Top Five Fridays: October 24, 2025
A view of Crystal Mountain Resort, an excellent ski area in Washington where locals are worried that the new Ikon Reserve Pass will create a class system on the slopes. More on that in highlight #2! Image: Crystal Mountain Resort on Facebook
#1: European Commission Investigating Amer Sports, Tecnica Group for Potential Antitrust Violations:
A look at the European Commission building, where investigations into antitrust violations are coordinated. Image: Rehva.eu
Hello, and welcome to Top Five Fridays, the October 24, 2025 edition! This week, we’ve got a lot of controversy to cover as the EU has recently raided multiple ski companies as part of an antitrust investigation. In addition to that, we have further controversial coverage coming out of Crystal Mountain, where the Ikon’s new Reserve Pass has locals feeling quite upset. From there, we’ll lighten the mood with an interesting update coming out of Breckenridge, followed up by a highlight from the Swatch Nines - one of our favorite post-season competitions. We’ll tell you all about all of that, but first, let’s start with the craziest news of the week: the European antitrust raids.
Now, as we jump into this story, we want to preempt our reporting by saying that there’s a ton that we don’t know about what’s happening. The news that’s come out regarding this story has been very limited in scope, and so rather than doing a deep dive with plenty of details like we’d prefer, we’ll be sticking strictly to the facts for now. Here’s what we know:
On Monday of this week, the European Commission announced that it was in the midst of carrying out raids on several ski equipment companies suspected of violating antitrust laws. Shortly after that initial news broke, we learned that it was specifically the Amer Sports and Tecnica Group offices that had been raided. Noting the mention of “ski equipment manufacturers” in the reporting, that means it’s Amer’s Salomon, Atomic, and possibly Armada brands that are under the microscope, while Tecnica’s Blizzard, Nordica, and possibly Tecnica brands would be under investigation.
Now, again, we know very little details about this situation, other than these are the brands that have definitively been raided, and they’re suspected of violating antitrust laws which would imply that there may have been a coordinated effort to raise prices in a way that’s unfair to consumers.
As big as this story is, that’s all of the information we have at the moment. Despite being somewhat vague in nature, it could have an impact on these brands and others moving forward, so it felt necessary to put it on your radar. To learn more, check out this link from MonringStar.com, or this one from TheCapitolForum.
#2: Ikon Pass Announces a New Reserve Pass at Eight of its Resorts. At Crystal Mountain, the Locals Aren’t Happy:
Want to cut the line on any of Crystal Mountain’s high speed quads? This season, you can, with Ikon’s new Reserve Pass! Of course, you might have to dodge a few snowballs while you wait in line. Image: Crystal Mountain Resort on Facebook
In other somewhat controversial news, we caught some headlines coming out of Crystal Mountain, Washington, where locals are upset about a new pass product being offered by Ikon. The Reserve Pass, which is available at eight Alterra resorts, allows guests to pay for the right to use an exclusive liftline, giving them preferred access to lifts. Available at Solitude Mountain in Utah, Big Bear Mountain Resort in California, Snowshoe Mountain in West Virginia, Winter Park in Colorado, Sugarbush Resort in Vermont, Tremblant and Blue Mountain in Canada, and of course, Crystal Mountain, those who are interested can spend anywhere from $699 to $2,000 depending on the resort to purchase a season long Reserve Pass that gives access to popular lifts. To put the concept in a familiar light, the Reserve line will operate in a similar fashion to ski school lines at most resorts, where those taking lessons are allowed to “cut the lines” in order to get more laps in during their session.
While it might seem like a way for mountains to offer their guests a unique opportunity, many locals aren’t sold on the vision. In fact, at Crystal Mountain, they’re downright mad about it.
Shortly after the new program was announced, Crystal Mountain locals launched a petition in an attempt to stop the new pass product. In the description of the petition, petition starter Rick Smith claims that the new pass - which is available for $1,499 for the season or $200 a day and allows preferred access to the resort’s most popular lifts - will create a class-based system on the slopes. In his argument, Smith worries that the new pass system, “will pit skiers and boarders against each other,” and that, “Alterra Mountain Company risks alienating the average ski enthusiast who makes up the core of the skiing community.” As a result, he’s calling on the company to cancel their plans for the pass.
Interestingly enough, this pass product, while new to Alterra, has existed in the form of the “Fast Pass” at POWDR Corp resorts for about four years now. When it was rolled out to Mt. Bachelor, Killington, Copper, and Snowbird back in 2021, the pass product faced similar levels of backlash. Four years later, we haven’t heard too many complaints and the outcry has died down quite a bit. In an anecdotal post from Reddit, many Copper Mountain skiers and snowboarders reported barely noticing an impact from the pass at all, while a post from POWDR at the time says that just 2% of skiers at the mountain took advantage of the pass offering.
