Skiing Facilities (U.S.) — NAICS 71392

A Histometrics industry primer for public- and private-market investors.

Read this first — a pass-through level. In the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), the five-digit industry 71392, Skiing Facilities, contains exactly one six-digit national industry: 713920, Skiing Facilities. The two codes cover the same businesses and carry the same federal statistics; 71392 is simply the parent label above its lone child. This page gives the level's own ground-truth figures and the essentials. For the full analysis — how ski economics work, the investable universe, demand, regulation, consolidation, risks, and how to invest — see the 713920 primer.

1. Overview

Skiing Facilities is the business of operating ski areas: running the lifts, grooming and making snow, and selling the lift tickets, season passes, lessons, rentals, and mountain food-and-beverage that go with them. It is a small, highly seasonal, capital-heavy slice of the U.S. leisure economy that punches above its size because a handful of destination resorts anchor mountain-town economies in Colorado, Utah, Vermont, California, and the Northeast. The defining shift of the past 15 years is the season pass — selling a whole winter of skiing months in advance, which converts weather-dependent day-ticket sales into locked-in, pre-paid revenue and turned skiing into a scale-and-consolidation story [9].

2. What's inside — and why 71392 equals its one child

NAICS is a nested hierarchy: each five-digit industry breaks into one or more six-digit national industries. Skiing Facilities is one of the cases where that split does nothing — the U.S. Census Bureau did not subdivide it, so 71392 maps one-to-one onto 713920 [1]. There is no residual "all other" bucket and no sibling code to net out; every establishment, dollar, and worker counted under 713920 is the entirety of 71392. That is why this page is short and points to the child: analytically, the two are the same industry.

The federal definition (shared by both codes) covers establishments primarily engaged in operating downhill, cross-country, or related skiing areas and/or operating ski lifts and tows; these "often provide food and beverage services, equipment rental services, and ski instruction services" on-site [1]. It excludes most of the surrounding "ski economy" — hotels and base-village lodging (NAICS 7211), off-mountain restaurants (NAICS 722), retail ski shops (NAICS 459110), and standalone gear rental (NAICS 532292) — which is central to the undercount caveat below [1].

3. How big it is

Per our ground-truth federal statistics for NAICS 71392 (identical to 713920):

Seasonality is stamped into the payroll: first-quarter (winter) payroll of $551 million is about 39% of the full year's $1.42 billion, because employment swells in ski season and shrinks in summer [3].

The undercount is large, in two ways. On dollars: the $3.37 billion counts only ski-facility operating establishments, not the lodging, dining, retail, rental, and real estate coded elsewhere. The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) put snow activities at $7.7 billion in value added in 2023, and an industry-advocacy estimate from Protect Our Winters and REI pegged the broader snow-sports economy near $11.3 billion [24][25]. On count and method: County Business Patterns (CBP) covers only establishments with paid employees, excluding the self-employed and most government-run hills [4]. The National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) counted 492 operating ski areas in 2024-25 [6] — the gap versus 348 employer establishments reflects tiny seasonal, volunteer-run, municipal, and nonprofit hills, plus areas whose revenue rolls up under a lodging or resort establishment coded elsewhere. It is not a like-for-like comparison. Demand itself is measured in skier visits (one person skiing any part of a day): U.S. resorts logged 61.5 million in 2024-25, but preliminary NSAA figures put a snow-starved 2025-26 at 52.6 million — a reminder that passes cushion the top line but do not repeal weather [6][7].

4. Investable universe — where the value sits

Because 71392 is 713920, the map is the same. Public exposure is thin: Vail Resorts (New York Stock Exchange: MTN) is the only U.S.-listed pure-play mountain-resort operator, and EPR Properties (NYSE: EPR), a diversified experiential real-estate investment trust (REIT), is an indirect ski landlord rather than an operator [9][10][13]. The bulk of the industry is private: private-equity-backed Alterra Mountain Company (owner of the Ikon Pass), family-owned Boyne Resorts and POWDR, Mountain Capital Partners, and a long tail of hundreds of independent, municipal, and nonprofit hills [14][15][16][17][19]. Value concentrates in the destination-resort tier and its two mega-passes (Vail's Epic, Alterra's Ikon); the community-hill tail carries many establishments but a small share of receipts. Detail on each owner lives in the 713920 primer.

