Stats: Rough Early Season Leads to 2% Dip at Colorado Ski Resorts

Colorado Ski Country USA (CSCUSA) ski resorts saw 7.1 million visits during the 2017-2018 winter season. That’s down 2 percent from the previous season, but still ahead of the five-year average. CSUSA reported the latest statistics at its 55th Annual Meeting in downtown Denver.

In a written statement Colorado Ski Country USA President and CEO Melanie Mills said that the numbers were still impressive, given historically low snowfall in the early part of the season.

Mother Nature delivered timely storms during the December holiday period and significant snow totals in advance of both Martin Luther King and President’s Day weekends before the weather system settled into a more consistent snowy pattern in mid-February, CSUSA said. March was a busy month across the state with spring breakers traveling from near and far to enjoy deep snow totals and warm bluebird days with resorts seeing strong monthly visitation totals. Many resorts experienced their best snow conditions in late March and early April and welcomed guests over the well-timed Easter holiday.

This summer, Mills said that CSUSA resorts are planning an expanded lineup of events and festivals, as well as a number of on-mountain improvements.

Additional highlights from the 2017-18 season included successful Olympic qualifiers at Copper Mountain and Aspen Snowmass in the leadup to the 2018 PyeongChang Games. CSCUSA also welcomed two new members: Echo Mountain outside of Idaho Springs and Kendall Mountain in Silverton, CO. Both ski areas are on the popular 5th and 6th grade Passport Program and Gems Card.

Skier visits are the metric used to track participation in skiing and snowboarding. A skier visit represents a person participating in the sport of skiing or snowboarding for any part of one day at a mountain resort. These numbers are preliminary results and subject to final adjustment by CSCUSA members, the organization said.

CSCUSA is the not-for-profit trade association representing Colorado’s 24 ski & snowboard resorts.

Source: Colorado Ski Country USA

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