass more expensive. For the 2025-26 season, both the Ikon and Epic passes are seeing price increases, with the Ikon Pass increasing by 6.4% for the full pass and 4.6% for the Ikon Base Pass, while the Epic Pass is up 7% across the board
Here’s a more detailed comparison:
- Ikon Pass:
- Adults: $1,329
- Skiers ages 13 to 22: $989
- College students/nurses/members of the military: $969
- Kids ages 5 to 12: $369
Epic Pass:
- Adults: $1,051
- Children (ages 5 to 12): $537
Why is Alterra intentionally pricing higher than Vail?
The full Ikon pass is about 30% more than Vails full Epic pass. This is a conscious decision by Alterra to ensure they are not the low cost leader. Anyone who opened the news this ski season has heard about Vail’s woes from strikes in park city to labor issues in Vail to bad social media press on lift lines. Alterra has taken notice and wants to ensure they don’t become Vail by pricing a bit higher to help ensure it doesn’t have the same issues as Vail with overcrowding and a diminished user experience.
Walmart and Costco rule skiing throughout the World.
Aaron Brill, the owner of Silverton Mountain in SW Colorado said: “the Ikon and Epic passes represent the Costco and Walmart of skiing. He calls it big box consumerism creeping into skiing.” (source Denver Post). The new model in the ski industry is consolidation and most resorts are getting on one of the two trains. For example, Telluride is on the Epic Pass train and Copper/Eldora got on the Ikon pass train. The two passes are approaching consolidation much differently. Every major resort in the United States is either owned or affiliated with one of the two passes.
The Walmart model:
Vail resorts epic pass is going for the lowest cost model to drive volume to its resorts. Think of Breckenridge or Park City; they are the busiest resorts in the country. Vail might be heading towards a “Spirit Airlines” model where getting on the plane is inexpensive and they make their money by the add ons (assigned seats, bags, etc…). Vail resorts is beginning this shift. For example, the cost of food at Breckenridge is almost double Steamboat (Alterra resort). My wife was at Breckenridge with our daughter and got chicken nuggets for lunch… the cost $50 dollars for lunch! At Breckenridge parking is also 10-20 bucks whereas in Steamboat there are several free lots close to the base area.
The Costco Model:
Alterra’s Ikon pass is adopting the Costco model. It is a little more expensive than Walmart, but you get better service and a higher end experience with mountains like Steamboat and Snowmass. Like Costco, the Ikon pass isn’t trying to be the low-cost leader and then nickel and dime you on everything… at least not yet.
The Whole Foods Model:
Resorts like Aspen and Telluride are focusing on the ultra-high net worth markets by pricing their products substantially higher. For example, a season pass to Aspen is almost 2500 for an adult versus 800-900 for an Ikon or Epic pass. They are using pricing to limit volume and ensure a better guest experience with limited crowds.
What is the correct solution?
Looking at the three models which solution will be the “best model”. Unfortunately, “best” will be dependent on where you fit in the skiing paradigm. For example, if you live in Denver and would come up every weekend, the Vail model works great as you have a low cost option for the all you can eat buffet of Breckenridge or Keystone. On the other hand, a destination skier might prefer a different product like a Steamboat or Snowmass.
The markets have spoken
Alterra is privately held so we don’t have details on their financials, but if you look at Vail’s stock price, clearly the market does not like their model that is targeting the same demographics as Target (pun intended). Vail’s stock is almost in lockstep with Target. On the other hand, take a look at Costco where coming out of the pandemic there is a huge divergence with Target and Vail. Costco has continued to increase while Target and vail have declined.
Real estate outperforming Vail’s stock
Real estate in all the mountain towns has vastly outperformed Vails stock price (see chart below). Over 5 years Vail is basically flat while on the flip side Costco has returned over 230%; this divergence in fortunes could not be more pronounced. Fortunately even with prices off their highs in Breckenridge, it still has handily beat Vail’s stock!
Now look at Costco’s chart
What impact will this have on real estate?
Look at this chart of Steamboat (an Alterra owned resort) vs Breckenridge (a Vail owned resort). There is a huge divergence where Steamboat has continued to increase while Breckenridge is off about 10% off their peak. Why? Steamboat is a destination resort and does not have drive up traffic, this helps the user experience in Steamboat as opposed to the mass market/Walmart approach of Breckenridge.
Also look at Boulder, it is almost lockstep with the same trends as Breckenridge so as prices go up or down in Boulder the same happens in Breckenridge due to their correlation. Many second homeowners due to the demographics in Boulder have houses in Summit county which has led to the correlation.
Furthermore, just as people on the consumer side are trading down from Target to Walmart for the price (in the ski industry maybe they are trading for other experiences like the beach or cruise or ??), they are also trading up to stores like Costco for the user experience.
On a side note, each ski market is unique, if you look at Vail (also a Vail owned resort), they are almost lock step with Steamboat as they also are a world-renowned destination. Also most mountain towns have become world class destinations for other activities like hiking, fly fishing, mountain biking, etc… which insulates them from the ups and downs of the ski industry.
Summary
Walmart or Costco or Whole foods, which is the best ski model? According to the stock market, the market is rewarding Costco and Whole Foods (owned by Amazon) considerably more than Target. Unfortunately Vail resorts is getting stuck in the mid market like Target which is causing heartburn for its stock along with real estate in places like Breckenridge. Fortunately even in Breckenridge, the sky is not falling. Although it is underperforming destinations like Steamboat which is owned by Alterra, it is still drastically outperforming most other real estate markets throughout the country. Which begs the question, where should you buy ski real estate? Check out my recent blog on best ski real estate that I wrote.
Note we have an office in Colorado and do a ton of lending throughout the ski towns, Denver, etc… along with Georgia and Florida. We hold and service all our loans which gives me a unique perspective on the market. If you want to learn more about Colorado real estate and get weekly updates on Colorado real estate, please send an email to me and I’ll get you signed up.
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Glen Weinberg personally writes these weekly real estate blogs based on his real estate experience as a lender and property owner. He is the owner of Fairview Commercial Lending. Glen has been published as an expert in hard money lending, real estate valuation, financing, and various other real estate topics in Bloomberg, Businessweek ,the Colorado Real Estate Journal, National Association of Realtors Magazine, The Real Deal real estate news, the CO Biz Magazine, The Denver Post, The Scotsman mortgage broker guide, Mortgage Professional America and various other national publications.
Glen resides in Colorado, lends in Colorado, owns property in Colorado, and services loans in Colorado which provides a unique real estate prospective of what is actually happening on the ground both in Denver and throughout Colorado. My goal of this real estate blog is to provide an honest assessment of what I see happening in Colorado real estate and how it will impact real estate owners, buyers, realtors, mortgage professionals, etc…
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