During one of my consulting meetings this fall, I was asked by a group of hedge fund managers, "How bad will the economy affect this ski season skier visists?" I replied that after living here for twenty years that the single trend that determined whether or not we would see skiers at Vail and Beaver Creek was good snow conditions; alot of snow accumulation. At least, I remembered that to be the case the winters after the Dot.com bust and 9/11. I was rebuffed by one of the managers explaining that this economic downturn - now formally a recession - was like no others that have ever been seen and not to expect the same results. However, after record snowfall blanketed Colorado and Utah this holiday, the first test of the 2008/2009 ski season proved that snow rules! Ralph Garrison, who I have had the pleasure to play golf with runs the Mountain Travel Research Program - this website reports economic conditions of ski resorts on a nearly real time basis. He too, had predicted that snowfall would help skier visits to the mountains despite the economy. However, as late as beginning of December, bookings remained well below normal. Then the snow began and wow! did it snow, and snow and snow. That coupled with last minute ski and lodging deals brought the skiers and boarders in groves to the mountains, a boost everyone in our small communities locally needed. In fact, Vail, Beaver Creek, Copper Mountain and several Utah ski resorts all reported great skier and transportation numbers. Things are good here in the mountains and we are braving the economic storm quite well. The best news for everyone reading this is that if you are planning a ski vacation or are considering purchasing real estate in a ski resort market, this is a great time to find the deals you've been waiting for....not to mention the snowfall.
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