Vail Resorts' fiscal 2026 results reveal a ski industry at a crossroads, with declining pass sales and a looming proxy fight highlighting deeper structural challenges. According to the company's Sept. 28 report, pass product units sold for the coming North American season fell about 12% through Sept. 18, with pass sales dollars down about 6%. Skier visits for the fiscal year dropped 13.4% to 15.3 million, and net income attributable to the company fell to $147.5 million from $280 million a year earlier. The downturn coincides with the first annual report since Oasis Management, a Hong Kong hedge fund, launched a proxy contest, nominated four director candidates, and raised its stake to 7.4%, according to regulatory filings and local press coverage.
Daniel Kaufman, founder of the permanent capital holding company Kaufman & Company and an investor in mountain resort and workforce housing development, said these numbers show the ski industry's growth story has moved from selling more passes to keeping mountain towns livable for the workers who operate them. "A pass is a promise that the mountain will be open, staffed and worth the drive," Kaufman said. "You can argue about weather and pricing all day, but the thing no corporate office can fix from a distance is whether the lift operator, the patroller and the line cook can afford to live near the base. That is where the value of a resort actually sits, and it does not show up in the pass count until it is too late."
Local coverage of the proxy contest in Park City has raised the possibility that individual resorts could eventually change hands. Kaufman said any owner, current or future, should underwrite housing before lifts or lodges. "If mountains start moving from one owner to another, the buyers who do well will be the ones who treat employee housing as part of the lift system, not as an amenity," Kaufman said. "We look at mountain towns the way we look at any housing market, by the data: supply, wages, and how far a worker drives to the job. A resort that gets those right does not need a record-breaking year to make money."
Kaufman & Company invests only its own capital and does not raise outside funds. Its operating company DEK Builds, headquartered in Cheyenne, Wyoming, is an integrated design, build, development, and investment firm working across custom homes, mountain resorts, hotels, and commercial construction. LandBriefing, a land and housing data platform built by Kaufman Real Estate & Consulting, recently added Mountain Watch, which tracks land and housing fundamentals in mountain resort and gateway towns. Oldivai, an aligned and independently led partner, develops workforce housing. The platform represents more than $2 billion in project value and more than 10,000 housing units across more than 25 years of building, lending, and investing.
The implications for the ski industry are significant. As pass sales decline and activist investors push for change, resort operators must address the root causes of workforce instability. Without affordable housing, mountains struggle to attract and retain staff, leading to reduced services and a diminished experience for visitors. Kaufman's perspective suggests that future success in the ski business depends on treating employee housing as critical infrastructure. For readers in mountain communities, this shift could mean more investment in local housing, potentially stabilizing economies and preserving the character of resort towns. For the broader business world, it underscores that even leisure industries are not immune to the housing crises affecting workers nationwide.