5. How the money works

Ski economics use levers specific to the industry — not utility rate bases, REIT funds-from-operations, or mining all-in costs. The model is roughly skier visits × realized lift revenue per visit + lessons + rentals/retail + dining + lodging + summer and real-estate revenue. The season pass is the fulcrum: at Vail, pass products are about 65% of lift revenue and ~75% of visitation [9], and industry-wide season passes were 49% of visits in 2025-26 [7]. Non-ticket ("ancillary") spending hit a record near $68 per skier visit [23]. Fixed costs (lifts, grooming, snowmaking, insurance, permits) are high and long-lived, so once they are covered, incremental visits and pass sales are high-margin — the operating leverage that makes good-snow years lucrative and bad ones painful. The industry planned roughly $560.7 million of capital spending for 2025-26 [6]. See the 713920 primer for the full walk-through and Vail's reported economics.

6. Demand drivers

Snowfall and weather remain the biggest swing factor even with passes; beyond that, demand tracks consumer-discretionary health, the Epic/Ikon pass networks (which make extra ski days nearly free at the margin), population near drive-to areas, beginner lessons and youth conversion, four-season summer use, and international destination travel [6][7][9]. The core participation base is roughly 9-10 million downhill skiers and 7-8 million snowboarders [28].

7. Regulation

The distinctive feature is land tenure: most Western resorts operate on U.S. Forest Service land under Special Use Permits (terms up to 40 years, fees tied to revenue), with expansions subject to National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review [21][22]. Water rights for snowmaking are a tightening constraint in the arid West [9]. States regulate ski-area safety and passenger tramways, often referencing the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) B77.1 ropeway standard, and most ski states have inherent-risk liability statutes [28]. Full treatment is in the 713920 primer.

8. Consolidation

The last three decades are a consolidation story: Vail and Alterra now form a rough duopoly at the top, each anchored by a mega-pass, with Boyne, POWDR, and Mountain Capital Partners in a strong second tier [20]. Federal concentration data show a fragmented headline over a consolidating reality: the four largest firms hold 41.7% of receipts (CR4), the top eight 56.1%, the top 20 69.5%, and the top 50 82.4%, while the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (HHI, a standard gauge rising toward 10,000 as a market concentrates) is a low 650.5 — depressed by the hundreds of tiny independents in the long tail [2]. Among destination resorts and pass ecosystems, market power is far more concentrated than the HHI implies.

9. Risks

The defining structural risk is climate change: models project U.S. ski seasons 14 to 33 days shorter by the 2050s under lower emissions and 27 to 62 days shorter under higher emissions, hitting lower-elevation and Midwest/Northeast areas hardest [26][27]. Year-to-year weather variability still whipsaws visits and margins (the 2025-26 drop to 52.6 million is the live example) [7]. Other risks: snowmaking's energy and water dependence, consumer cyclicality, high operating leverage and capital intensity, pass-model saturation and pricing pushback, Forest Service permit and water risk, safety and liability, seasonal labor and mountain-town housing, and — for private assets — higher leverage, thinner disclosure, and fewer exits [9][22][26][28].

10. How to invest and outlook

For listed-market investors, direct operating exposure is effectively one name — Vail Resorts (MTN), a cyclical, weather- and consumer-sensitive discretionary stock whose dividend yield sat near 6% in 2025-26 on a depressed price — with EPR Properties (EPR) as indirect ski-property real-estate exposure; there is no U.S.-listed ski-resort ETF [12][13]. For private-market investors, the top tier is locked up by private equity and family holding companies, so realistic entry points are smaller regional and community ski areas and resort-adjacent real estate; underwrite a normalized weather cycle, water and snowmaking coverage, altitude, permit transferability, and deferred maintenance rather than a record snow year. Near-term signals are mixed — NSAA reported the 2025-26 visitation slump, and in June 2026 Vail cut fiscal-2026 Resort Reported EBITDA guidance to $735-755 million with early 2026-27 pass units down about 10% [7][11]. Long run, consolidation and the pass model have made the leaders more durable, but climate change is a one-directional headwind that is likely to bifurcate returns between high-elevation, well-capitalized, four-season resorts and lower-elevation, underinvested ones. The complete how-to-invest and outlook analysis is in the 713920 primer.

