Record snows draw 5.5 million to slopes
By Joanne Kelley, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)
Published March 17, 2008 at 5:09 p.m.
Updated March 17, 2008 at 7:53 p.m.
Colorado ski areas attracted more than 5.54 million in visits in January and February, besting last year's performance by more than 6.7 percent, according to the trade group representing the state's mountain resorts.
Record snowfall helped lure Front Range skiers and snowboarders to the high country, making up for a dry spell late last year that forced some ski areas to open later than usual. International visitors also flocked to Colorado's winter playgrounds to take advantage of favorable exchange rates.
"What started as a relatively slow beginning to the season has turned into one of the most memorable," said Rob Perlman, president of Colorado Ski Country USA, which collects visitor data from the state's 26 ski areas.
The figures for the first two months of 2008 put visitation "within 1 percent of its record-setting pace" last year, the group said.
The midseason period compared favorably with the first two months of last year, when stormy weather made it difficult for metro residents to get to ski areas. Overall, the industry drew 5.19 million skiers in January and February of 2007, a drop of about 1.7 percent from 2006.
The skier visit remains a key measure of the industry's health. A single visit tends to generate an average of about $70 in revenue - half goes toward the lift ticket and the other half gets divvied up among extras such as food, lessons, rentals and parking. Destination skiers spend roughly three times that amount.
Abundant snowfall has provided a big boost across the state since December.
Tiny Monarch Mountain near Salida is among the ski areas enjoying banner results even though the area along the Continental Divide didn't open until well after Thanksgiving.
"January and February were record months for Monarch in both skier visits and revenue," reported Monarch spokesman Greg Ralph.
kelleyj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5068
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