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Ski resorts rejoicing over stellar snow

Robert Weller
The Associated Press
Aspen, CO Colorado
A skier bombs down "Oly Bowl" at Aspen Highlands. After little snow at the beginning of ski season, most U.S. resorts are thriving. (Matt Power/ Aspen-Snowmass/AP)
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DENVER ” Santa brought just what the nation’s ski resorts wanted ” the best nationwide snow conditions in several years.

From New England to California, the snow dumped in the days and weeks before Christmas. Even Taos, N.M. in the desert southwest, had a 60-inch base.

“This is our best opening since 1977,” said Adriana Blake, marketing director for Taos. The resort couldn’t open for Thanksgiving, but later got 68 inches in a week. “This is crazy. It never snows like this.”



In November, with a few exceptions, some of the most popular resorts in the Rockies and California delayed their openings because of a lack of snow. Most only offered limited terrain because of an unusually balmy and dry fall that produced disastrous wildfires.

Then the jet stream moved south and the snow began to fall, and fall, and fall. Wolf Creek which usually has the deepest base in the state, has suffered for the last two years. It debuted late last month with less than 10 inches. A week before Christmas it had 115 inches.




“It is spectacular. For the first time in recent time in recent history the industry is up and operating across the country. We looking for record Christmas attendance,” said Michael Berry, president of the National Ski Areas Association.

Sugarbush is close to being 100 percent booked for Christmas, a record for the Vermont resort. It expects to have 100 percent terrain open for Christmas, said J.J. Toland, communications director. Also in Vermont, Mad River Glen, which relies mostly on natural snow, reported 100 percent open.

New England struggled last year. The Vermont Ski Areas Association said 59 percent of Vermont’s 1,242 trails were open as of Dec. 10, compared with 14 percent at the same time last year.

The snow has been good from the start at Whistler-Blackcomb, British Columbia, the busiest resort in North America. “This season we have had cumulative snowfall of over 11 feet and we are forecast to have close to three feet more fall by Christmas,” said Michelle Leroux, spokeswoman for Whistler.

“All of us are thankful that the snow will be here for Christmas. The skiers take note of that. If one region suffers the skiers take note of that and tend to generalize that there is no snow,” said Connie Marshall, spokeswoman for Alta, Utah’s legendary powder palace.

Mammoth’s 14-inch base had grown to 45. Squaw Valley, near Lake Tahoe, went from 5 inches to 40.

“It looks like this could be a pretty good white Christmas. It’s just one storm after another,” said Kyle Mozley, a Reno, Nev., National Weather Service meteorologist.

Underneath the snow here at Vail, the nation’s busiest resort, is $1 billion in improvements in lodging, retail facilities and other amenities like ice-skating.

“All the streets feel like plazas. East Meadow Drive is so much more inviting ” and with the new restaurants and shops, it feels like our own ‘Little Italy,'” said Beth Slifer, chairwoman of Vail’s Local Marketing District Advisory Council.

“With our European street concept we’ve developed a look, a feel and a product that will last 100 years and that encourages shopping, dining and lingering during any season,” said her husband, Rod, Vail’s mayor.

Aspen’s Snowmass resort has added a $17 million, 25,000-square foot children’s center, called the Treehouse Kid’s Adventure Center. It has a dedicated four-seat chair just for the kids. Inside there are interactive, environmental-themed rooms like the Butterfly Meadow. It even has rooms for kids who need a little extra care or aren’t feeling well.

Mammoth Mountain, Calif., has replaced a double fixed-grip with the six-pack Cloud Nine Express, which will cut ride time to the Dragon’s Back area in half to six minutes.

It will help the busy mountain move snowriders across the mountain more easily, and it is a heavier chair and can operate in more difficult weather conditions, said Laura Johnson, spokeswoman for the resort.

Brighton, Utah, has replaced its last fixed-grip chair, the Millicent, laying claim to becoming the first area in the country in which all terrain is served by high-speed quads. That means more runs, and no longer being banged in the bum by chairs.

New England Business Journals reports that areas in Vermont and New Hampshire spent more than $30 million in improvements. An additional $175-200 million was expended by ski areas and private developers in real estate projects.

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