With all of this in mind, it’ll be interesting to see what happens with the Reserve Pass this year. Will it cause a class war on the slopes of Ikon Resorts across North America? Or will it be hardly noticeable, leading to a more widespread rollout next season? As always, only time will tell. For now, you can learn more about Crystal’s Reserve Pass here.
#3: With Positive Economic Impacts of Covid Beginning to Curtail, the Town of Breckenridge is Looking to Help Fund the Resort’s Events:
In Breckenridge, the town is hoping to help the resort put on more events like this in an effort to keep up with post-covid tourism numbers. Image: Breckenridge Ski Resort on Facebook
Next up this week, is a story that we don’t think will be controversial, but very well could be as it deals with the use of taxpayer dollars. As you undoubtedly know, one of the side effects of covid was an influx of wealth in mountain towns across North America, as people sought ways to escape the crowds of the city. From weeklong vacations to second home purchases, economies in mountain towns everywhere saw significant increases in revenue. One area where that was particularly prevalent was Breckenridge, where sales tax revenues shot up from $25.9 million in 2019, to $39.6 million in 2024. Now, however, that windfall is at risk of tapering out.
In a projection put together by the town of Breckenridge’s financial department, it’s estimated that annual sales tax revenue is expected to drop down to $33.5 million annually from 2026-2030. While that is still a substantial figure, and an increase from pre-covid revenue, the fact of the matter is that it also represents a $6 million decrease from last year’s sales tax revenue. Whether you’re a multi-million dollar town like Breckenridge, or a regular 9-5 worker, a roughly 15% cut to your budget is inevitably going to hit the wallet pretty hard. So, this week, we learned that some Breckenridge council members are interested in testing a new idea: giving the mountain additional funding to put on events, drawing tourism to the area and creating marketable content to continue growing the town’s economy.
In a concept being put forward by Breckenridge town council member Dick Carleton, it’s being proposed that the town contribute $200,000 - $300,000 to the mountain to support their ability to host events. While the use of that budget could be wide ranging, Carleton specifically cited the resort’s decade long run of hosting the Dew Tour, which used to take place in December every year. Last year, however, the Dew Tour ended its long run - leaving an impact that was felt immensely in the town’s business district. This year, the resort is set to host a similar competition when the Rockstar Energy Open comes to town in mid-December. While the expectation is that that event will help replace the impact of the Dew Tour leaving, Carleton expressed interest in building upon the event tourism concept, suggesting that he would like to see more family friendly pop-up events and concerts being hosted at the resort.
In general, Carleton’s pitch to his peers seemed to be well received, with some council members even suggesting a larger budget for the initiative. On the side of skepticism though, other councilors urged caution, saying they wanted to be sure that the resort wasn’t simply getting a subsidy that would decrease its expenses. For them, it’s important that there are measurable returns from the initiative.
At the moment, this story is very much in the ideation phase, but we thought it was an interesting look into the collaborative nature of mountain towns and the resorts that call them home. We talk a lot about the delicate dynamic that exists in these areas as the entire economy is driven by the success and decisions made by the resorts, and a lot of times we find ourselves focusing on outcomes that negatively affect the municipalities. In this case though, we thought it was a cool example of how well planned collaboration can benefit residents of the town in a very positive way. To learn more about this story, check out the reporting from the Summit Daily.
#4: The Iconic Swatch Nines Event Announces Relocation, Bringing Their Iconic Park Build to Japan for the First Time Ever:
For those unaware, here’s a brief glimpse into the history of the event.
Finally, rounding out this week’s news is a quick update from the Swatch Nines event. Whether or not this name rings a bell, we can all but guarantee that you’ve seen media from this event in the past as it produces some of the most creative, aesthetically pleasing footage every spring thanks to its unique terrain park design.
While the event itself has undergone several iterations over the course of its 18 year history, one constant has always been its location: Europe, and most frequently, Switzerland. This week however, we caught wind of some pretty intriguing news: the Swatch Nines is heading to Japan.
In a press release put out by the event’s organizers, we’ve learned that this year’s Swatch Nines event will be hosted by Niseko Tokyu Grand HIRAFU from April 6-11. Along with the new location, the press release promises a completely reinvisioned terrain park design, taking advantage of the new location. While we don’t know any details regarding this new design as it hasn’t even begun to be imagined yet, the concept of relocating and redesigning one of the most iconic park builds in skiing is at the very least intriguing. Bringing even more interest to the matter is that, while the park design will be a collaborative effort amongst athletes participating at the event, it will be spearheaded by Japan’s own Kaishu Hirano - a halfpipe specialist.
For now, that’s really all we know, and while we might not normally report on something like this until more information was available, in this particular case it feels necessary to share the news ASAP as it’s a pretty significant change for one of the biggest media events in skiing. To learn more, we recommend heading straight to the source and checking out the press release from the Swatch Nines itself.