With Labor Day less than three weeks away and preseason ski sales coming soon, Vail Resorts announced projected resort opening dates for its Colorado holdings on Wednesday, along with details regarding Epic Pass deadlines.
Breckenridge is scheduled to open Nov. 8 and Vail on Nov. 15. Beaver Creek and Crested Butte are slated to open on Nov. 27, the day before Thanksgiving.
Keystone will be the first to open. The announcement says it will open in mid-October “pending early season conditions,” which are mostly dependent on the progress of snowmaking. Usually that means sustained temperatures in the 20s, although snow can be made in the 30s when humidity is low.
The deadline to lock in Epic Passes prices before they increase comes on Sept. 2. Currently the Epic Pass is priced at $1,004 and the Epic Local Pass at $746. Epic Day passes make it possible to ski for $73-$95 per day, depending on the mountain and number of days selected. When passes went on sale at early-bird prices in March, the Epic Pass was priced at $982 and the Epic Local Pass was $731.
Vail Resorts also is launching a gear-rental membership program called My Epic Gear, which will allow guests to select gear they want to rent through an app and have it delivered to them if they are staying at lodging within a resort area. If not, they will be able to pick it up and drop it off with a slopeside valet service, eliminating the need to stand in line at ski shops. It debuted as a pilot program last year at Keystone, Breckenridge, Vail and Beaver Creek for a limited number of Epic Pass holders, but this year it will be available at those four resorts plus Crested Butte, Park City, Whistler Blackcomb, Heavenly, Northstar, Stowe, Okemo and Mount Snow. Memberships will cost $50. The daily use fee will be $55 for adults and $45 for children.
Beaver Creek will expand its slate of World Cup ski racing at Beaver Creek in December to include women for the first time since the 2015 world championships. Vail native Mikaela Shiffrin and the other U.S. women downhill and super-G racers will be there Dec. 14-15. The men will race downhill, super-G and giant slalom as usual, Dec. 6-8.
