Vail Resorts: Who Owns the Mountains?
- Samantha Bennett
- May 13
- 6 min read
“This place had a heartbeat in its day,
Vail bought the mountain, and nothin’ was the same”
- Noah Kahan, Paul Revere
In Colorado, USA, skiing isn't just a sport; it's a way of life, it's the lifeblood of the state, and a source of pride for all Coloradans. Skiing in Colorado wasn’t born for entertainment, but out of necessity. Even though skiing was developing in Europe as a recreational activity, skiing in Colorado began in the 1860s, before Colorado was even an official state in 1876, as a result of Scandinavian miners' solution for the problem that traditional forms of transport, like wagons, horses, or trains, couldn’t get through the snow. These Scandinavian miners taught their fellow miners how to build and operate the skis. From this, skiing began its transition from a necessity as transportation to a recreational activity. From there, Colorado skiing history has been shaped by ski clubs, Howelsen Hill (which produced 89 Olympians), recruitment by army officers in ski clubs for WWII, and the introduction of snowboards. With such a long history, even before the establishment of the state, it's no wonder that skiing is so intrinsic to Colorado. So when a monopoly threatens access to something so special to not only Coloradans but also skiers and snowboarders nationwide, public outrage is a given.
Monopolies, especially in the US, aren’t exactly a surprise anymore. With three companies controlling about 80% of mobile telecoms, three control 95% of credit cards, four have 70% of U.S. airline flights, and Google handles 60% of search. However, the last place most people expected to encounter monopolies was on the slopes. Vail Resorts, to those who know it, leaves most skiers and snowboarders with an uneasy feeling. Vail Resorts is the world's largest mountain resort operator, headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado. It owns and operates 42 premier mountain resorts and regional ski areas across four countries, including Vail, Breckenridge, Park City, and Whistler Blackcomb. It doesn’t stop there; they not only own over 40 resorts but also 300 dining outlets, including coffee shops, quick service, and fine dining at base areas and mid-mountain, hospitality properties, which includes about 5,500 hotel rooms and condominium units managed or owned, over 250 rental operations locations, branded as Vail Resorts Retail, retail shops, multiple golf courses, and even Colorado Mountain Express, a local Colorado transportation company. There’s an undeniable feeling that Vail Resorts has made skiing, not the one-off trip but the sport as a whole, less accessible than ever, with its shift to the “mega-pass” model and the marking up of walk-up tickets to anywhere from $200 to $300 per day. One-day ski trips for many families or individuals feel out of reach, and the cost is unjustifiable. Recreational skiers and snowboarders are left with a choice: cough up the $200 every time you get the itch to go up to the mountains, or seriously commit to carving out time to ski and justify the $1089 pricetag for the “Epic Pass”, and as one can imagine, a lot of the time neither option is on the table due to the intense time and financial commitment of both options, so much so that equipment gets left to collect dust in the garage.
Because of the inaccessibility, skiing for actual Coloradans feels unattainable due to the steep price tag. A 2015 study by RRC found that roughly 500,000 Coloradans actually skied or snowboarded during the 2013-2014 season. That is roughly 9% of the state’s over 5 million residents that year. In comparison, roughly 35% of Swiss Nationals ski, so it is hard to argue that the number of skiers is low in regions that have high levels of ski tourism. This study also shows that Colorado locals accounted for only 7% of the 7 million riders during the 2013-2014 season. For nearly 91% of the state, they didn’t ski on the mountains that are in their backyard, not because they were far away, the drive from Denver, the state’s capital, to Vail, for example, was under 2 hours, but because of expenses. The 4.8 billion dollars generated that year was achieved by 93% tourists, so boycotting by Coloradans wouldn’t make much of a dent in their annual economic output. While Coloradans might not have much influence on Vail Resorts, their employees do.
Consumers aren’t the only ones unhappy with Vail Resorts; so are their employees. At the end of 2024 until early 2025, ski patrollers at Park City, a popular ski resort in Utah, went on strike. They wanted higher wages and better benefits from Vail Resorts, saying they could not afford to live in the area due to the high cost of living. In addition to generally low wages for all patrollers, older patrollers with upwards of 15 years of experience earned amounts similar to those of patrollers with 3-5 years of experience. The strike lasted 12 days, creating limited terrain and long lift lines. The strike ultimately ended in early January after an agreement was reached between unionized patrollers and Vail Resorts that increased wages and enhanced benefits. Most recently, in April of 2026, nearly 2000 ski instructors joined a lawsuit against Vail Resorts. In Quint et al. v. Vail Resorts, Inc, originally only three Beaver Creek employees, a lift ticket scanner, and two ski instructors, in 2020 filed the lawsuit alleging that Vail Resorts had violated the Fair Labor Standards Act (a 1938 federal law that establishes the foundation for U.S. labor standards, including a federal minimum wage ($7.25/hr since 2009), overtime pay (1.5x for over 40 hours/week), recordkeeping, and child labor restrictions) by not paying for “off-the-clock” work. This work included time spent traveling between work sites, putting on and taking off equipment, and training. The company has denied all allegations, claiming it complied with wage laws and properly compensated employees. As of the writing of this article, the Plaintiff is attempting to gain an extension to reach the remaining roughly 23,000 eligible ski instructors. This case, even if unsuccessful, highlights a growing push to hold major outdoor corporations accountable for wage-and-hour violations.
