A year ago, Utah recorded 6.5 million skier days. The 2022-23 season set both a snowfall record and an all-high time high with 7.1 million skier visits.
Even with this season’s downturn, the industry has grown significantly in recent years, with studies showing a 32% increase in visitation over the past five years.
Ski Utah CEO Nathan Rafferty who grew up skiing in the state, says this winter stood apart from most.
“I will say it's been better than expected,” Rafferty said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour,” April 8. “But if you're a Park City local, it's kind of not what we're used to. It was a rough start, rough finish, rough middle. Huge, huge congratulations to the snow making and grooming teams at our resorts, we wouldn't have been skiing in Park City for Christmas or much of the season, had it not been for the investment and work of those crews.”
While skier visit numbers are still being finalized, Raferty says there was a noticeable shift with some ski related businesses hit harder than others.
“I anticipate statewide we will be about 20% down in terms of skier visits,” he said. “The ripple effects of that are tough. I don't worry about the resorts as much as I worry about the ancillary services; the transportation and hotels and coffee shops and all the small businesses that are affected that can't quite absorb that hit, like some of the big companies can.”
Ski Utah’s Interconnect tour, the only one of its kind in the U.S., takes skiers across six resorts starting at Deer Valley and ending in Snowbird. Rafferty says the tour was hit especially hard this winter.
“Dismal. I think we ran five tours, which is an all-time record low by a wide margin. We had tons of interest. We had tours booked for the whole season, and we just had to cancel them. And we take a very conservative approach. There might be enough snow, but if the skiing is not good, we just tell people, ‘save your money and ski at one of the resorts on an awesome, groomed slope.’”
Rafferty expects final skier visit numbers by mid-May. In the meantime, Solitude is set to close April 19 with a potential bonus weekend for April 24-26, conditions permitting.
Alta is open through April 26 and Brian Head hopes to keep the lifts turning until May 10. Closing dates for Brighton and Snowbird are to be determined.
