Vail Resorts, Inc. reported total revenue growth of $39.0 million, or 13.5%, from $288.5 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2004 to $327.5 million for this most recent quarter.

Within the Mountain segment, revenue for the third quarter was $256.8 million, a 10.0% increase from $233.4 million for the comparable period last year. Mountain segment expense increased $6.5 million, or 5.2%, from $125.9 million to $132.4 million. Reported EBITDA for the Mountain segment grew 15.5% to $124.9 million compared to $108.1 million for the comparable period last year.

Lift ticket revenue increased 12.4% due to a combination of an 8.5% increase in total companywide skier visits, and a 3.6% increase in the effective ticket price. Paid skier visits for the quarter rose 8% while season pass year visits grew 11%. Non-lift ticket revenues grew 8% for the Mountain segment, including an 11% ski school revenue increase and a 7% retail rental revenue increase.

Beaver Creek and Heavenly both had record skier visits for the third consecutive season, Breckenridge had its best visitation year ever, and four of the company’s five mountain resorts (Vail, Breckenridge, Heavenly and Keystone) each catered to over one million skier visits. For the front range of Colorado, market share rose to 47% from 42% last year, while national market share rose to 10.5% from 9.9% last year.

Looking ahead, management did not give any guidance on 2006, but did point out that the company is “currently running up some 35% year-year in dollars for passes already sold for next season compared to the same period a year ago.” The increase in season pass sales was all the more encouraging since Vail increased their prices by as much as 10% for the coming year.