Utah ski industry hitting stride, governor says

SOLITUDE — Utah's ski industry is healthy and getting healthier with each year.

That was the message delivered last week by Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and Nathan Rafferty, president of Ski Utah, during a media gathering at Solitude Mountain Resort.

Final skier counts won't be available until all the resorts have closed, which will be in late June.

But, said Rafferty, "We expect to be close and could very easily exceed last year's record."

During the 2004-05 season, Utah entertained 3.8 million skier days, which was a 12 percent jump over the previous season. It is very possible, said Rafferty, "We could hit 4 million this season."

Huntsman pointed out that the Utah ski industry accounted for about 20 percent of the state's $5.5 billion tourism industry.

"That's accounts for about $900 million to the state's economy. Now, we're up knocking on 4 million skier days. A few years ago if someone had said we'd be up to 4 million skier days we'd have thought he was hallucinating," he said.

"This is something we need to parade and present more aggressively to the travel and tourism world, and we're prepared as a state to do it."

He said he sees this as an economic engine of growth that will support and sustain needs within Utah for a "very long time. You need to take out and use what it is you got that is a competitive advantage from an economic development standpoint, and I can't think of a greater advantage than the great mountains we use to ski on in the winter and hike and mountain bike in the summer."

Rafferty then gave a "snapshot overview" of the 2005-06 season:

• For the second season in a row, Utah's big four resorts — Alta, Snowbird, Solitude and Brighton — received more than 600 inches of snow. The seasonal average is around 500 inches.

• The National Weather Service reported that as of this past weekend, Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons had precipitation totals that are 171 percent of normal. The Park City resorts — The Canyons, Deer Valley and Park City Mountain Resort — are 140 percent of normal.

• Other resorts in the West, including Colorado, Wyoming and California are also reporting record snowfall and indication of record skier numbers.