Sun Valley and Snowbasin Join the Epic Pass

Sun Valley and Snowbasin Join the Epic Pass

• Sun Valley Resort and Snowbasin Resort join the Epic Pass, Epic Local, Epic 7-Day and Epic 4-Day passes beginning with the 2019-20 winter season in a multi-year alliance.
• Epic Pass holders will receive seven days of skiing or snowboarding with no restrictions at both Sun Valley and Snowbasin.
• Epic Local Pass holders receive two days at each resort with minimal restrictions.
• Epic 7-Day pass holders can use any or all of their seven days and Epic 4-Day pass holders can use any or all of their four days with no restrictions at both resorts.
• Epic, Epic Local, Epic 7-Day and Epic 4-Day pass holders will receive 50 percent off one-day window lift ticket prices after their respective days have been redeemed.
• The industry-leading Epic Pass features access to world-class mountain resorts throughout eight countries for the 2019-20 season, more than any other season pass in the world.

Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: MTN), Sun Valley Resort and Snowbasin Resort jointly announced today that both resorts will join the industry-leading Epic Pass in a multi-year alliance beginning with 2019-20 winter season, adding two new destinations to the world-class access found on the  Epic Pass. Epic Pass holders will receive seven days of skiing or snowboarding with no restrictions at both resorts. Epic Local Pass holders will receive two days at each resort with minimal restrictions. Epic 7-Day pass holders can use any or all seven of their total days, with no blackouts, while Epic 4-Day pass holders can use any or all four of their total days of skiing and snowboarding with no restrictions at both resorts. Sun Valley is consistently ranked one of the top ski resorts in North America and Snowbasin is known as a great family-friendly destination, conveniently located near Salt Lake City.

“Sun Valley is a four-season renowned mountain resort and provides visitors from around the world with diverse mountain experiences and world-class dining and shopping. Together with nearby Park City Mountain Resort, Snowbasin has an incredibly rich winter sports history and this expanded access provides two great options for Epic Pass holders in Utah,” said Kirsten Lynch, chief marketing officer of Vail Resorts.

“Snowbasin and Sun Valley are crown jewels of our family-owned businesses and we are always looking for new ways to provide outstanding service to our guests,” noted Carol Holding, whose husband, Earl, bought Sun Valley in 1977. “As we remain committed to investing in and operating our properties for many years to come, this multi-year alliance with the Epic Pass will bring value to our pass holders and introduce more guests to our unique traditions.”

“Sun Valley Resort is excited to participate in the Epic Pass starting next season,” stated Tim Silva, Sun Valley Resort’s Vice President and General Manager. “Sun Valley is one of the premier ski destinations in the country, and we welcome Epic Pass holders to our resort. This will offer a significant benefit to Epic Pass holders, Sun Valley and Snowbasin season pass holders, and our resort communities.”

Sun Valley Resort, located in the mountains of Idaho, is known as the nation’s first destination ski resort and the location of the world’s first chairlift. Living up to its namesake, Sun Valley is a top choice for winter enthusiasts that prefer skiing or riding under blue bird skies. Perennially top-ranked for service, efficient lifts, grooming, and dining, Sun Valley is home to world-class on-mountain lodges and luxurious accommodations.

Snowbasin Resort, located in Utah, is one of the most accessible ski resorts in North America, less than 40 minutes from the Salt Lake City International Airport and only 50 minutes from Park City. Host venue of the downhill, combined (downhill and slalom), and super-G events during the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, Snowbasin offers outdoor enthusiasts  championship-level skiing, with nearly 3,000 skiable acres, an average snowfall of 300 inches, and 3,000 vertical feet. Consistently recognized as one of the best family resorts in North America, Snowbasin offers top ranked snow sports instruction and convenient amenities.

The following benefits are available to pass holders starting with the 2019-20 season:

• Epic Pass™: Epic Pass holders will receive seven days of skiing or snowboarding with no restrictions at both Sun Valley and Snowbasin and 50 percent off one-day window lift ticket prices after their respective days have been redeemed, beginning with the 2019-20 winter season. The Epic Pass offers world-class access including unlimited, unrestricted skiing and riding at Vail, Beaver Creek, Whistler Blackcomb, Breckenridge and limited day access to several resort partners, including Telluride, Fernie, Kicking Horse, and more. For full partner access on the pass, please visit www.epicpass.com.

