Sports
It Was a Huge Year for the Ski Pass Locals Love to Hate
A new multi-mountain ski pass generated controversy across the West this year. Does it deserve the hate?
Vail, Colo.
Photographer: Chris McLennanBy most metrics, it was a banner ski season for Wyoming’s Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.
The mountain recorded an all-time-high 715,100 skier visits for the 2018-19 season, surpassing the previous record of 634,500 set last year. Mother Nature played a big role. After a relatively dry winter across the West last year, Jackson received over 500 inches of snow this season, including a record-breaking 193 inches in February. The powder dump drew lots of skiers, but so did the new Ikon Pass, a multi-resort season ticket introduced this past winter by Alterra Mountain Co.