Despite a lackluster year for snow, ski resorts in the Top of Utah and around the state reported another record-breaking year for business in the 2006-07 season.
Ski Utah, the promotional group for the state's ski industry, reported Wednesday that Utah's 13 ski areas logged 4,082,094 skier days during the season - about 20,000 more than the 2005-06 season, when total skier days broke the 4 million mark for the first time.
It was the fourth consecutive record-breaking season for the state's ski industry, Ski Utah Presi- dent Nathan Rafferty said.
"Momentum is definitely on our side," Rafferty said in a statement.
"With the most consistent snowfall anywhere in the world and unrivaled access via an international airport that continues to add nonstop destinations, we're on the right path."
Ski-related tourism contributed more than $700 million to the state economy during the season, he said.
Local resorts did not disclose their individual numbers, but officials said the most recent season was busier than ever.
Snowbasin spokeswoman Mary Rowland said the resort's various operations all saw increases of 7 to 10 percent this year.
"Business was terrific," Rowland said. "We saw a lot of East Coast skiers, Canadians, locals - people from all over."
Snowbasin and Powder Mountain received a lot of positive publicity in the past year, and it translated into a surge in out-of-town visitors.
In its November 2006 issue, Skiing magazine named Snowbasin the 10th best ski resort in North America. Ski Magazine rated Powder Mountain the top resort in the nation for both snow quality and value. Various other print and broadcast media also featured the two resorts.
woman for Powder Mountain, said a relatively lean year for snow kept some locals from coming to the mountain, which relies entirely on natural snowfall.
But visitors from out of state more than made up for it, Daniels said.
"Locals know us for powder skiing, and this was not a powder year," she said, "but because of all the rankings and publicity we received, we saw a big increase in destination skiers."
At Wolf Mountain, the lowest-elevation ski area in the state, scant snowfall presented a challenge, said Nancy Seraphin, marketing director for Wolf Creek Resort and the ski area it owns.
Wolf Mountain purchased 30 new snowmaking guns for the season, and they came in handy, Seraphin said.
"Because of our snowmaking, we were able to offer 120 days of skiing," she said. "Without that, it wouldn't have been such a pretty picture."
She said publicity Snowbasin and Powder Mountain received helped Wolf Mountain, which is situated between the two larger resorts, and also helped boost occupancy at Wolf Creek's rental properties in Ogden Valley by 38 percent.
Daniels said the latest ski season helped further solidify Ogden area's growing reputation as a winter sports destination.
"It's exciting for the people of Ogden that we're becoming a ski town," she said. |
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