Colorado’s high elevation and much more consistent snow gives us a strong competitive advantage. With spring-breakers crowding the slopes and just weeks left before the end of the season, Colorado’s 26 ski resorts are on pace to meet – if not beat – last year’s record of 12.53 million skier visits. With the average skier spending $210 a day, according to RRC Associates of Boulder, that translates to roughly $2.6 billion in economic impact.
Buoyed by good snow, great national press, strong real estate sales, a wider variety of activities and more terrain, Breckenridge ski resort is attracting bigger crowds and filling local cash registers.
Through Feb. 28, traffic at state ski areas was up 1.4 percent from last year, according to industry trade group Colorado Ski Country USA. The volume has grown for a number of reasons, experts say, including the addition of resort amenities that appeal to destination visitors and technological advances in equipment that help baby boomers keep skiing longer.
The recent explosion of mountain real estate development and a very strong real estate has also helped grow a base of faithful skiers.
The weaker U.S. dollar also has drawn more international skiers to Colorado than in past seasons, and Europe’s dismal snow this past winter has helped continue that trend, said Colorado Ski Country spokeswoman Molly Cuffe.
But growing skier numbers can also cause problems. Skyrocketing home values in resort communities such as Breckenridge, Vail, Keystone and Aspen have locals concerned that they are being priced out, for example. And overcrowded highways can discourage Front Range skiers and ‘boarders from driving to Western Slope resorts.
To be successful, resorts depend on a mix of local skiers – who have become reliant on deeply discounted season passes – and destination skiers who come ready to spend big bucks.
Many agree that this season’s momentum has been dampened by the winter blizzards that shut down Interstate 70 and Denver International Airport during peak times such as Christmas and Presidents Day.
“There were several events that were Mother Nature at her worst,” said Matt Sugar, spokesman for Copper Mountain and Winter Park Resort.
Traffic numbers through Feb. 28 at Aspen Skiing’s four resorts were down 2.5 percent from last season, affected in large part by air-travel snafus, according to spokesman Jeff Hanle.
Regardless of nasty weather issues, Front Range skiers have valid reason to complain about increased traffic on I-70.
An additional 152,129 cars passed through the Eisenhower Tunnel from November through February compared with the same period a year earlier, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation. In the winter of 2005-06, traffic counts grew by 71,174 cars from the previous season.
And the highway has been closed more often than in previous years. I-70 between Denver and Vail has shut down 69 times since October because of weather and accidents. During the same period in 2005-06, traffic was stopped 52 times.
A Department of Transportation study estimated that Colorado’s mountain communities lose up to $800,000 an hour when I-70 closes at peak times.
While spring-breakers are expected through Easter weekend, the key to surpassing last year’s record is keeping the Front Range skiers who may be distracted by a recent streak of warm weather,
