Vail Resorts Acquires Perisher — Freedom Pass is Now Epic
Obviously its early days as the deal hasnt even closed but does anyone know what this means for Perisher? What changes we might see etc?
Thats what I was wondering about too
I reackon multi level car park with a redesigned ski village over the top
I would hope so; Perisher needs a village!
Its sad that itll be taking more money out of the Aussie ecnomy, which is bonned enough as it is.
And Merlin already owns Hotham and Falls, so there’s more money leaving the country. I think this would be a real blow for these other mountains. Perisher have really upped the ante, hey. Hotham is once again looking for a marketing dude, the $ for resort entry is going through the roof, and there has been little improvement in snowmaking. Fairly major drainage works, granted… but the punters won’t appreciate that. A couple of extra snow guns won’t seem to make a difference either. My opinion is that Perisher news will be much bigger than it seems right now. Man I feel sorry for Thredbo.
Economics is definitely not one of my strong points, but how is this so? It seems like it’s only going to encourage Australians to get down to Perisher and perhaps buy a season pass. Surely this means more people actively involved in snowboarding. We have always complained at the lack of value offered by resorts, and this acquisition is giving customers a lot more value. That’s a good thing, right?
I don’t feel sorry for other resorts. Sometimes it takes a good kick up the ass like I’m hoping this news will deliver, for resorts to make change, focus on value, and keeping their customers or winning new ones. The more leading resorts like Perisher up the ante, the more the others have to follow suit or be left behind. Change is good.
My 2 cents, anyway.
An overnight multi level carpark with a self cleaning / heatable roof would really improve Perisher. Couple that with a villiage that isn’t 4 shops and maybe even more staff accom so less people get stuck doing the commute from Jindy (which unfortunately increases hungover / drink driving rates)
Big push for a Perisher village! Although we probably wouldnt see anything for quite some time, long term that would be awesome! 
Ahhhh this is dead set epic amaze-balls wicked mad news.
HOWEVER im saving pennies and dollars for 2016 Japan trip with some of my homies and a possible Mentawais surf trip in Sept.. Haha!
Me too boss 
and possibly drop future lift prices etc.
That wont happen.
Would be interesting to know how many Aussies have skied at the vail owned resorts and especially how many have brought epic passes in recent years.
I see this as a attempt to get back a bit of market share to vail owned resorts, which is probably pretty obvious. The numbers going to Japan in recent years has clearly cut back the numbers of aussies in the USA and Canada. There are still a good proportion of aussies traveling in nth America, but compared to 15 years ago the numbers are way down, especially in Canada and to a lesser extent in the usa which has enjoyed the benefit of a low dollar up until this season.
Im not going to rush out and buy a perisher pass, due to geographical reasons mostly, but also because I have little desire to ride in Colorado or Tahoe, but there will sure be a lot of people that this appeals to and it can only be good for competition in what has become a stale market in Australia.
Also take note that the Epic pass in the USA has 5 days of riding in Niseko… so if you’re planning to get the pass for next year, but still go to Niseko, that could be an extra bonus to buy the US one vs the AU one. (depending if the AU one doesn’t change)
Few questions answered..
Not bad. Pretty typical new owner speech though.
Would love them to try to expand it and work on the village first and foremost. And also upgrade some of the older chairs.
A few runs off the back of Perisher down towards Guthega would be sick…
There are runs there without lifts and I’m quite happy for it too remain that way. # chairs linking to Charlottes would be a winner or one from Guthega out to Twynam ha ha!
Not bad. Pretty typical new owner speech though.
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I actually thought this was not typical.
I was very impressed by this video (and i listen to it more than once!)