Vail Resorts Just Announced Major Layoffs. What Does That Mean for Skiers?

Over the last few years, Colorado-based conglomerate Vail Resorts has gobbled up ski hills left and right. Now, the company may finally be experiencing growing pains. Last week, Vail Resorts announced a plan to eliminate 14 percent of its corporate workforce and 0.2 percent of its frontline employees at mountain resorts over the next two years.

The decision came after Vail Resorts saw revenue decline for several quarters in a row, which prompted its share price to drop 25 percent over the summer. The job cuts are expected to free up $100 million in budget by mid-2026.

The company blamed unfavorable conditions (snowfall across the American West was down nearly 30 percent from prior years), as well as the receding wave of popularity that skiing enjoyed during the pandemic. The outdoor adventure and travel industries have all been facing a painful “normalization” as people return to their indoor hobbies, and the ski world has yet to find its level.

Despite the cost cutting and revenue woes, Vail Resorts continues to eye expansion and acquisition.

“We have a very large focus on expanding in Europe and ultimately, ideally, we’d love to expand into Japan as well,” CEO Kirsten Lynch said in a recent quartlerly earnings call. Vail Resorts, which currently owns 42 ski areas across the world, spent the past few years buying up hills across the U.S.—at times with mixed results. Then, it ventured abroad. Just this May, it closed on its second Swiss resort, the Crans-Montana Mountain Resort near Geneva.

Vail representatives claim that the layoffs are a positive sign, not a negative one; slimming down the American staff just leaves the company poised for more agile growth and global expansion, the brand said in a recent press release. (In the release, Vail Resorts referred to the round of layoffs as part of a “two-year transformation plan.”)

So, what impact will the cuts have on skiers this year? In an email, Lindsay Hogan, senior director of communications for Vail Resorts, indicated that on-mountain impacts would be minimal.

“The corporate impacts are primarily focused on the consolidating and outsourcing of global shared services,” Hogan said in an email to Outside. Many of the positions eliminated were in accounts receivable, payroll support, call centers, and other internal business services, she said. Most of the cuts will impact staffers at Vail’s corporate headquarters in Broomfield, Colo., or in remote positions—not on-mountain staffers. With less than 1 percent of operations staff affected—and more than 1,000 seasonal positions currently open—Hogan said skiers shouldn’t notice a big difference when they visit a resort this year.

In fact, Hogan said that “efficiencies” created by the cuts could make the skier experience even better than in years prior. Allegedly, they’ll make the company run more smoothly, which will help resorts deliver on all kinds of promises—from faster lift lines to better ski schools. Hogan also touched on the impacts of expansion on Epic Pass holders.

“Expanding our network gives our guests more value and more choices of where they can ski and ride,” Hogan said. “It gives our pass holders a choice of where to go, so they can choose new experiences, or go where the conditions are best in any given season.”

Hogan denied that the recent cuts had anything to do with the past year’s quarterly earnings reports. “This transformation is to set the company up for future growth,” she said. Still, that growth will likely depend on reliable snowfall. So far, Vail seems to be banking on the coming La Niña, and on storms so big skiers won’t be able to stay away.

As Vail learned last year, banking on the weather is a dubious proposition. But at least we won’t be the only ones praying for snow.