What's new with Vail Resorts

The Blue Jays may be heating up Toronto, but there’s no denying that Canada’s snowy season is just around the corner.

And while some may think of icy wind and endless shovelling when the term “winter” springs to mind, for the team at Vail Resorts, it’s all about packed powder.

“The company’s tagline is ‘experience of a lifetime,’ and there’s so many ways Vail Resorts brings that to life,” Abby Hein, senior specialist of international communications for Vail Resorts told PAX, citing its variety of destination-focused resorts (spanning from California to Colorado as well as a new property in New South Wales, Australia) and emphasis on high-scale hospitality as the ingredients for an exceptional ski experience.

Hein and her colleague Laura Kirby, international market manager for Vail Resorts, were in town for the 2015 Toronto Snow Show, the largest ski and snowboard trade show in Canada, and took some time to sit down with PAX to showcase some of the highlights of its 2015-16 winter season.

Vail Resorts boasts ski properties in some of the most beautiful places with dramatic inclines: Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone in Colorado; Northstar and Kirkwood, California; Heavenly, Nevada; Park City, Utah; Afton Alps, Minnesota; Mt. Brighton, Michigan and its newly acquired site, Perisher Ski Resort in Australia – and with US$110 million committed to improvements for 2016, keeps a competitive edge as a premier mountain resort company to travellers who love to ski.

In keeping with that mission, Vail also intends to undergo a US$50 million capital plan to combine Canyons and Park City Mountain Resorts in Utah, which will result in a 3,000 hectare property – the largest ski and snowboard resort in the U.S.

Canada is in the top five of Vail's market, but for skiers who live and die by the slopes of Whistler or Banff, it’s the brand's intention to spread awareness about the surprising accessibility of its properties.

“It’s easier for skiers in Calgary to get to Park City than it is for them to get to Whistler,” Hein shared."It’s a direct flight - just a straight shot down the Rockies.”

“You can fly out and be on the slopes in the same day,” Kirby added.

And when it comes to the current state of the exchange rate, Hein maintained that Vail’s EPIC pass, which is currently available for US$809 and provides access to unlimited, unrestricted access to several resorts in its portfolio, offers considerable savings even to holders of the Canadian dollar.

Perhaps even more attractive to Canadians than the price, however, may be the reliability of slope weather in Colorado.

“We have an average of 300 days of sunshine,” Hein said, “and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen sad faces sitting in a hot tub in Whistler because it’s pouring rain outside." 

"There’s a lot to be said about the value in going to a place where nine times out of 10, you can expect a sunny day and a great experience - without running the risk of losing your weekend to rain.”