Vail Resorts is leveraging more skier visits and higher lift-ticket prices combined with drastic cuts to expenses to post a solid turnaround during the second fiscal quarter of the 2004-2005 winter season. Across all resorts, there was a 1.7% increase in skier visits and surprisingly the company’s namesake resort, Vail, was the only location to show a decline. Breckenridge, Heavenly, and Beaver Creek all posted low single-digit skier-visit increases, while Keystone was up 6.6% and Vail was down 2.7%.

Total revenue at Vail Resorts grew 7.2%, from $246.9 million to $264.6 million. The company managed to cut operating expenses by 810 basis points, from 69.2% of revenues to 61.1% of total revenues. Net income was $32.2 million, or 89 cents per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $6.7 million, or a loss of 19 cents per diluted share last year.

Mountain revenue for Q2 of fiscal 2005 was $214.2 million, a 7.0% increase from $200.1 million for last year. Lift ticket sales increased 6.6% for the quarter to $103 million while ski school revenues increased 8.3% to $27.1 million. Retail and rental sales inched-up 1.6% to $45.8 million. Lodging revenue for the quarter grew 8.5%, from $39.2 million to $42.6 million. Resort revenue, the combination of mountain and lodging revenues, rose 7.3% to $256.8 million.