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EDEN, Weber County — Powder Mountain Ski Resort released its season pass renewal options Wednesday to reveal some big changes for pass holders looking to buy tickets in the upcoming ski season.
The resort, which transitioned to a semiprivate model for next year, is raising ticket prices and removing discount exceptions for firefighters, teachers, law enforcement, college students and seniors over 75.
The price for a regular adult season pass this year was $1,259, and will be increasing to $1,399 for the early bird sale window which closes March 5. After that, the passes will start at $1,499 and "increase with demand," according to Powder Mountain. Passes for kids ages 5 to 12, will cost $199, with the purchase of a season pass.
Seniors 75 years old and up have been given free "Super Senior" passes until next season, where they will have to pay the senior price, which is currently $1,199 during the early bird window.
The resort has decided to stop capping the number of season passes sold and do away with the waitlist it had been using in the past. Instead, it will offer a certain number of passes at given price points. Kevin Mitchell, chief operating officer of Powder Mountain, explained in an Instagram video that the resort's "No. 1 priority was to stay uncrowded."
To do that, Mitchell said Powder Mountain will be implementing dynamic day pricing, adding three new lifts for the next season, and using this tiered pricing system of season passes as the controls to keep the numbers down. This change comes after Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings purchased ownership stake in the resort in April 2023. He pledged $20 million in new improvements to the resort, and carved out a restricted area for homeowner skiing only, starting this coming season.
"There is a large amount of disappointment in the local ski community," according to one longtime Powder Mountain goer, Tommy Nease, who feels as though they are being charged significantly more for access to less of the mountain. He says this change will hit fixed income seniors especially hard, "many of whom have been skiing at the resort for a long time, if not from its conception in 1972."
Hastings, in a blog post, said the resort was "struggling financially" when he stepped in, and many of these changes, like selling more real estate and creating private areas, is necessary to pay the bills.
Correction: The price for a regular adult season pass was misstated in an earlier version as $750. It is $1,259, according to a spokesperson from Powder Mountain.
