Vail tickets top $80!

[smitchell333]

Fuck Vail!!

I wouldnt go there if it were $16

[DaHeel]

What if it were less than $10?

[LibertyJim]

I used to be a Vail Resorts employee and once attended a state of the company meeting. Aron talked proudly about the "Disney Model" of capturing every dollar of skiers. They own the airplanes that bring the out of staters in, the restaurants they eat at, the hotels they stay in. His logic was that people coming once a year for a week don't care if the price goes up a few bucks a day. Colorado residents are the stupidest people alive if they actually pay that price. As for me...I love the Basin!

Jim

[Blurred]

The average family of 4 spends $10,000 during Christmas week staying in Vail. A few dollars on lift tickets isn't shit.

[FreakofSnow]

Holy balls. Yep, that just priced me out of ever riding Vail. I almost did once when I still live in CO, but I pulled up to the ticket booth and saw $71, we beat feet back to Mary Jane.

I think it's weird that CO can have the most expensive day ticket prices and have the lowest season pass prices. Anyone riddle me that?

[shera]

VRI just freaking blows my mind. They are pumping like a BILLION dollars into Vail resort, rebuilding Lionshead and all that. I guess they are trying to provide the "ultimate ski experience" to those that have the money.

With big money to blow, I personally would go to Aspen. Or maybe Telluride. Vail is good, but for me not so sophisticated. But it appeals to people from all over the world. And there's such a variety of skiing there. And the teaching doesn't get better either.

If I were a reasonably well off middle class family from Texas and liked to vacation in Colorado, I would come in the fall for the leaves and pick up season passes for $350. After the first time you can renew online. I would get a condo and I would drive my family up in my bigass suburban. I'd rent my gear at Colorado Ski and Golf in Aurora and I'd buy my groceries in Denver too. That $10k would be more like $5k and still have all the luxuries.

If I was a dirtbag skier with no money just blowing through, stormchasing or whatever, I would ski there free. There's ways. If I were a dirtbag skier that wanted to hang around, I would live in Summit County and get myself a hookup. Oh wait, I did that.

When I was at the hiring/orientation day at Keystone, part of the presentation was on this new gig that VRI bought, called Rock Creek Resorts. OMG, they've got some fancy schmancy several hundred dollar a night places in the most incredible locations. Employees get a major hookup, so I'm hoping to check something out. http://www.rockresorts.com/ If somebody wanted to do a year-round career gig, the could transfer between these and the ski area summer/winter. I'm not interested, because I got my gardening thing going up here now in the summer.

[ulty_guy]

for the 'core' skier, this is actually a great thing.

this makes silverton 10x more viable as $100-$129 doesn't seem like a whole hell of a lot to pay for guided skiing. more people are going to go there and their business will be more viable. as long as pass prices are reasonable, let those who can afford it pay top dollar.

you won't get a switchover to more environmentally friendly fuels if you don't have high oil prices first. it's the same thing.

[The Kids Are Alright]

Vail $81...............thats disgusting.....................

[jpmurphyslaw]

Other than the Colorado Pass or poaching Vail, what are other ways to avoid this monstrosity of a lift ticket price?

[shera]

Other than the Colorado Pass or poaching Vail, what are other ways to avoid this monstrosity of a lift ticket price?

Ski somewhere else.

[Ireallyliketoski2]

Other than the Colorado Pass or poaching Vail, what are other ways to avoid this monstrosity of a lift ticket price?

Get a job that pay's you six figures, then 81 dollars don't seem like so much.

[Jim S]

This summer I got my CO pass for under $300 and it includes 10 days at Vail, unlimited skiing elsewhere in CO, and 1/2 off at Heavenly.

