Fourth of July skiing sparks record U.S. visits

Spring snowstorms that brought June skiing to Aspen and, later, slushy Fourth of July turns at nearly a dozen other U.S. resorts, pushed the 2010/11 season into the record books with the most skier visits ever.

The National Ski Area Association announced Friday that an end-of-the-season survey recorded 60.54 million visits, edging out the previous record of 60.5 million in 2007-08 by just 0.1 percent. The figure is a .06 percent increase from last season’s 59.8 million visits, and it is just the second time the U.S. ski industry has broken 60 million.

"The association announced preliminary figures in May projecting that, at an estimated 60.1 million skier/snowboarder visits, the 2010/11 season was the second-best on record. However, an unprecedented turn of events that saw many ski areas operating late into the spring, and even summer, helped fuel the industry toward setting the new visitation record,” wrote Troy Hawks, spokesman for the National Ski Area Association. “As an illustration of the late-season surge in visits, it’s estimated that nearly 50,000 skier/snowboarder visits occurred over the July Fourth holiday alone, in which nearly a dozen ski areas were either still in operation, or had reopened.”

A prolonged period of cold and wet weather, along with a 71-inch base at the top of Aspen Mountain in May, convinced the Aspen Skiing Company to reopen for Memorial Day weekend and a string of subsequent weekends that stretched into June. Chairlift-served peaks in California, Oregon, Utah and Washington enjoyed even more snow with Lake Tahoe, Mammoth and Snowbird among the resorts where people — many of them in shorts, Hawaiian shirts and bikinis — lined up on their skis and snowboards to sample the Fourth of July snow bounty.

This year most regions in the United States experienced noticeable increases in snowfall including the Pacific Southwest (up 43 percent), Northeast (up 35 percent), Rocky Mountains (up 33 percent), Midwest (up 27 percent), and Pacific Northwest (up 19 percent), according to the Lakewood, Colo.-based National Ski Area Association. The group also said that snowfall was up 29 percent at U.S. ski resorts this ski season, the highest in decades.

Last month, the Aspen Skiing Company announced that its skier visits were up a modest 1.7 percent in 2010/2011 compared with the season prior. Aspen's numbers are still below the 2007/2008 season – the year before it saw business plunge almost 8 percent when the recession took hold of the U.S. economy.

Around that same time, Colorado Ski Country USA, which held its annual meeting in Aspen, reported a 2.6 percent increase in skier visits compared with the year prior. The trade group represents all Colorado ski resorts except four in Vail Resorts' portfolio, which include Vail, Keystone, Breckenridge and Beaver Creek.

Vail Resorts, meanwhile, announced last month that its skier visits also improved, growing 9.2 percent to an all-time record of 1.75 million visits at Vail Mountain. Keystone skier visits were up 7.1 percent, Breckenridge skier visits were up 1.1 percent, and Beaver Creek skier visits were down 2.9 percent.

River Name / Location	Stream flow, ft3/s	Gage height ft
Gore Creek
At Upper Station, Near I-70 Twin Bridges	n/a	4 ft
Booth Creek	n/a	4 ft
Abv Red Sandstone Creek At Vail	199	6 ft
At Mouth Near Minturn	225	7 ft
Beaver Creek
At Avon	21	2 ft
Lake Creek
Near Edwards	79	1 ft
Cross Creek
Near Minturn	98	4 ft
Homestake Creek
At Gold Park	127	5 ft
Eagle River
East Fork Eagle River Near Climax	n/a	2 ft
At Red Cliff	30	3 ft
Near Minturn	234	4 ft
Wastewater Treatment Plant At Avon	671	5 ft
Below Gypsum	826	5 ft
Colorado River
Near Kremmling	402	4 ft
Near Dotsero	1,620	3 ft
Below Glenwood Springs	3,080	5 ft
Near Cameo	3,740	6 ft
Below Grand Valley Div Nr Palisade	2,160	5 ft
Near Colorado-utah State Line	4,080	4 ft
Near Cisco, Ut	4,100	3 ft
At Lees Ferry, Az	12,100	9 ft
Near Grand Canyon, Az	12,000	9 ft
Yuma Main Canal Ww At Yuma, Az	997	10 ft
Roaring Fork River
Abv Lost Man Cr Near Aspen	n/a	n/a ft
Ab Difficult C Nr Aspen	53	1 ft
Near Aspen	77	1 ft
Near Emma	464	6 ft
At Glenwood Springs	1,150	3 ft
Hunter Creek
Near Aspen	57	2 ft
At Aspen	49	4 ft
Frying Pan River
Near Ruedi	111	2 ft
Crystal River
Abv Avalanche Crk, Near Redstone	610	2 ft
Arkansas River
Ef Arkansas R At Us Highway 24, Nr Leadville	46	3 ft
Near Leadville	85	5 ft
Below Empire Gulch Near Malta	156	3 ft
Below Granite	453	4 ft
Near Nathrop	451	4 ft
At Parkdale	469	3 ft