Mountain Town News: Vail still #1 … in price

ASPEN, Colo. –  What’s the most popular ski area in North America? That question is bread-and-butter for ski magazines, who use all sorts of measuring sticks to come up with their rankings. One measure is how much a ski area can get for its lift tickets. Yes, yes—hardly anybody pays the full price and mostly then just during the busy holidays.

That top-dollar price again this year has been at Vail and Beaver Creek, at least so far. The Aspen Daily News, which tracks such things, reports that the resorts were charging $159 one day last week, while Breckenridge had upped its rate to $145.

Aspen kept its lid at $129, up $5 from last season. Deer Valley was charging $120 and Whistler/Blackcomb $119.

Those numbers may have shifted somewhat after the Daily News report, but they give a flavor of this particular pecking order.The Daily News also notes that Aspen’s top price has gone up 65 percent since 2005. That should tell you about income levels for the world’s wealthiest one percent.

 

$18 million terminal wing

JACKSON, Wyo. – The Jackson Hole Airport already has a gleaming terminal completed several years ago just before Christmas. Now, arriving passengers can pick up their luggage inside what the Jackson Hole News&Guide describes as a cavernous new $18 million wing of the terminal.

This means the days of picking up luggage piled outside along the street are over, the newspaper adds.