I'm sure the blackout dates will change next year to something like: Not valid Oct 1 - May 15

[Benny Profane]

well there ya go. CO. mags should actually thank Vail Inc. (shudder) for making it so cheap to ski in their backyard by starting the season pass price war, what, about 10 years ago. Vermont skiers should only have that much terrain on an about $500 expenditure for the season. Killington dropped their season pass big time last year, but the ASC resorts are hours from each other,and Stratton and other local mountains are'nt getting into the fight.
Stop whining. 81 is for chumps, or people who don't or can't ski.

[kailas]

Blame it on Ronnie Reagan and the greedy repulicans, they deregulated the ski industry same time they deregulated the airline industry. Before that the forest service would negotiate the prices with the ski companies, since most are using public land to do their business. Once deregulated, fat cats came in and started over capitolizing the classic ski towns of the west. Now, most are so expensive and have lost their community identity.

[bagtagley]

I think it's weird that CO can have the most expensive day ticket prices and have the lowest season pass prices. Anyone riddle me that?

Quantity. Over a quarter million Colorado Passes were sold this season (or so I'm told).

[SquawMan]

from yesterday's earning report for the company:

Adam Aron, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"While it is certainly good and encouraging news that Vail Resorts' fiscal 2006 first quarter results were modestly ahead of expectations, it is commonly understood that the August/September/October quarter is a seasonally weak one for Vail Resorts. Our world-class winter- peaking resorts traditionally do not open for skiing and snowboarding until November, and it is logical that our lodging properties at the base of these resorts would also have seasonally low revenues. Therefore, rather than dwelling on first quarter financials, we believe the true measure of first quarter events for Vail Resorts is the degree to which we set the table for the ski season immediately to come. On this score, the news for Vail Resorts is bright indeed, and we believe Vail Resorts is solidly on track for fiscal 2006."

Commenting on the current 2005-2006 ski season, Aron said, "We are excited by the momentum we have recently established for the 2005-2006 ski season. Our ski areas in Colorado especially have received fabulous early season snowfall and attendant publicity. Vail has had record early season snowfall, cumulatively totaling more than eleven feet so far this season, the best snowfall Vail has received at this point in the season in Vail's 43 year history. Beaver Creek is still basking in the blizzards of snow that were showcased in global television/print exposure arising from the World Cup ski races held at Beaver Creek this past weekend. Breckenridge has already opened a month ahead of schedule its new Imperial Express Lift, the highest in North America terminating at 12,840 feet and providing lift access for the first time ever to some 400 acres of sensational bowl ski terrain. And Keystone has some 2500 acres of terrain open for skiing and snowboarding, the most terrain open at this time of year in Keystone's 35 year history, while Heavenly got three to five feet of snow at various points across the mountain in a single day last week."

Aron added, "The various metrics for the 2005-2006 ski season at our disposal are telling, and where we need them to be at this point. Season pass sales in dollars are up approximately 7% compared to record setting levels of last year at the same point in time. Vacation revenue in dollars booked through our central reservation system is approximately 2% ahead of last year at this time, but those same bookings are up over 6% in the past four weeks since the snow has started to fly. Transient room night revenue bookings at our owned and managed hotel and condominium properties in Colorado are up 5%. Airline bookings into Eagle County airport are up 5% compared to this time last season, and up 12% over this same time two years ago. Ski school advance reservations are quite strong.

And we can confirm that as of this writing, Christmas and New Year's bookings across the board are robust. Finally, we are also announcing today our single-day lift ticket pricing, which will go into effect at our ticket windows later this month -- Vail and Beaver Creek will increase $4 or 5.2 % year-over-year to $81, Breckenridge and Keystone will increase $4 or 5.6% to $75, and Heavenly will rise by $5 or 7.4% to $73."

Aron noted, "With abundant snowfall and other uplifting leading indicators, needless to say, we are encouraged. And there is still more good news on the horizon. Our real estate and lodging groups jointly are actively pursuing intriguing projects across each and all of our mountain resorts. We are announcing today that, effective December 1, we secured a management agreement to run the Austria Haus Hotel, a small but very high end lodging property in Vail, that will be managed as additional luxury inventory by The Lodge at Vail, one of our RockResorts properties."

