At the bottom: how to pay less at Stowe, Okemo and Mount Snow this winter — the half-price friend ticket, the discount for ages 13 to 30, the credit for last winter’s day tickets and the month-ahead ticket Vail says is coming back — plus when pass prices go up next.
Skiers headed to Stowe, Okemo or Mount Snow this winter can expect the company that owns all three, Vail Resorts, to push discounted lift tickets harder than it has before. A record-poor winter in the Rockies left the Colorado company with 12% fewer season passes sold for the coming season.
Vail reported Monday that its full-year profit fell to $147.5 million from $280 million, and that visits to its mountains dropped 13.4%. The company blamed the West, where snowfall in the Rockies was at or near historic lows. The Wall Street Journal reported that the company doesn’t expect to make up the pass shortfall before the season starts.
What Vail plans instead is to win those skiers back one day at a time. On a call with investors, CEO Rob Katz said the company is “leaning into being more competitive on price in terms of our lift products.” That means the discounted tickets it introduced last winter, and more marketing behind them.
Vermont had the opposite winter. Ski Vermont reported 4.36 million skier visits for 2025-26, up 4.7% from the year before and the best season since 2014-15. Nationally, visits fell about 14%. Stowe opened in November with more than two and a half times the normal snow depth on Mount Mansfield for that time of year.
Vail doesn’t report its Vermont numbers separately, so there’s no way to know whether pass sales fell at Stowe, Okemo or Mount Snow. The company did say where the drop is concentrated: among occasional skiers who fly in for a few days a year on a limited-day pass. Katz told investors those skiers were buying day tickets until a few years ago, and he expects many of them to go back to day tickets this winter.
“Cheaper” doesn’t mean everything costs less. The Epic Local Pass is the one that covers Okemo and Mount Snow, and Stowe except on specified holiday dates. It is $849 this fall for ages 31 and older, up from $799 a year ago. The discounts are on day tickets, on passes for ages 13 to 30, and for people who skied Vail mountains on a day ticket last winter.
How to Pay Less at Stowe, Okemo and Mount Snow This Winter
If you know someone with a season pass: Most season passes come with “Epic Friend Tickets,” which the pass holder can share with friends. They are 50% off the ticket-window price for ages 13 and up and 25% off for kids 5 to 12. The pass holder has to be there to redeem the friend’s ticket. Passes bought now carry five of them. They can’t be combined with the month-ahead discount.
If you’re 13 to 30: The full Epic Pass and the Epic Local Pass are 20% off. The Epic Local Pass is $675 at that price.
If you skied a Vail mountain on a day ticket last winter: You can apply what you paid for one day’s qualifying lift ticket, up to $175, toward an eligible 2026-27 season pass. It doesn’t apply if you held a season pass or an Epic Day Pass last season. The credit expires Nov. 23, 2026. Terms here.
If you can plan a month out: Last winter, Vail offered discounts averaging more than 30% across 12 resorts, including Stowe, Okemo and Mount Snow, for day tickets bought four or more weeks ahead. The company announced that discount in December. Katz told investors Monday it will be offered again this season, but Vail hasn’t said yet which mountains.
When pass prices go up: Vail’s website advertises the next pass-price increase on Oct. 7. Passes have stayed on sale into early December in past years; last year sales closed Dec. 4. Current prices are at epicpass.com.