SAM Magazine--Vail, Colo., June 14, 2004--Vail released its financial results for the third quarter ended April 30, 2004, and the news was all good. In fact, it was their best third quarter ever thanks mainly to a jump in the company's mountain segment, a 10.2 percent growth in average realized price for the ski season and record visits for Beaver Creek and Heavenly.

Mountain revenue for the third quarter was $234.2 million compared to $210.8 million during the same period last year. Mountain expense increased $8 million to $126.7 million. Lodging revenue jumped $3.5 million to $49.6 million while lodging expense increased 12.3 percent to $38.3 million. Resort revenue, which is a combination of mountain and lodging revenues, was $283.8 million, a rise of $26.8 million over 2003.

Total revenue increased $19.1 million to $287.9 million and total operating expense decreased 4.7 percent to $178.8 million. Overall, total Resort Reported EBITDA grew $16.3 million to $120.1 million and third quarter net income rose from $33.5 million last year to $62.5 million in 2004.

"This is proving to be a fabulous year for Vail resorts," says Adam Aron, Chairman and CEO. As for the future, Aron states, "Advance sales of season passes for the 2004/2005 season are currently running up 8.3 percent year-over-year. Based on this strength, we are announcing today that the price of our most popular season pass product. the Colorado Pass (of which we have sold approximately 100,000 passes per year), will rise to $349 effective August 15, 2004." \