“Vail Resorts and Alterra and their respective Mega Passes have fundamentally changed skiing and snowboarding in North America, to the detriment of Plaintiffs and members of the Class. In short, Defendants’ schemes have made snow sports prohibitively expensive,” the lawsuit says.
A proposed class-action lawsuit filed in Colorado claims that the pricing structure for passes at two of the state’s most popular ski resorts artificially inflates consumer costs and suppresses competition, potentially in violation of local and federal antitrust statutes.
According to CBS News, the lawsuit was filed on behalf of plaintiffs Landin Goloja, Tyler Maybee, Caitlan Reynolds, Daniel Sheiner, and “all others similarly situated.” It names defendants including Vail Resorts, Inc.—which sells the Epic Pass, granting access to locations like Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Park City, and Whistler—and the Alterra Mountain Company, which offers the Ikon Pass for Aspen, Snowmass, Steamboat, Winter Park, Arapahoe Basin, Eldora, Jackson Hole, and Banff.
“For years, skiers have been told that soaring lift‑ticket prices, reduced choice, and overcrowding are simply the new reality,” Greg Asciolla, chair of DiCello Levitt’s antitrust litigation practice. “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.”
The lawsuit argues that the Ikon and Epic passes, taken together, constitute a sort of “anticompetitive bundle” that could result in “increased costs for lift access,” “diminution of competition,” “reduction of consumer choice,” and “decreased quality of skiing.”
These practices allegedly violate both the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 and the Colorado Antitrust Act of 2023. The former law, passed by the federal government, was originally designed to prevent monopolistic corporate power. The 74-page lawsuit notes that Vail and Alterra either own or control access to more than 100 ski areas and resorts.
The lawsuit raises two key claims. First, the pass structure purportedly incentivizes independent resorts to join the network while threatening their ability to self-sustain in the marketplace. Second, it incentivizes skiers to purchase yearly passes and “Mega Passes,” which maximize their access to resorts and make single-visit tickets seem inordinately expensive in comparison.
“Vail Resorts and Alterra and their respective Mega Passes have fundamentally changed skiing and snowboarding in North America, to the detriment of Plaintiffs and members of the Class. In short, Defendants’ schemes have made snow sports prohibitively expensive,” the lawsuit says.
CBS News notes that season passes were the main source of access to resorts by skiers and riders in the 2024 to 2025 ski season. Season pass holders comprised about 49% of visits to U.S. ski resorts, while day-lift tickets made up only 32% of all trips. The remaining purchases were “frequency products,” off-duty resort employees, complimentary tickets, or other categories of non-season passes.
A spokesperson for Vail has since offered a refutation of the lawsuit’s claims, saying the company believes that the litigation is “without merit.”
“We launched the Epic Pass in 2008 to make skiing and riding more accessible, reducing the price of a season pass by 60%,” Vail said in a statement. “We’re proud that 18 years later, it’s still one of the best values in the industry, especially following our further 20% price reduction in 2021.”
https://www.cbsnews.com/colorado/news/lawsuit-alleges-colorado-epic-ikon-passes-violate-antitrust-laws/
Class action lawsuit filed in Colorado alleges Epic and Ikon pass price structures violate antitrust laws
https://gazette.com/2026/03/25/vail-resorts-alterra-face-class-action-lawsuit-over-season-passes/
Vail Resorts, Alterra face class-action lawsuit over season passes
Antitrust class action lawsuit filed against Vail Resorts and Alterra over pricing
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