Utah has busiest ski season ever in 20/21 despite Covid

[HardDaysNight]

Record-breaking Utah ski season reported, despite COVID-19

Despite a pandemic that shut down most recreational activities, Utah ski resorts experienced the best season in their history.

www.fox13now.com

No surprise here given the crowds at PCMR every day

 

[GB_Ski]

NY saw the same. Funny thing is, I had one of the best season at Belleayre despite record visits.

Belleayre really set the pace. Visitation at this mountain in Highmount, a two-and-a-half-hour drive north of Manhattan, soared by 28.12%, according to ORDA spokesperson Elise Ruocco. It was the highest attendance since ORDA took the mountain over from the state Department of Environmental Conservation in 2012, she added.

Whiteface, in Wilmington, saw visitation rise 10.65%, and Gore, in North Creek, jumped 9.83%, Ruocco said.

Ski numbers rise despite pandemic challenges | News, Sports, Jobs - Adirondack Daily Enterprise

It seems like a paradox, but it’s true. New York ski areas generally reported more skiers than usual this winter — in some cases many more — despite chal

www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com

 

[BC.]

As said in other thread….this is great news for the industry. Good for them!…awesome for the people who got out and had fun this winter……despite all the COVID restrictions that we all lived through last winter.

 

[Seldomski]

Anecdotal - my wife "skied" a few more days than usual this season due to the reservation system. There were days she would have just stayed at the condo/house all day, but instead went up and rode the lift up and down just to keep from getting nasty-grams from Vail. Some of our friends did the same thing too with their kids. The reservations actually got them on the mountain more often since there was a 'penalty' for not skiing when they said they would. Some of those days, they didn't even have on ski clothes and just rode the gondola up and down.

So technically more skier days, but not actually skiing more than prior years.

 

[Wasatchman]

@HardDaysNight next ski season could be really "interesting" with greater traveller numbers.

 

[James]

School activities canceled, school from home, work from home, not much else open, the likely suspects. No sports to go watch.

 

[David Chaus]

School activities canceled, school from home, work from home, not much else open, the likely suspects. No sports to go watch.

So the pandemic saved the snow sports industry?

 

[Kyle]

I see next year breakino the record again with the return of more vacationers, the continuation of much higher than historical norms of remote work, and the ongoing in migration of people who ski at higher than average rates.

 

[HardDaysNight]

@HardDaysNight next ski season could be really "interesting" with greater traveller numbers.

Yes, I fear so. At least this might put to rest the moronic notion that snow sports is in a steep decline. It’s been obvious for years that the opposite is true.

 

[dan ross]

So the pandemic saved the snow sports industry?

Stranger things have happened....
According to Gallup , roughly 66% of Americans want to change their careers/life - all that time at home gave a lot of people a lot of time to think about things. I never would have guessed that skier days would have gone up this year , rather I was wondering who would file for chapter 11. Good news all in all .

 

[Cols714]

This is great news. Good job skiing everyone!

 

[Andy Mink]

I'm glad I was able to do just a little bit for Utah. And Colorado. And Nevada. And California. Sorry, other states. Maybe next season!

 

[SkiSVLikeAgassi]

All the pandemic has done is made Americans a little more aware of something that our European counterparts
have been quite aware of for a while now-- namely, that there is a little more to life than just work and a bigger paycheck.
It's not just skiing. On my last trip to LA, I was amazed at the sheer increase in the number of hikers, cyclists, beach-goers, etc.
Just shocking.

People are actually making time in their schedules (or making a bigger effort) to engage in outdoor activities,
a foreign concept for many previously. Good for them! I don't see this slowing down any time soon.
Quite the contrary: I think we'll have an even higher skier count over the next coming years...

 

[James]

So the pandemic saved the snow sports industry?

Like it “saved” the plywood industry?

 

[ski otter 2]

I saw it first in the city parks in spring over a year ago: all kinds of folks, especially younger adults, were outdoors moving in the parks where previously there was almost no one. Yes, they often had a lot of angry attitude (over and over I got practically run over - bikers, roller bladers, skateboarders, runners, whole families - to the point where as an older guy I just learned to step aside myself, over and over.

The same was true in mountain hikes that summer: way more people on the more popular hiking trails during the week than previously; relatively few of them social distancing, only a few more mask wearing - or feeling a need to.
Again, I learned to get out of the way myself.

And skiing just continued this. More people, especially young adults, were getting out and about. Maybe healthier living. I maneuvered around or away from other skiers in lines a lot this season, up to vaccination. Not as many older folks, seemed like. But I got my days.

Overpopulation is the ongoing pressure I see here. Just by the numbers, can it really end well, long term? Dunno.

 

[Tricia]

I'm glad I was able to do just a little bit for Utah. And Colorado. And Nevada. And California. Sorry, other states. Maybe next season!

And Oregon!

 

[Tricia]

Due to complications with events not happening, we got more creative about our travel so we could gather information on upcoming product and events.
We hit Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Oregon, and California.
Of those I skied two new resorts I hadn't skied before.

 

[NZRob]

I'd say it may be the busiest season because of COVID, rather than despite it.

We've seen the same thing in NZ, unprecedented crowds at ski areas last season, unprecedented demand for our great walk/national park bookings and other outdoor stuff. Its because no-one can or wants to go anywhere else. And appreciating what's in our own back yard more I suppose.

 

[David Chaus]

Was it busy? Yes.

There was an early start to the ski season in the PNW; Crystal was open in mid-November with almost full coverage by December. I went mostly mid-week all season, yet even in November, and with a reservation system, the parking lots were looking full and the lift lines were plenty busy. It was surprising, in a normal year I had never seen that many skiers and boarders before the Xmas weeks. Yet it wasn’t surprising, it made sense in a Covid year.

I spent a lot more time than I usually would on the Quicksilver chair, which is a fixed grip quad that services mostly intermediate terrain and is overlooked by most when the lift lines are long on the Forest Queen 6 pack and the upper lifts (Green Valley and Rainer Express). Chinook 6 pack from the base gets the early morning lift lines, but after the first hour or so also was a good choice to avoid long lines. I didn’t go anywhere near the gondola line until March or April. It was busy, and resembled busy weekends and holidays, without having the benefit of a lodge for any more than quick restroom breaks.

I will say Crystal responded well to the challenges, adjusting their reservation system, taking tables and chairs that are usually indoors and setting them outdoors, and even installing a new brown bag quonset-type tent. Hopefully they’ll keep that to help.

Stevens (VR) in contrast had a set scheduled opening date of December 4th and they kept to that, which meant the other ski areas that had enough snow to open were busier. I skied Crystal at least 4 times and a full on powder day at Baker by the time Stevens opened. They missed an opportunity, and also had to close due to staffing shortages several times throughout the season, so even with the demand the didn’t seem to have the flexibility to hire enough staff to run the place effectively.

I didn’t do a lot of traveling, but then I don’t usually. I did a road trip with Shamora to Bachelor, and then a solo flight to Steamboat and Winter Park. Skiing in CO for the first time is a kind of victory in a Covid year. I amost forgot, I also went to Mammoth just before Memorial Day. So really it was a normal ski season for me in terms of number of days skied and travel.

 

[AmyPJ]

I wonder how the resorts' overall bottom lines fared with the relative lack of indoor dining?

Also, what's the status for J1s being able to come in this winter to help with staffing issues?