Vail Resorts reported a record breaking fiscal second quarter for both top and bottom line performance. Skier visits were up at all four of Vail’s Colorado resorts, more than offsetting a decline at Heavenly due to some challenging weather over the Christmas holiday period. Skier visits were up due to increases in both paid ticket sales and season pass usage. Revenue from ski school, dining, and retail rental were also “sharply up.”

These increases brought resort reported EBITDA, excluding stock-based compensation, up by 16.9% as compared to resort revenue growth of 8.4%. The results started with an increase in mountain segment revenue of 15.0% for Q2 due to a lift revenue increase of 10.3%, combined with ski school, dining, and rental retail sales increases. The lift revenue increase was driven by a healthy 7.9% increase in skier visitation combined with higher pricing. Visitation at Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, and Keystone, was up 11.4% while visitation at the company's Heavenly Resort was down 8.1%. Season pass sales for the '05, '06 ski season increased 10.8% year over year.

Ski school revenue was up over 13%. Dining revenue was up more than 9% and other mountain revenue was up 25% during the quarter. In addition, Vail’s retail and rental operation, primarily operated by Specialty Sport Ventures, experienced revenue growth of 24% or $11.1 million partially as a result of the acquisition of “six new retail locations” in the San Francisco Bay area, presumably the former AnyMountain stores.

Vail now expects to finish fiscal 2006 at the upper end of its previously stated full-year guidance range for resort reported EBITDA which was $170 million to $180 million.