Indy Pass recently announced some major updates to its 2022-23 product line with three new downhill and two new cross-country ski areas. Indy dropped a western partner; introduced a new blackout grid; and rebranded its core pass product.
New downhill partners are Bluewood, Washington; Kelly Canyon, Idaho; and Ski Sawmill, Pennsylvania. Alberta-based Marmot Basin will leave making it the most high-profile Indy departure so far. The rest of the partner resorts will remain for the 2022-23 ski season.
Two more cross-country centers – Rikert Nordic Center in Vermont and Enchanted Forest in New Mexico – will join the pass bumping up the Nordic total to nine. Info on the other seven is here.
Indy is rebranding its core pass as the “Indy Base Pass.” The Indy press release stated that prices will increase between $20 and $50 on May 18 “in order to maintain our uncrowded slopes and lodges and provide a minimum per-visit payout for our partner resorts.”
For those who love to hate Vail Resorts (VR), the latest shareholder report noted that the company was up 19.4 percent in lift ticket revenue and 12.5 percent in skier visits through mid-April compared to Covid-limited 2020-21. CEO Kristen Lynch said that the strong performance was “as expected.
The report cited huge gains for ancillary revenue despite being what Lynch called “capacity constrained by staffing, and in the case of dining, by operational restrictions associated with Covid-19.” Season-to-date ski school revenue was up 53 percent, dining revenue was up 73.2 percent, and retail/rental revenue up 39 percent.
Lynch attributed the growth in visits and revenue largely to strong pre-season pass sales; the company reported a 47 percent increase year-over-year in unit sales back in December, a situation that partially resulted at over crowding at a number of Vail properties.
The report covers the comparative periods from the beginning of the ski season through April 17, 2022, and for the prior year period through April 18, 2021 and includes the performance of VR’s North American destination mountain resorts and regional ski areas. It does not include results of the company’s recently acquired Seven Springs Resorts and Australian ski areas.
New from Indy Pass – One for XC Skiing!
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