Four skiers filed, on the behalf of skiers and snowboarders nationwide, a federal antitrust class action lawsuit against Vail Resorts Inc. and Alterra Mountain Company on Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.
Landin Goloja, Tyler Maybee, Caitlin Reynolds, and Daniel Sheiner, all residents of Colorado, filed the lawsuit “on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated,” according to the lawsuit.
The class action lawsuit, filed by DiCello Levitt, Berger Montague PC, and Salahi PC, alleges the two ski resort operators each unlawfully inflated prices and suppressed competition through anticompetitive bundling practices tied to their multi‑mountain season passes.
The lawsuit states that Vail Resorts, the owner of the “Epic Pass” products, grants pass holders unlimited and unrestricted access to all of Vail Resorts’ 42 owned and operated ski areas, including Destination Ski Resorts and Regional Ski Areas, in addition to a limited number of days at several partner ski areas, according to the lawsuit.
The suit also states that Alterra, the owner of the “Ikon Pass” products, grants pass holders unlimited and unrestricted access to 18 ski areas, including Destination Ski Resorts and Regional Ski Areas, in addition to a limited number of days at about 50 partner ski areas.
According to DiCello Levitt, the lawsuit is the first action brought against Vail Resorts and Alterra over these claims, alleging an industry‑wide scheme that has driven up the cost of skiing and snowboarding across North America.
“For years, skiers have been told that soaring lift‑ticket prices, reduced choice, and overcrowding are simply the new reality,” Partner Greg Asciolla, Chair of DiCello Levitt’s Antitrust and Competition Litigation Practice said in a statement on Monday. “Our complaint alleges that these outcomes are not the result of healthy competition, but of exclusionary conduct by two companies that dominate access to the most desirable destinations.”
According to the lawsuit, Vail Resorts and Alterra “coerce” skiers and snowboarders into purchasing their Epic Pass or Ikon Pass by pricing single-day lift tickets at an extremely high rate.
The lawsuit also said, the prices of the Epic Pass and Ikon Pass are steep and have been rapidly rising well beyond the rate of inflation.
Provision 15 from Section I (Nature of the Action) from the lawsuit alleges:
- Skiers and snowboarders are led to believe they are making a cost conscious decision in buying the Epic or Ikon Mega Pass, but in reality, and as a result of Vail Resorts’ and Alterra’s respective anticompetitive schemes involving bundling, they are in fact being forced into buying a Mega Pass, which is itself maximally (over)- priced up to the point where it looks like a good deal when compared to the over-priced “Lift Ticket.” In short, both the “Lift Ticket” and the “Mega Pass” are over-priced.
Furthermore, the lawsuit alleges the increase in season passes caused “crowding effects,” which includes long lift lines, congested slopes and customers being “locked” into an entire winter season at only Mega-Pass only resorts.
According to the lawsuit, it also alleges that “virtually all marquee destination ski resorts are now owned by, or contractually tied to, either Vail Resorts or Alterra — leaving consumers with few meaningful alternatives and pressuring independent regional ski areas to either join one of the two ecosystems or risk being shut out of skier demand altogether.”
The four plaintiffs are seeking damages on behalf of a nationwide class of consumers who purchased lift tickets or season passes, as well as injunctive relief designed to restore competition in the ski resort market.
Neither Vail Resorts or Alterra Mountain Company have addressed the lawsuit with public statements as of March 25.
