Thursday, January 18, 2007

Did you notice 207,533 more people on the slopes?

Apparently they were there.
According to the Associated Press today, "despite getting less snow, Colorado resorts are on a pace to break last season's record of 12.53 million skier visits, with 6.74 percent more in the first part of the season than the same period last year, the industry reported Tuesday. The resorts had nearly 3.3 million skier visits from October through December 2006, up 207,533 from the same period in 2005."
Interestingly, the biggest jump in numbers, 10.7%, was at the state's smaller areas -- the gems -- which means the crowd growing fastest is the one that wants to get away from growing crowds.
We want to see some number on the ever-mysterious backcountry skier days. All the people I talk to say it's growing like crazy, but with no lift tickets, it's almost impossible to track.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is all why I hung up the boards and took up snowshoeing so many moons ago. Don't get me wrong - I like people. Just not THAT many people.

:0)

Biker Betty said...

It doesn't surprise me that the "gems" are getting more popular. My family doesn't get out as often as we'd like, and we are pretty beginners in the sport of skiing, but we love Monarch (one of the gems).

I always recomment that to my friends as a place to go ski. Since it's close to Colorado Springs and not as expensive to other places, we love it. It's only occasional that we experienced somewhat long lines, but it didn't dampen our day on the slopes.

We love Monarch because they provide space in the ski lodge, at the base of the mountain, for you to eat whatever it is you brought for your meals. I was very impressed with that. They only ask that you don't bring in coolers, as it's very cramped. They do have a cafeteria for those who don't want to pack a lunch, but like other places be ready to pay a lot for it.