Every morning, thousands turn to the precision snow reports crafted by Joel Gratz’s OpenSnow to find pockets of powder in Colorado’s chaotic mountains
ski areas
Posted inOutdoors
How much snow will your favorite Colorado ski resort get? Here’s how to tell.
OpenSnow forecasters give some clues about when and why the big snow falls at Colorado ski areas
Posted inBusiness, News, Outdoors
Vail Resorts to limit number of day lift tickets sold every day of the 2022-23 season
Vail Resorts will limit the number of high-dollar, walk-up daily lift tickets sold every day of the coming ski season. The cap does not apply to season pass holders, skiers taking lessons or employees. The cap, a company statement said, is about “our guests’ experience at our resorts.” Walk-up day tickets — which cost more […]
Posted inOutdoors
America’s chairlift savant finishes 22-year quest to ride every lift in the U.S.
Peter Landsman, a lift supervisor at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, has visited, photographed and documented 2,381 chairlifts in the U.S.
Posted inClimate, Environment, News, Outdoors
Ski resorts invest millions in more efficient snowmaking as some question continuing the practice during a drought
By Thomas Peipert, The Associated Press The sight can be jarring during extreme drought: snowmaking guns lined up on a mountainside, blasting precious crystal flakes on a ski run while the rest of the land goes thirsty. Snowpack in the U.S. West has decreased by about 20% in the last century, making man-made snow more […]
Posted inBusiness, News, Outdoors, Outsider
Snow may not be piling up at Colorado ski resorts this season, but anxiety sure is
It wasn’t that long ago that ski resort operators lost sleep over snowfall. Then they had to fret over once-in-a-lifetime protocols to limit the spread of contagion at their ski areas. Now, the worries are stacked even deeper, with affordable housing, dwindling numbers of workers and ever-lengthening lift lines joining the perennial fretting over snow […]
Posted inBusiness, News, Outdoors
Vail Resorts names its first female CEO as longtime chief steps back
Kirsten Lynch, Vail Resorts’ chief marketing officer for a decade, will become the company’s CEO on Nov. 1. The first woman to lead the resort giant, she will take over from Rob Katz, who will become executive chairman of the board, the Broomfield-based company said Tuesday. Lynch also will be on the board. Katz on […]
Posted inBusiness, News, Outdoors
Colorado ski resort operators turbo-charged technology last season, and many of the upgrades are here to stay
For many years, resort captains have been slow and steady with investment in technology. The behind-the-scenes stuff — wireless networks, point-of-sale and lodging reservation systems, online ticket sales — typically was overshadowed by flashy projects involving new chairlifts and terrain. The coronavirus turbo-charged ski resort interest in decidedly unsexy technology, which is now a top […]
Posted inBusiness, COVID, Economy, News, Outdoors
Colorado resorts expect next ski season to be pretty normal, but some coronavirus changes may stick around
A year ago this week, lift-served skiing was broken. Ski areas around the planet ground to a sudden halt in a desperate effort to slow the spread of contagion. Operators were distributing food from spring-break-stocked coolers and figuring out what to do with jobless workers in employee housing, all while slashing budgets and planning for […]
Posted inBusiness, COVID, News, Outdoors
Report: U.S. ski industry lost $2 billion because of coronavirus
ASPEN — The U.S. ski industry has lost at least $2 billion last winter because of the economic collapse caused by the coronavirus pandemic, a national trade association said. The Denver-based National Ski Areas Association announced Wednesday that skier visits fell 14% last season compared with the 2018-2019 season, The Aspen Times reported. There were about […]