For the first time ever, Utah ski areas topped 4 million skier days in the 2005-06 season, breaking the previous season's record skier days by 3.8 percent.

A skier day is defined by the National Ski Areas Association as one person visiting a ski area for any part of a day or night for the purpose of skiing.

It was the third consecutive record-breaking year for Utah, according to a report released Tuesday by Ski Utah. Since the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, the state has seen a 29 percent jump in skier days.

This season's estimated total is 4,045,030, but it is still unofficial because not all resorts have closed.

"Snowbird is still skiing," Ski Utah President Nathan Rafferty said Tuesday. "They're hoping to stay open through Memorial Day. Last year, they went all the way to July 4."

Snowbird still has a base of 114 inches. More than 600 inches of snow fell on Utah's ski resorts for the second year in a row.

"Everywhere but the southwest had fantastic snow this year," Rafferty said. "It was a fantastic snow season all around."

Rafferty said one reason for the record skier turnout was that there weren't too many big snowstorms that closed resorts this year and took the wind out of the ski season.

"We carried a lot of momentum from last year," he said. "There is a groundswell of interest in skiing in Utah."

Rafferty said the media also were kind to Utah skiing this season, with big awards coming from Ski and Skiing magazines.

This season also marked the first year for the Quickstart program, which meant on certain days tourists who flew into Salt Lake City could ski for free in Park City on the day they arrived.

Rafferty said Utah had the fourth- or fifth-most skier days in the country this season but may still pass Vermont, which also had more than 4 million. Colorado had the most skier days with more than 12 million.

"Utah has 26,000 skiable acres, and Colorado has 37,000," Rafferty said. "We're only half as crowded as they are."

Rafferty said he doesn't like to compare Utah to other states but rather to concentrate on what Utah has. However, he said it's good for Utah to have skiing so popular in other states because that interest will carry over here.

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E-mail: bhinton@desnews.com