According to a recent article in The Salt Lake Tribune, resorts across the state of Utah are reporting a strong showing of skiers and snowboarders this year. The resorts are crediting this to “a bountiful deposit of the trademark Utah powder, most of which arrived in December.”
Andy Miller with Park City Mountain Resort noted that the resort had over 6½ feet of snow in December, which was almost exactly 50% for all of last season’s snowfall. “We opened the Jupiter Lift 43 days earlier than last season and we have had all the lifts open for a week. That didn’t happen until Jan. 27 last year.”
Deer Valley Resort is also enjoying better ski conditions. According to Emily Summers, communications manager at Deer Valley Resort, reports of steady storms have led to last-minute inquiries. “We are still booking arrivals as early as next week. People were definitely keeping an eye on our snow situation after last year and booking their vacation much closer to their arrivals," Summers said.
Families typically plan trips based on their experience the winter before and last year was strong for bookings based on the exceptionally snowy winter of 2010-11. Despite the weak winter of 2011-2012, Summers said occupancy at Deer Valley Resort is proceeding even to last winter.
The article also noted that locals in addition to destination skiers have been very enthusiastic about this ski season, and both types of skiers have been posting their experiences on social media sites. According to Nathan Rafferty, president of Ski Utah, getting early storms in November helped drive interest initially, but the instant notifications via social media has continued the positive promotion. “Really, social media can’t be overstated, it plays a huge part," Rafferty said. "They are all bragging about another great day on the slopes in Utah — both locals and destination guests. January is the biggest booking month so the Christmas week of Facebook, Twitter and Instragram is a great help. Social media just tells it like it is and more often than not it’s pretty darn good in Utah."
Let’s just hope the snow keeps falling!
