At Vail Resorts, CEO Rob Katz in its fiscal-end-of-year statement at the end of September said that the past winter was “one of the most challenging winters in history across the western U.S. .... snowfall and snowpack were at or near historic lows.” That may make skiers and riders a little gun shy about booking for 2026-27 -- as ski reporter Robert Silk termed it, it's a "hangover" year -- and we see that in Vail’s numbers, as its Epic Pass sales through Sept. 18 were down about 12% year over year. 

Here, we’re talking with ski experts Tom Foley, the director of business intelligence at Outside and Inntopia and the founder of mountain-lodging analytics firm DestiMetrics, and Stuart Winchester, the editor and host of the Storm Skiing podcast and journal, about the expectations for this year’s winter season. Is the ski pass system flawed? How big a role does snow play -- or is it the economy? Is the discussion different for major ski resorts vs smaller ski areas? And at the end of the day, the thrill of the mountains and why we’re all still bullish about the business. 

This episode was recorded Oct. 13 and has been edited for length and clarity.

Episode sponsor

This episode is sponsored by Oceania Cruises https://www.oceaniacruises.com

Related links 

The ski industry faces a tough start after a tough, low-snow season https://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Hotel-News/Ski-industry-faces-slow-start-after-low-snow-season

Profits and pass sales decline for Vail Resorts https://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Hotel-News/Vail-Resorts-reports-reduced-pass-sales-and-profit

Activist investor wants a board overhaul at Vail Resorts https://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Hotel-News/Activist-investor-targets-Vail-Resorts

Alterra names Kelly Vohs CEO https://www.travelweekly.com/Travel-News/Hotel-News/Alterra-Mountain-Company-names-Kelly-Vohs-as-its-next-CEO

DestiMetrics https://corp.inntopia.com/intelligence/destimetrics/

Storm Skiing https://www.stormskiing.com/