• Epic Local Pass™: Epic Local Pass holders will receive two days of skiing or snowboarding with minimal restrictions at both Sun Valley and Snowbasin and 50 percent off one-day window lift ticket prices after their respective days have been redeemed, beginning with the 2019-20 winter season. Guests receive access to 27 resorts, including unlimited, unrestricted access to Breckenridge, Keystone, Crested Butte and more with limited restrictions at Park City, Heavenly, Northstar, Kirkwood, and Stowe, plus a combined total of 10 days at Vail, Beaver Creek, and Whistler Blackcomb with holiday restrictions and five total consecutive days at Hakuba Valley, Japan.

 

• Epic 7-Day Pass™: Epic 7-Day Pass holders will receive up to seven days of skiing or snowboarding at both Sun Valley and Snowbasin, with no restrictions, as part of their seven total days on the pass, beginning with the 2019-20 winter season. After the seven days, regardless of the resort at which they were redeemed, pass holders will receive 50 percent off the one-day window lift ticket price at both Sun Valley and Snowbasin. The Epic 7-Day Pass features a total of seven days with no blackout dates at Vail, Beaver Creek, Whistler Blackcomb, Breckenridge and more, plus seven additional free days at Afton Alps, Mt. Brighton or Wilmot Mountain.

 

• Epic 4-Day™:  Epic 4-Day Pass holders will receive up to four days of skiing or snowboarding at both Sun Valley and Snowbasin, with no restrictions, as part of their four total days on the pass, beginning with the 2019-20 winter season. After the four days, regardless of the resort at which they were redeemed, pass holders will receive 50 percent off the one-day window lift ticket price at both Sun Valley and Snowbasin. The Epic 4-Day Pass features a total of four days with no blackout dates at Vail, Beaver Creek, Whistler Blackcomb, Breckenridge and more, plus four additional free days at Afton Alps, Mt. Brighton or Wilmot Mountain.

• Sun Valley Challenger, Young Adult Challenger & Snowbasin Premier Season Pass holders: These unrestricted pass holders will receive 50 percent off the one-day window lift ticket price at all Vail Resorts-owned and operated destinations. The Sun Valley and Snowbasin season pass products go on sale in March 2019.

For more information, visit www.epicpass.com. Vail Resorts’ 2019-20 season pass products will go on sale in early March 2019.
About Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: MTN)
Vail Resorts, Inc., through its subsidiaries, is the leading global mountain resort operator. Vail Resorts’ subsidiaries operate 15 world-class mountain resorts and three urban ski areas, including Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone and Crested Butte in Colorado; Park City in Utah; Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood in the Lake Tahoe area of California and Nevada; Whistler Blackcomb in British Columbia, Canada; Perisher in Australia; Stowe and Okemo in Vermont; Mt. Sunapee in New Hampshire; Stevens Pass in Washington; Wilmot Mountain in Wisconsin; Afton Alps in Minnesota and Mt. Brighton in Michigan. Vail Resorts owns and/or manages a collection of casually elegant hotels under the RockResorts brand, as well as the Grand Teton Lodge Company in Jackson Hole, Wyo. Vail Resorts Development Company is the real estate planning and development subsidiary of Vail Resorts, Inc. Vail Resorts is a publicly held company traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: MTN). The Vail Resorts company website is www.vailresorts.com and consumer website is www.snow.com.

About Sun Valley Resort
Sun Valley Resort was founded in 1936 as America’s first destination ski resort. Located in the Idaho mountains, it is truly a four-season resort with a wide array of activities. Outdoor adventure enthusiasts enjoy world-class skiing, snowboarding, skating, hiking, biking, golfing, fishing, shooting, concerts, shopping, restaurants, and conference and special event space. Sun Valley is a member of The Grand America Hotels and Resorts family. Sister properties include Snowbasin Resort, Huntsville, Utah; The Grand America Hotel, Little America Hotel (both Salt Lake City, Utah); The Westgate Hotel, San Diego, Calif.; Little America Flagstaff, Ariz.; Little America, Wyo., and Little America, Cheyenne, Wyo.

