As it has become colder in Switzerland in the past week and the snow line in some areas of the Alps descended to 1,000 metres, many ski enthusiasts may already be dreaming about hitting the slopes when they officially re-open — between mid-November and end of March, depending on a resorts’ altitude.

But prices of ski passes have been rising every year and the 2024/2025 season will be no different.

A survey carried out among ski lift companies in 25 Swiss resorts found that  at least 12 of them will be raising the cost of day passes.

Ski lift operators justify the price hike by citing higher maintenance and energy costs, as well as higher wages paid to employees.

How much more will you have to pay to ski this winter?

It depends on where you go, because the good news is that 13 of the resorts surveyed have not raised their prices — yet.

But if you are heading to the Jungfrau region (BE), you will have to pay 4 francs more for a day pass — up from 75 to 79 francs.

Samnaun (GR) is also increasing by the price by 4 francs to 76 francs.

The resorts practicing dynamic pricing (read more about this below) are becoming more expensive as well.

For instance, Zermatt (VS) is increasing the minimum price for adults from 83 to 88 francs. In Verbier (VS), day ticket prices now start at 2 francs higher, to reach 79 francs.

At the Aletsch Bahnen (VS), the price is increasing from 75 to 81 francs. And in another Valais resort, Crans-Montana, the hike is even more significant — from 29 francs to 39 francs, that is, 34.5 percent — though the price itself is lower than in other high-altitude resorts.

Season tickets

If you ski often, purchasing a season rather than a day ticket is a better deal.

But here too the prices are going up.

Zermatt is increasing season ticket prices by around 4 percent to 1,750 francs per adult.

In Samnaun, season ticket prices are going up by 8 to 11 percent, though the overall per-adult price is lower than in more famous Zermatt: from 998  to 1,085 francs.

What are ‘dynamic’ ski passes?

During the last ski season, more than half of the major ski areas in Switzerland — including popular ones like Zermatt — introduced the so-called ‘dynamic’ ski pass pricing model, instead of fixed price-ones as was the case in the past. 

How exactly does this work?

In the ski lift’s computer system, the algorithm is mainly influenced by demand and expected weather conditions.

From this and other data — such as ticket sales from previous years, the usual number of skiers, and the hotel occupancy rate in a given resort — the system establishes sales forecasts for each day.

If, for instance, many ski passes have already been sold in a given day, the system automatically increases prices; if sales stagnate, prices are dropped.

It is up to you (and providence) to decide whether this pricing model is better for you that the ‘regular’ one.

READ ALSO: Why do some Swiss ski resorts change their prices several times a day?