Tickets at Eaglecrest Ski Area are about to get more expensive. That’s after prices have held fairly steady for the past few years. Eaglecrest Ski Area’s board approved price increases for season and day passes, among other fees, at Juneau’s city-owned ski mountain last week.
For next season, ticket prices for adult season pass holders will increase by roughly 10%. Early-bird tickets for the season — called Tier 1 — will increase from $630 last season to $690. Regular tickets — called Tier 2 — will increase from $802 to $900. Adult day passes will increase from $75 to $85.
Season and day passes for seniors and children, and cross-country ski trail use fees will also see a roughly 10% price hike. The board also voted to implement a 3% fee for credit card transactions at the mountain beginning in July.
At the meeting, Eaglecrest Ski Area’s board chair, Brandon Cullum said voting to increase prices at the mountain is a decision the board doesn’t take lightly.
“We understand that any increase can be painful, but given the times that we’re in, we don’t have a lot of options,” he said. “I just want to acknowledge that it’s not easy to pass on increased pricing to skiers.”
The ticket price hikes come as Eaglecrest faces an extremely uncertain future. Last month, the Juneau Assembly voted to divest from Eaglecrest Ski Area’s gondola project. It will also pay back a $10 million investment from Goldbelt Incorporated. The gondola was supposed to help the financially struggling ski area become self-sustainable.
Now that the project is off the table, the fate of Eaglecrest’s future is in limbo. To buy some time, the Assembly reluctantly voted last month to subsidize the ski area so it can stay open next season on a barebones budget, with a cut to nearly half the staff. What will come after that is still up in the air.
