Just a year after buying a family-run, Vermont-based ski company, Vail Resorts, Inc. announced it will buy another, larger company which owns four more New England ski areas as well as others in New York, Pennsylvania and the Midwest.

The Colorado-based ski conglomerate, which has been acquiring ski areas across the country over the past few years, announced Wednesday it has entered into an agreement to purchase 100 percent of the outstanding stock of Peak Resorts Inc, which owns or operates 17 different ski areas.

Included in the deal is the sale of Mount Snow, in Vermont, which is about 70 miles north of Springfield, and the New Hampshire resorts of Wildcat, Attitash and Crotchet.

“We are incredibly excited to have the opportunity to add such a powerful network of ski areas to our company,” Rob Katz, chairman and chief executive officer of Vail Resorts, said in a written announcement. “Peak Resorts’ ski areas in the Northeast are a perfect complement to our existing resorts and together will provide a very compelling offering to our guests in New York and Boston.”

The aggregate purchase price for all Peak Resorts common stock is estimated at $264 million, which Vail will purchase with a combination of cash and bonding. Vail will also assume or refinance all the outstanding debt of Peak Resorts, the announcement said.

The deal has been approved by the boards of directors for both companies and is expected to be closed this fall, it said.

“After closing of this transaction, Vail Resorts plans to invest approximately $15 million over the next two years in one-time capital spending to elevate the guest experience at these resorts,” the announcement said.

Other ski areas included in the sale are Hunter Mountain in New York; Paoli Peaks in Indiana; Hidden Valley and Snow Creek in Missouri and Alpine Valley, Boston Mills, Brandywine and Mad River Mountain in Ohio. The company is also taking over five Pennsylvania areas, Liberty Mountain, Roundtop Mountain, Whitetail, Jack Frost and Big Boulder.

Over the past few years Vail and its main competitor, Alterra Mountain Co., have been gobbling up ski area after ski area and offering seasons’ passes at prices of less than $1,000 which allow people to ski or snowboard at a large collection of resorts across the country. Vail Resorts offers the Epic pass while Alterra sells the Icon pass.

This is the third summer in a row that Vail has purchased one or more well-known New England resorts. In 2017 it acquired Stowe, in Vermont, and last year it purchased the Vermont-based Triple Peaks LLC., a company owned by Tim and Diane Mueller and their two children. With that purchase, Vail acquired Okemo in Vermont, Sunapee in New Hampshire and Crested Butte Mountain Resort in Colorado.

Along with its namesake mountain in Colorado, Vail Resorts owns a wide variety of other ski areas across North America including Keystone in Colorado; Heavenly and Northstar in California; Park City in Utah and Whistler Blackcomb in British Columbia.

When the purchase is completed, holders of the Epic Pass will be able to ski at the additional 17 resorts at no extra cost. The company will also honor any Peaks Passes, which many people buy in the early spring when the passes are offered at lower rates.

The company also pledged to continue to sell all Peak Resorts pass products and those who have purchases the lower-cost Peaks Passes will also be allowed to upgrade to an Epic Pass once the transaction has been finalized, the announcement said.

The cost of the adult Epic Pass ranges from $939 to $699, before taxes. The company also offers a heavily-discounted pass of $129 for active-duty military and their dependents. The lower cost passes cannot be used for certain holiday weeks and weekends and holders have less access to different mountains.