Sun Valley is served by Hailey’s Friedman Memorial Airport  (SUN). The airport is located 14 miles from the resort and is easily accessed from six major cities: San Francisco (SFO), Seattle (SEA), Los Angeles (LAX), Salt Lake City (SLC), Denver (DEN), and Chicago (ORD). All Sun Valley Resort guests receive complimentary roundtrip airport transportation.
www.sunvalley.com | 800.786.8259 | @sunvalley | #sunvalley

About Snowbasin Resort
Snowbasin Resort is located in Huntsville, Utah, less than 40 minutes from the Salt Lake International Airport and only 50 minutes from Park City. Snowbasin Resort is regularly top rated by Ski Magazine in the categories of Accessibility, Service, On-Mountain Food, Lifts and Grooming. Snowbasin Resort offers families and outdoor enthusiasts a variety of activities and features championship-level skiing and riding, with nearly 3,000 skiable acres, an average snowfall of 300 inches, and 3,000 vertical feet. Consistently recognized as one of the best family resorts in North America, Snowbasin Resort is one of the oldest continuously operating ski resorts in the nation. Snowbasin Resort is a member of the Grand America Hotels and Resorts family. Sister properties include Sun Valley Resort, Sun Valley, Idaho; The Grand America Hotel, Little America Hotel (both Salt Lake City, Utah); The Westgate Hotel, San Diego, Calif.; Little America Flagstaff, Ariz.; Little America, Wyo., and Little America, Cheyenne, Wyo.
www.snowbasin.com | 801.620.1000 | @snowbasinresort | #snowbasinresort

The-Ski-Guru TRAVEL can organise your bespoke ski trip to the Americas, Alps or Japan, including for those going from Britain to Europe, booking your Eurotunnel trip, and for all trips: lodging, lift tickets, rentals, ski school, and all you need for an excellent vacation. Go to https://www.the-ski-guru.com/travel and upload your information – this page will be updated soon with more travel ideas. Check our February offer for Zermatt staying at the Chalet Zen or Penthouse Zen, our amazing Ski Safari in the Dolomites , stay at the San Lorenzo Lodge White Deer in the Val Pusteria of Sudtirol, or check our Easter offer to Obergurgl-Hochgurgl and Sölden to ski with your family.

You can start thinking about your trip, by reading the articles on the Planning your Ski Trip tab.  Or how to pack for your family ski trip.  If taking your furry friend abroad to the continent, read about the new Pet Travel Scheme update from DEFRA. Check out our tips for driving to the mountains.  If flying and renting a car in Europe, beware of the extra charges they will pass to you if you want winter tyres, snow chains or ski racks. If driving, check the winter tyres news for Europe and North America.

Or you can read our last news on equipment as seen at the London Ski Show. Also, the new range of skis of Black Crows, one of our favourite brands. Shred-Dog is a definitely favourite brand for parents of growing kids. And check the new Mohawk helmet with augmented reality.

We have already covered many news due to this latest spat of snow storms in Europe, as the hotel that was hit by an avalanche of 300 meters of width in Eastern Switzerland. In the same place, a couple days later, a second avalanche affected the structure of the Säntis Suspension Railway. And two ski patrollers got killed setting avalanche control charges in the French resort of Morillon in the Grand Massif. Also two workers died in Jammu in the Gulmarg in India, when they’ve fallen from a cable car during a mock rescue drill.

Lots of snow makes you wonder how the resorts deal with the avalanche danger. Here you can read the interview to Coco Torres, former Head of Operations of Las Leñas, in Argentina, as how they dealt with avalanches at the resort. 

Or perhaps you may choose to read the Ski Resort News, Ski Passes News, and the Must-Read Guides to Lech,  Zermatt,  Courmayeur, Val di Fiemme and Crans-Montana. Coming soon will be the guide to St Anton. Or  watch an amazing heli flight over the Mont Blanc Massif. Also see tips on how not to be scammed when booking a ski chalet.

You can also read what’s new at Les Trois Vallées and the last article on what is new at the Tirol ski areas, in Les 2 Alpes,  in Cervinia, in La Plagne, in 3 Zinnen Dolomites ,  in Adelboden, Lenk and Kandertal, in Gstaad, in Chamonix,  in Georgia’s Gudauri Resort and in the Skicircus Saalbach Hinterglemm Leogang Fieberbrunn. And how the US Ski Team has chosen Alpe Cimbra to train for the following four ski seasons as their European home.  Here is the link to our post on the My Voucher Codes ranking of best European Ski Resorts.  

Crested Butte will have a new chairlift to replace Teocalli lift for the 2019/20 ski season. Jay Peak is officially for sale.

You can plan where to eat in Aspen Snowmass or which events to attend on-mountain while there.  And Cortina D’Ampezzo is getting ready for this winter and the 2021 World Ski Championships. 

Another classic resort, such as St Moritz has been in the news for its famous Cresta Run be opened again for women after a 89 years ban.

