Vail Resorts to Limit Lift Tickets This Ski Season — Here's Why

Vail Resorts will once again limit lift tickets this year.

The company, which owns the Epic Pass and just laid out opening dates for each of its 37 mountain resorts in the United States and Canada, will limit lift tickets every day in an effort to manage potential crowding, Vail Resorts shared with Travel + Leisure.

“We care deeply about our guests’ experience at our resorts,” James O’Donnell, the president of Vail Resorts’ Mountain division, said in a statement provided to T+L. “Limiting lift tickets throughout the season, alongside the big investments we’re making at our resorts and in our team members, will help us provide our guests with an Experience of a Lifetime this winter.”

Pre-purchased passes — like the Epic Day Pass — will not be limited, and the company will post lift ticket availability on the website for each resort in the coming weeks.

Last year, Vail Resorts limited lift tickets during three separate holiday periods, the company told T+L. The new limitations, however, are not the same as the reservation system the company implemented in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The Epic Pass, which provides unlimited access to dozens of Vail Resorts properties as well as limited access to more than 80 resorts all around the world, is currently on sale for $859 with prices expected to go up after Labor Day.

Of all the company’s mountain resorts, Colorado’s Keystone Resort will be the first to open in mid-October, followed by Breckenridge and Vail in Colorado as well as Mount Snow in Vermont on Nov. 11. The majority of the company’s resorts will then open later in November, including popular slopes like Northstar California Ski Resort, Park City Mountain in Utah, Hunter Mountain in New York, Okemo in Vermont, and Whistler Blackcomb in Canada.

Others, like Stevens Pass in Washington and Jack Frost Big Boulder in Pennsylvania, won’t open until early December. 

Alison Fox is a contributing writer for Travel + Leisure. When she's not in New York City, she likes to spend her time at the beach or exploring new destinations and hopes to visit every country in the world. Follow her adventures on Instagram.