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Vail CEO: Tahoe ski season off to challenging start

Tribune staff report

Blaming poor snow conditions for lower-than-expected growth at Tahoe, Vail Resorts reported today that the local ski season has once again gotten off to a “challenging” start.

An early season update revealed strong results for the company’s Colorado destinations, boasting strong visitation and consistent conditions for the season up to Jan. 11.

However, the Tahoe resorts — Heavenly Mountain Resort, Kirkwood Mountain Resort and Northstar California — witnessed a different outcome. “Unfortunately, early season conditions in Tahoe proved challenging again this year, leading to lower growth for our Tahoe resorts than anticipated,” Chief Executive Officer Rob Katz said in a statement. Vail’s Utah resorts also experienced a slower start to the holiday period, but gained momentum after Christmas, he added.



But overall, Katz said Vail was pleased with the companywide results so far, and that they are “consistent with our original expectations.”

“Most importantly we saw strong guest spending and increased yields at all of our resorts that significantly outpaced visitation,” he continued in the statement, “an indication of the strength of the economy and the experience we provide guests across our resorts.” At the company’s nine mountain resorts, lift ticket revenue was up 9.3 percent compared to the same period in the prior year, and total skier visits were up 1.8 percent.


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