Ski resorts hoping for big turnaround this season

Thursday, Nov. 23, 2000 | 9:55 a.m.

With cold weather hitting much of the nation this month, many resorts have opened earlier than planned and have offered more terrain blanketed with natural snowfall.

Vail Resorts will have 19 lifts in operation Thursday to serve 2,000 acres. Last year, its golf course was open in mid-November. Vail also will open its back bowls, the first time the terrain will be open on Thanksgiving since 1992. The resort said reservations for November are up 55 percent over last year, while reservations for December already are up 110 percent.

In Vermont, Killington had one trail open for Thanksgiving last year, but will offer 75 on Thursday, while Utah's ski industry is predicting a record season ahead of the 2002 Winter Games.

The snow is drawing skiers and snowboarders back to the slopes after two consecutive years of sparse snowfall and last year's Y2K fears hurt the $3.5 billion industry.

"It's fabulous already," said Chris Gallagher, a Tahoe Vista, Calif., iron worker who has skied 12 days at resorts in the Lake Tahoe area along the California-Nevada border.

"Without reservation, the level of optimism this day before Thanksgiving compared to last year is compounded by factors of 10," said Michael Berry, president of the National Ski Areas Association.

"There were a lot of bumps in the road. Hopefully the bumps will be on the hill now."

Last season, there were 51.6 million skier visits nationwide, compared with 51.9 million in 1998-99, according to RRC Associates, which tracks the industry. The 1998-99 figure dropped 5 percent from the previous year.

In Colorado, the nation's No. 1 ski state, resorts lost about 1.1 million skier days in the same time period. A skier day is the equivalent of one lift ticket that is purchased and used.

The downfall prompted several resorts, including Vail, Crested Butte and Telluride, to purchase insurance to protect against no-show skiers. Many also have experimented with summer programs to bolster revenue.

Last season, MDM Group Associates, a Steamboat Springs-based company, paid out more than $20 million to resorts from California to New England that purchased no-show skier insurance.

The industry also has implemented a number of programs to keep slopes safer, including patrols that will eject skiers traveling dangerously fast and slow-speed zones in beginner areas.

Much of the industry's enthusiasm can be credited to the departure of two abnormal weather patterns.

El Nino, an unusual warming of the water in the tropical Pacific Ocean, and its cooler counterpart, La Nina, have disrupted weather for three years.

But the Pacific has returned to its normal temperatures, and weather forecasters have predicted cold winter weather for much of the nation.

This fall, Vail has received 73 inches of snow, compared with 15 inches in the same time period last year. Squaw Valley picked up 60, compared with 25 last year. And Killington boasted 41 inches, compared with 29 last year.

"Business is way up from last year," said Steve Sheridan, owner of Performance Sports in Vail.

In Montana, Big Sky resort will have 10 lifts open to serve 2,200 acres, compared with one trail covered with manmade snow last year. "It's going to be a great year for the whole industry," predicted spokesman Dax Schieffer.

Alaska seems to the lone exception. At Alyeska, the nation's northernmost resort, some skiers and boarders recently burned old gear in hopes of appeasing Ullr, the snow god. Even dog mushers are having trouble finding enough snow for workouts.