So why does this even matter to people outside of the winter sports community? Well, more than anything, this is political; accessibility is and has always been a political issue. It doesn’t matter that access to skiing isn’t a “traditional” accessibility issue; what matters is that a company, because of its money-hungry tendencies, is pushing people away from one of the world's most beloved sports. Skiing is so unique and special for several reasons. It honors the beauty of the mountains while also showcasing skills in balance, endurance, intense physical engagement, high-speed adrenaline, coordination, and technique. Skiing isn’t just about the physical engagement; it provides mental liberation, it's a mental escape. As skiing shifts from this community-based activity to a luxury, financial barriers act as tools of exclusion, transforming access to nature into a privilege bought with money, and if that isn’t political, who knows what is.
Advocacy for accessibility comes in all shapes and sizes. As a consumer, your power comes in many forms. So if you find yourself in Colorado skiing, try to find small ways to give to the local community: rent from a non-Vail ski rental shop, pack food for the mountain instead of buying at the restaurants, or find family-owned establishments to dine at. Your dollar has more power than you think. While it sometimes feels like it’s impossible to combat these larger corporations, it’s important to recognize that every movement needs little steps at first. A great example is the ongoing lawsuit that went from only three employees to nearly 2,000. You just need to get the ball rolling. Not just in skiing, but in every part of life, it is important to act against any injustice, even if it feels “silly” or “unimportant”; that is how we create a better and more accessible world for everyone, in every part of life, even in sports.
Bibliography
Blevins, J. (2026) 'More than 1,900 ski instructors join wages lawsuit against Vail Resorts', The Colorado Sun , April 23.Available at:https://coloradosun.com/2026/04/23/vail-resorts-lawsuit-ski-instructors/(Accessed: 24 April 2026).
Colorado Info (no date) Colorado Ski History . Available at:https://coloradoinfo.com/blog_post/colorado-ski-history/(Accessed: 24 April 2026).
Department of Labor (no date) Handy Reference Guide to the Fair Labor Standards Act . Available at:https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/compliance-assistance/handy-reference-guide-flsa(Accessed: 24 April 2026).
Epic Pass (no date) Epic Pass . Available at:https://www.epicpass.com/passes/epic-pass.aspx(Accessed: 24 April 2026).
Kessler, S. (2025) 'Park City Ski Patrollers Go on Strike', The New York Times , 4 January. Available at:https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/04/travel/park-city-strike-ski-patrol.html(Accessed: 24 April 2026).
LaConte, J. (2021) 'Vail Resorts lawsuit: 2,000 ski instructors joined', Vail Daily , 17 August. Available at:https://www.vaildaily.com/news/vail-resorts-lawsuit-2000-ski-instructors-joined/(Accessed: 24 April 2026).
RRC Associates (no date) Case Study: Economic Impact of Skiing in Colorado . Available at:https://www.rrcassociates.com/case-studies/economic-impact-of-skiing-in-colorado/(Accessed: 24 April 2026).
Steamboat Springs (no date) Howelsen Hill Ski Area . Available at:https://steamboatsprings.net/131/Howelsen-Hill-Ski-Area(Accessed: 24 April 2026).
The Economist (2018) 'Across the West, powerful firms are becoming even more powerful', 15 November. Available at:https://www.economist.com/special-report/2018/11/15/across-the-west-powerful-firms-are-becoming-even-more-powerful(Accessed: 24 April 2026).
Uncover Colorado (no date) Colorado Ski History . Available at:https://www.uncovercolorado.com/colorado-ski-history/(Accessed: 24 April 2026).
Vail Resorts (2024) Vail Resorts Reports Fiscal 2024 Fourth Quarter and Full Year Results . Available at:https://investors.vailresorts.com/news-releases/news-release-details/vail-resorts-reports-fiscal-2025-fourth-quarter-and-full-year(Accessed: 24 April 2026).
Vail Resorts Instructor Wage Litigation (no date) Home . Available at:https://www.vailresortsinstructorwagelitigation.com/(Accessed: 24 April 2026).
Vartabedian, M. (2025) 'Vail Resorts Ski Patrol Strike at Park City Mountain Resort', Business Insider , 5 January. Available at:https://www.businessinsider.com/vail-resorts-park-city-mountain-resort-ski-patrol-strike-2025-1(Accessed: 24 April 2026).
Comments