Also, you can read how Grandvalira will be staying together as one lift ticket company and how they are adding Ordino Arcalis to  this offer. Grandvalira is opening now all of its six sectors.  And also read how someone tried to sabotage some lifts in Vallnord’s Pal Arinsal. And as if it is starting to be a trend, there were two lifts sabotaged in Passo Rolle, in Val di Fiemme, Trentino. Fortunately they were repaired in record time to open to the public. It seems also that the deadly fire in a Courchevel employee housing building was arson.

Also, Mt Hood Meadows was forced to evacuate one lift with 150 skiers and boarders due to a power failure. And the same was the case in a lift with 140 skiers/boarders in Whitefish, Montana. A last one to report was now in Stowe, VT, with more than 150 stuck skiers and boarders that have to wait up to two and a half hours to offload. Recently a British skier was killed after suffering a cardiac arrest on a chairlift falling 32 feet to the ground in Méribel resort in Les Trois Vallées. You can see our recent article on how avalanches claimed two lives in Switzerland the past week. And read more what is the real risk of avalanches. Three Germans have been killed by an avalanche near Lech and a fourth is missing. Two were caught in an inbounds avalanche near Kachina Peak in Taos and taken to hospital. 7 were killed as a helicopter and a light aircraft crashed over the Ruitor Glacier near la Thuile in the Italian Alps. Two were killed by an avalanche in St Christoph-en-Oisans in the French Alps.

Or read about the latest investments in Whistler Blackcomb. Or see how Taos is going against the industry trend, and instead of merging with the two biggest oligopolies in skiing at the moment, it goes and buys an airline to get more bums in resort. Or how Jackson Hole is appealing to families and beginners – it is not only a resort for expert skiers anymore. Another great area for families is Stubaital in the Tirol. And a new coming ski area that got funding for its first lift is Skeetawk in Alaska.  Courmayeur is opening this season two new trails, one that is 70% steep – not for the faint-hearted! Or read how a group of experienced industry insiders got together to purchase Tamarack Resort. And how Peak Resorts finalised the acquisition of the resorts of Snow Time. You can also check how Vermont’s ski passes are the most expensive in New England. And talking about Vermont, you can read on how Killington is planning to change its North Ridge triple chair with a fixed-gripped quad.

Also read how one employee of Aspen Ski Co got caught in an avalanche but got out unscathed while scouting terrain for the Aspen Mountain Powder Tours. Or how the a gondola of the new American Eagle lift from Copper Mountain crashed into the snow in a trial run. The resort confirmed that the chondola will be fixed before it’s opening day. Plus this week, some gondolas got tangled in Hochzillertal. And there was a gas explosion at the Grand Hotel Zermatterhof that injured six, before its opening date.

You can keep up to date on how are the sales for the EPIC and IKON passes are doing here. Read how Emma, the first Digital Mountain Assistant, is launched in Keystone now and will be rolled to eight other resorts this season.  Breckenridge and Keystone are one of the resorts with the longest ski season in the United States. And even read about the new incorporation to the IKON Pass: Valle Nevado. Here is also a post on the South American resorts.  

Or you can see the inspiring story of the “Cholitas” – the indigenous Aymara ladies who are attempting to climb the highest peak of the Americas – the Aconcagua at 6,962 meters/22,840 feet.

Also, Rob Katz and his wife Elana Amsterdam donated 2 million USD in grants to support mental and behavioural health programs in ski towns of North America. And see how Aspen Skiing Company released its sustainability report 2018.   And also check Aspen’s Give a Flakecampaign. The Audi Power of Four Mountaineering Race is coming back to Aspen. And the ’12 hours Head NonStop’ is going back to Sierra Nevada.

And here is a summary of a report by LISTEX on the State of the UK Snowsports Market. The US had it first National Learn to Ski and Snowboard Day with 6,200 lessons given.

And what Switzerland could look by 2060 due to climate change.

Or check out how now with the EPIC Pass you can ski in Europe, specifically in Les Trois Vallées and the resorts of Skirama Dolomiti in Trentino’s Italy. Or see our review of L’Héliopic Hotel Sweet & Spa if thinking in staying in Chamonix this winter. Or check out the new Snowpine Lodge in Alta, Utah opening late January 2019. And for those that thought that skiing in Whistler was only for the rich and famous, now the new Pangea Pod Hotel offers them a chance to stay in the cheap in the new cool hotel in the middle of Whistler Village. Those going this season to Avoriaz and wanting to be by the slopes, can stay in the pop-up Flying Nest hotel.

Featured Image: Snowbasin’s full mountain. Photo: Snowbasin Mountain Resort. Sun Valley and Snowbasin Join the Epic Pass.