Looking for a lift: Utah's ski industry hopes to hit upward slopes.

• Author: Stewart, Heather
• Position: Ski Season Outlook

Ask how local ski resort officials are feeling about the upcoming season and the answer you'll get from each and every one is that they're cautiously optimistic.

The 2008-09 season was a mixed bag with near record-setting snowfall, but fewer skier visits. Overall, skier visits were down 6.5 percent compared with the previous year. But, many in the industry agree that it could have been a lot worse.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

"Last year, the economy was spiraling out of control and no one knew where it was going to land," says Nathan Rafferty, president of Ski Utah, a trade association that promotes Utah's ski and snowboard industry. "We're happy with where the visitation numbers ended up."

A Wild Ride

To really understand the 2008-09 ski season, you have to look back even further to the previous year. That season, 2007-08, topped the charts with a record number of skier days: a grand total of 4.25 million winter enthusiasts hitting the slopes. The season capped out a five-year run of record-setting skier-visit numbers.

So while the numbers were down last year, they were down from record highs. Even with a 6.5 percent decline in skier visits, last season still ranked fourth out of the past five years.

"People still wanted to ski and snowboard, and they were going to get up to the mountains," says Rafferty.

The picture in Utah is a close reflection of the national situation. Nationally, skier visits were down last year from a record high of 60 million to a little more than 57 million--a drop of about 5.5 percent.

According to Rafferty, the overall trend varied drastically among the country's geographical regions. "We get a ton of our visitors from the Northeast, and the Northeast had a great year."

That region benefited from a bounteous and early snowfall, which along with the weak economy and high travel costs, kept residents of the Northeast close to home for their ski vacations.

However, Rafferty says Utah did better than other Western states, particularly Colorado and California.

Utah was blessed with abundant snow last year, with totals near 700 inches. The snow came late for many resorts, however, and most of them opened later in the season than normal.

The fortunate exception was Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort, which actually opened on November 7, 2008, the second-earliest opening in its history.

"We were pleased with the season overall last year," says Jared Ishkanian of Snowbird. "We revised our expectations just before the season started because of what was happening in the economy."

A strong base of local skiers combined with its early opening helped tide the resort over through the rocky season.

"The Little Cottonwood Canyon experience...