Vail Resorts Announces Partnership With Two-Time Olympic Gold Medalist, Snowboarding and Skateboarding Phenom Shaun White

BROOMFIELD, Colo., Aug. 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Vail Resorts, Inc. (NYSE: MTN) today announced a worldwide multi-year partnership agreement with two-time Olympic gold medalist, professional snowboarder and skateboarder Shaun White. White will represent all six of Vail Resorts' world-class mountain resorts (Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone in Colorado and Heavenly and Northstar in California/Nevada), and Northstar at Lake Tahoe will become his home mountain and primary training resort, where he will also design his own 22-foot halfpipe for aspiring snowboarders to enjoy. As part of the launch of the new relationship, Vail Resorts will donate $5 for each Epic Season Pass sold to White's chosen charity, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. In addition, White will be designing a limited edition Epic Season Pass, which will be available to Epic Season Pass holders this fall through a Facebook promotion.

"Shaun White is the ultimate personification of the new energy and vibrancy we see across the mountain resort industry. Shaun's creativity and innovation has led the way for the self-expression we see in the halfpipes and terrain parks at all six of our resorts. Shaun embodies the same leadership we aspire to at Vail Resorts, as we constantly look for ways to improve and re-invent the guest experience," said Rob Katz, chairman and chief executive officer of Vail Resorts.  "We are excited to partner with Shaun and are thrilled to start our collaboration with a promotion that allows us to celebrate his creativity and commitment to give back to those in need."

"This feels like a homecoming because I have spent so much time riding at most of Vail Resorts' mountains," said White. "With Northstar as my home mountain, I now have the ideal place to train and continue to grow as an athlete and I am looking forward to all the possibilities this partnership brings."

White has dominated the sport of snowboarding for the past decade. He won his first Olympic gold medal in the Halfpipe event at the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Italy, with a record 46.8 points and then went on to win it again in the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, improving his own record with 48.4 points in his final run. White is the first and only snowboarder to win four consecutive gold medals in the Winter X Games Halfpipe competition. Combining his success in skateboarding, White is the first athlete to compete and medal in two different sports in both the Summer and Winter X Games in 2003 and again in 2011. He also is the first and only athlete to win gold medals in both the Summer (2006 and 2008) and Winter Dew Cup events (2009). White was recently honored with the 2011 ESPY for "Male Action Sports Athlete" for the fourth consecutive year.

For more information, visit www.northstarattahoe.com/shaunwhite.

About Vail Resorts

Vail Resorts, Inc., through its subsidiaries, is the leading mountain resort operator in the United States. The Company's subsidiaries operate the mountain resort properties of Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone mountain resorts in Colorado, and Heavenly Mountain Resort and Northstar-at-Tahoe Resort in the Lake Tahoe area of California and Nevada, and the Grand Teton Lodge Company in Jackson Hole, Wyo. The Company's subsidiary, RockResorts, a luxury resort hotel company, manages casually elegant properties across the United States and in the Caribbean. Vail Resorts Development Company is the real estate planning, development and construction subsidiary of Vail Resorts, Inc. Vail Resorts is a publicly held company traded on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: MTN).  The Vail Resorts company website is www.vailresorts.com and the consumer website is www.snow.com.

SOURCE Vail Resorts, Inc.