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Sources

1. U.S. Census Bureau, "2022 NAICS Definition — 713920 Skiing Facilities." https://www.census.gov/naics/?input=713920&year=2022
2. U.S. Census Bureau, 2022 Economic Census — "Selected Sectors: Concentration of Largest Firms for the U.S.: 2022" (receipts, firm count, CR4/CR8/CR20/CR50, HHI). https://api.census.gov/data/2022/ecnsize/groups/EC2200SIZECONCEN.html
3. U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023 (establishments, employment, annual and first-quarter payroll). https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp.html
4. U.S. Census Bureau, "County Business Patterns Methodology" (coverage limits / undercount). https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/cbp/technical-documentation/methodology.html
5. U.S. Small Business Administration, "Table of Size Standards," 2023. https://www.sba.gov/document/support-table-size-standards
6. National Ski Areas Association / Ski Area Management, "U.S. Ski Areas Report 61.5M Skier Visits for 2024-25," 2025. https://www.saminfo.com/news/sam-headline-news/u-s-ski-areas-report-61-5m-skier-visits-for-2024-25-second-best-season-on-record
7. National Ski Areas Association, "U.S. Ski Industry Reports Visitor Data for 2025-26 Season" (52.6M visits, snowfall, pass share), 2026. https://mailchi.mp/nsaa/2026-may-skier-visits-media
8. Vail Resorts, Inc., "Form 10-K for Fiscal Year Ended July 31, 2025" (revenue streams, pass share of lift revenue/visitation, risk factors). https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/812011/000081201125000104/mtn-20250731.htm
9. Vail Resorts, Inc., "Reports Fiscal 2025 Fourth Quarter and Full Year Results and Provides Fiscal 2026 Outlook," 2025. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vail-resorts-reports-fiscal-2025-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-results-and-provides-fiscal-2026-outlook-302569969.html
10. Vail Resorts, Inc., "Reports Third Quarter Fiscal 2026 Results" (FY2026 EBITDA guidance $735-755M; early 2026-27 pass units down ~10%), 2026. https://investors.vailresorts.com/news-releases/news-release-details/vail-resorts-reports-third-quarter-fiscal-2026-results-provides
11. StockAnalysis, "Vail Resorts (MTN) Statistics & Valuation," 2026. https://stockanalysis.com/stocks/mtn/statistics/
12. EPR Properties, "Ski" (experiential ski-property portfolio), 2026. https://eprkc.com/portfolio/experiential/ski/
13. Alterra Mountain Company, "Destinations" / "Announcing Alterra Mountain Company." https://www.alterramtn.co/en/destinations
14. Boyne Resorts, "About" and "Mountain Destinations," 2026. https://www.boyneresorts.com/about
15. POWDR, "Adventure Lifestyle Company," 2026. https://www.powdr.com/
16. Mountain Capital Partners, "Ski Resort Management," 2026. https://www.mcp.ski/
17. National Ski Areas Association, "Who Owns Which Mountain Resorts," 2025. https://nsaa.org/NSAA/About/Media/Who_Owns_Which_Mountain_Resorts/
18. The Storm Skiing Journal, "Ski Area Consolidation Flatlines in 2024: Pause or Omen?," 2024. https://www.stormskiing.com/p/ski-area-consolidation-flatlines
19. The Storm Skiing Journal, "A Complete List of Ski Areas on United States Forest Service Land," 2023 (≈63% of terrain, ≈127 areas, fees). https://www.stormskiing.com/p/a-complete-list-of-ski-areas-on-united
20. U.S. Forest Service, "Special Use Permits" (NEPA review). https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/umpqua/permits/special-use-permits
21. Bocconi Students Investment Club, "Mountains of Money: The Economics Behind Modern Ski Resorts" (ancillary ≈$68/visit), 2024. https://bsic.it/mountains-of-money-the-economics-behind-modern-ski-resorts/
22. U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, "Outdoor Recreation Satellite Account, U.S. and States, 2023" (snow activities $7.7B value added), 2024. https://www.bea.gov/news/2024/outdoor-recreation-satellite-account-us-and-states-2023
23. Protect Our Winters / REI Co-op, "Climate Change Threatens $11.3 Billion Snowsports Industry," 2023. https://www.rei.com/blog/snowsports/climate-change-threatens-11-3-billion-snowsports-industry-protect-our-winters-report-says
24. Environmental and Energy Study Institute, "On Thin Ice: Rethinking the Future of Winter Sports in a Changing Climate" (season-shortening projections), 2024. https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/on-thin-ice-rethinking-the-future-of-winter-sports-in-a-changing-climate
25. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, "Climate Change Indicators in the United States" (snowpack season length, Western sites 1982-2023), 2023. https://www.epa.gov/climate-indicators
26. National Ski Areas Association, "Ropeway Information" (ANSI B77.1 tramway standard). https://www.nsaa.org/NSAA/Programs/ASC_B77/Ropeway_Information/
27. Ohio Revised Code, "Chapter 4169: Skiers, Ski Area, and Passenger Tramway Safety." https://codes.ohio.gov/ohio-revised-code/chapter-4169
28. Grand View Research, "U.S. Skiing And Snowboarding Market — Industry Report" (participation base), 2024. https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/us-skiing-snowboarding-market-report