Aron continued, "As for our Real Estate business, we continue to expect as we have said before that it will produce a much larger contribution starting in fiscal years 2007 and 2008, while its contribution to fiscal year 2006 will be relatively modest, even compared to prior years. So far this year, construction of the sold-out Arrabelle and Gore Creek Place projects are well underway, and we continue to make good progress in securing the necessary governmental approvals for our proposed Vail Front Door and Ritz-Carlton Residences, Vail projects. As we consistently have been saying, we believe that all of these projects will be lucrative for us in the foreseeable future. Although difficult to precisely forecast, our construction costs have been rising of late, and we believe they may continue to do so, which appears to be similarly true for construction costs in the United States generally. As such, these cost escalations may cause us to fall somewhat below our previously anticipated income range estimates for the Arrabelle and Gore Creek projects taken together. Even so, with the magnitude of development opportunities ahead of us, especially in the strong Vail market which would appear to benefit from considerable pent-up demand, we are highly confident in the fundamental inherent and underlying value of our real estate holdings."

[iceman]

Holy shit that's a bunch of words.

[SquawMan]

Holy shit that's a bunch of words.

he made $1.67 million in salary and bonus last year, not including stock option grants, so he has to justify it some how




KEY EXECUTIVES
Pay Exercised
Mr. Adam M. Aron , 50
Chairman, Chief Exec. Officer and Member of Exec. Committee $ 1.67M

[iceman]

he made $1.67 million in salary and bonus last year, not including stock option grants, so he has to justify it some how

Thanks for the Cliff's Notes version.

[homerjay]

They may or may not be the devil but Vail Resorts sold me an unlimited season pass for $365 (Vail/BC/Breck/the stone/ A-basin). Vail has decided that being a teacher in the valley deserves a little love. As far as I'm concered Vail is taking care of me and mine.

VRI is the largest employer on the Western Slope. They also sponsor tons of events and give alot of money back to the community. Your experience is not unique, and while they may seem evil for raising ticket prices, I think they do a decent job of balancing it with giving back to the community and taking care of locals.

Having said that, is the season pass price war a major reason that Berthoud Pass wasn't sustainable as a ski area?

edit- heel, we should make some turns!

[iceman]

is the season pass price war a major reason that Berthoud Pass wasn't sustainable as a ski area?

Berthoud management said exactly that at the time.

[Squatch]

you know, jackson's pretty cheap, as ski vacations go. skiing's better, too.

[Stone-Free]

Dude, he's the CEO of a publicly held company and his job is to make the shareholders money. Far be it from me to defend some millionare, but he's just doing his job, just like you do your job, whatever that may be.

The difference is I dont proclaim with arrogance that I can charge my clients whatever I feel like because of the quality of my product and services. The market is flooded with people who do my job, and I can easily price myself out of work. Just as there are other places to ski other than a Vail owned resort.

[MTT]

Ski somewhere else.

The correct answer. I think thats what they are shooting for.
Vail does not want evey skier, they just want the ones who don't blink @ 81$ for a lift ticket.

[itsjust123]

he made $1.67 million in salary and bonus last year, not including stock option grants, so he has to justify it some how
KEY EXECUTIVES
Pay Exercised
Mr. Adam M. Aron , 50
Chairman, Chief Exec. Officer and Member of Exec. Committee $ 1.67M

You can see exactly what he and the other execs are getting paid as well as their holdings of the MTN at the SEC's site. Just look at their 14A. The 14A is here:
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/da...25/ddef14a.htm
And then look for this heading:

EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION AND OTHER INFORMATION

SUMMARY COMPENSATION TABLE

The following table provides information concerning compensation paid by the Company to the CEO and the other five highest paid executive officers of the Company whose compensation was at least $100,000 for Fiscal 2005 (collectively, the “Named Executive Officers”).


It also has other info like unexercised options, shareholders of more than 5%, etc.