Vail Resorts reported weaker financial results for its 2026 fiscal year and a notable decline in advance pass sales for the upcoming winter, following what the company described as one of the most difficult ski seasons in the history of the western United States.

The numbers are worth watching in the Mid-Atlantic, where Vail Resorts now operates a large collection of ski areas including Whitetail, Liberty, Roundtop, Seven Springs, Hidden Valley, Laurel Mountain, Jack Frost, and Big Boulder. The company’s latest earnings release does not break out pass sales or visitation by region, so the national trends should not be interpreted as Pennsylvania-specific results.

Still, they offer a useful look at the company that owns more Mid-Atlantic ski areas than any other operator.

Pass Sales Fall Heading Into Winter

Through September 18, 2026, Vail Resorts said pass product unit sales for the upcoming 2026-2027 North American ski season were down approximately 12 percent compared with the same point last year. Estimated days sold were down about 10 percent, while pass sales dollars were down approximately 6 percent.

A photo from December, 2024 shows flagship resort Vail, included with many Epic passes.
A photo from December, 2024 shows flagship resort Vail, included with many Epic passes. Photo by M. Scott Smith.

The company suggested some customers may simply be delaying their purchase decisions rather than abandoning Epic products entirely. That would make the next several months particularly important as Vail continues marketing passes and Epic Day Pass products ahead of the season.

The slowdown follows a winter that hit Vail’s western resorts especially hard. Chief Executive Officer Rob Katz described the 2025-2026 season as one of the most challenging winters in the western U.S. ski industry’s history, with snowfall and snowpack in the Rockies at or near record-low levels.

Those conditions showed up clearly in Vail’s visitation numbers. Skier visits fell 13.4 percent for the fiscal year, while total lift revenue declined by a much smaller 3.5 percent. One reason for that gap was advance pass revenue, which increased 3.9 percent despite the decline in visits.

That illustrates one of the advantages of Vail’s advance-commitment model. By selling a large share of skiing before winter begins, the company can protect a portion of its revenue even when weather keeps people off the slopes. The flip side may now be appearing: after a poor winter, some customers seem less willing to commit as early for the next one.

A Tough Fiscal Year

For the full fiscal year ending July 31, 2026, Vail Resorts reported net income of $147.5 million, down from $280 million the previous year.

Resort net revenue declined 4.5 percent to approximately $2.83 billion, while Resort Reported EBITDA — a measure the company uses to track profitability across its mountain and lodging businesses — fell 11.7 percent, from $844.1 million to $745.7 million.

Vail attributed much of the decline to unfavorable weather, particularly at its Rockies and Tahoe resorts. Cost-cutting partly offset those pressures. The company said its ongoing resource-efficiency plan produced approximately $45 million in savings during fiscal 2026, although the year also included about $11 million in one-time costs related to that restructuring effort.

The company also spent an additional $20 million on marketing aimed at pass sales, lift-ticket initiatives, and branding.

Vail Expects a Rebound

Despite the softer pass-sales trend, Vail is forecasting improved results for fiscal 2027.

The company expects Resort Reported EBITDA between $805 million and $865 million and net income between $158 million and $233 million. That outlook assumes more normal weather, higher lift-ticket visitation, continued pricing growth, increased guest spending, and additional cost savings.

At the same time, Vail acknowledged that lower pass demand remains a headwind. The company’s guidance assumes visitation will remain modestly below what Vail originally expected for fiscal 2026, with pricing and product changes helping keep overall lift revenue roughly flat compared with those earlier expectations.

That makes the coming season an important test for the Epic model. A better winter would give Vail a chance to see how much of the pass-sales decline reflects frustration after one poor season, and how much represents a broader change in customer behavior.

Mid-Atlantic Investments Continue

Even after the difficult year, Vail Resorts continues to invest in its properties, including in the Mid-Atlantic.

At Seven Springs, the company is replacing the Blitzen triple with a new fixed-grip quad. Vail says the project is intended to reduce congestion and bottlenecks at the current unload area, improve reliability, and provide more efficient access from the main base area to the North Face side of the mountain.

The Seven Springs project is part of Vail’s broader 2026 capital program, which also includes technology investments, dining improvements, snowmaking projects, and other upgrades across the company’s portfolio.

For Mid-Atlantic skiers, the larger financial picture may seem far removed from a Saturday morning at Whitetail or Seven Springs. But Vail’s pass strategy, capital spending, staffing decisions, and operating priorities increasingly shape the experience at a significant share of the region’s ski areas.

The company enters the 2026-2027 season with weaker advance pass sales than a year ago, but also with the expectation that more normal weather and continued investment will help reverse some of the losses from last winter.