Solid Utah ski season ranks No. 4 all-time

Despite a slow start to Utah's 2009-10 ski season, final skier-day counts place it No. 4 in the state's record books.

"And, looking back, with one more good snowstorm in November, this easily could have been our second-best season. There's not much difference between No. 2 and No. 4," explained Nathan Rafferty, president of Ski Utah.

The total number of skier days for 2009-10 was 4,048,153, up roughly 2 percent over the previous year, which was 3,972,984.

The second-best season was 2006-07 with 4,082,094 skier days and the third best was 2005-06 with 4,062,188. The record season was 2007-08 with 4,249,190 skier days.

"The trend this past season was almost the exact opposite from the previous season," said Rafferty. "We had a good start in 2008-09, but as the economy fell there was a slow decline from beginning to end ... good to worse.

"This season started out OK but got better with each month. March was really strong, and April was great. It helped that Snowbird stayed open through June 20."

To support the slow start this past season, Utah resorts made a lot of man-made snow. Deer Valley, for example, made more snow this past year than in any previous year.

Rafferty said there was not much movement in local numbers, "but there was in destination skiers and snowboarders. We're still sifting through the numbers, but we saw longer stays from destination skiers and snowboarders. We think it was simply that people were trying to get a little more value out of their plane tickets.

"The stays weren't significantly longer, but it was a difference that was noticeable," Rafferty said. "Locals, on the other hand, hung steady but held back until late in the season when the snow was better."

As noted, snow fell in inches at the start of the season but in feet near the end.The final total at Snowbird was 603 inches. Alta, recognized as Utah's snow measuring stick, had a 255-inch base Feb. 1. Over the next two months, though, it received a total of 171 inches. In April, it received 152 inches.

The season average at Alta and Snowbird was 500 inches.

Utah was not alone in higher numbers. On a national level, a report listed 2009-10 as the second-best on record and was a 4.5 percent increase over the previous season.

"Typically, one region of the country comes up short on snow. This year, everyone had decent snow. The two states with average snowfall were Utah and Colorado," he said.

Colorado posted a .5 percent increase in the 08-09 season.

"We had a good year that got better with each month, and we can only hope this trend continues into next season," said Rafferty.

The National Ski Areas Association defines a skier day as one person — skier or snowboarder — visiting a ski area for all or part of a day or night.