These are 6 busiest seasons at Utah’s ski resorts. Where does 2024-25 fit?

Slightly below-average snowfall and the ski patrol strike at Park City Mountain likely contributed to fewer skier and snowboarder visits at Utah resorts this ski season compared to the previous two.

A smidge fewer.

Skiers and snowboarders made 6,503,635 visits to Utah’s 15 public resorts during the 2024-25 season, according to Ski Utah data shared with The Salt Lake Tribune on Tuesday. That’s the third most in state history, trailing last season by just under 250,000 visits, or roughly 1,250 visits per day. However, it’s 700,000 more (3,518 per day) than in 2021-22, which at 5.8 million saw the next most visits in state history.

Far and above the rest, of course, is the 2023-24 season. In addition to a record 903-inches of snow, Utah drew 7.1 million visits that season.

Visits is a measurement of the number of times skiers, snowboarders, snowbikers, etc. used a day, season or comp pass to access a ski resort. It does not reflect the number of visitors to Utah’s slopes during the season. According to Ski Utah’s data, skiers made up 79% of the visits. Snowboarders accounted for 17% of visits, while the rest were made by telemark skiers and “other.”

Nathan Rafferty, president and CEO of Ski Utah — the marketing arm of the state’s ski industry — said he found “no huge surprises” in the final numbers from a season that received 538 inches of snow between Nov. 1 and April 30. The 44-year average for that period, as measured from the National Weather Service’s Alta-Collins study plot, is 548 inches.

Despite what could be perceived as a down year snow-wise, Rafferty said Utah resorts remained attractive largely due to their investments in snowmaking and grooming.

“Snowmaking is not very sexy to put in the brochure,” he said, “but man, when you don’t have it, you’re just out of luck.”

Four of the state’s resorts added or improved their snowmaking heading into the season. They put it to use almost right away, as the skies dried up in December, just in time for the busy — and usually lucrative — holiday stretch.

But snow on the ground isn’t all that’s needed to open terrain and get people on the slopes. That was the lesson learned at Park City Mountain, which is owned by Colorado-based Vail Resorts, when its ski patrol went on strike two days after Christmas. Despite being one of the resorts to add extensive snowmaking, Park City Mountain opened just 18% of its trails during the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. The prior season, with a base depth 10 inches lower, it opened 39% of its trails.

The ensuing long lines and frustration prompted a class-action lawsuit against Vail Resorts and calls for nonpassholders to boycott Park City Mountain — the largest ski area in the United States in terms of lift-served terrain — during the strike.

It’s “impossible to put a number to that, but also hard to believe that that didn’t impact things in some way, shape or form,” Rafferty said of the strike. “I mean, they physically couldn’t put as many people on their lifts as they could [during] a regular Christmas.”

Though it is not necessarily correlated, spending at Utah resorts in 2024-25 also dropped after consecutive record highs the previous two years. This season, visitors spent $2.51 billion, compared to $2.64 billion in 2022-23 and $2.67 billion last season. However, those numbers, and perhaps skier visits overall, may have been affected by a steady decline in foreign tourism to Utah in reaction to policies enacted by president Donald Trump’s administration.

In its quarterly shareholders meeting last week, Vail Resorts reported that guest satisfaction scores at its mountain resorts were “strong” and consistent with the previous season — except at Park City Mountain. Rob Katz, who recently was reinstalled as the Vail Resorts CEO, said the company took some lessons from the strike.

“A resort like Park City, of course, is critical to our overall company and our network,” he said. “And we think it’s incumbent upon us to continue to listen to the feedback from our guests, from our community partners, and continue to drive improvement … in the way that we deliver an experience for our guests, the way that we deliver for our employees and the way that we deliver for our community members.”

Online, some have vowed not to return until Vail Resorts sells Park City Mountain. Yet Rafferty said he doesn’t expect to see a ripple effect from the strike on next season’s visitation numbers. Again, he explained, snow is the axis around which the ski industry revolves.

“If it snows early and often coming into this year and everything’s open, “ he said, “skiers have a very short memory.”

That confidence is bolstered by a glut of capital improvements planned at Utah resorts next season and in the years leading up to the 2034 Winter Olympics, which will be held in Utah.

In 2025-26, Deer Valley Resort alone intends to install nine lifts — one of which is a 10-person gondola — and add at least 100 trails as part of its East Village expansion. Park City Mountain also has a gondola in the works for next season on the Canyons Village side of the resort. Meanwhile, Powder Mountain expects to add a new private lift and expand its terrain, while Alta Ski Area and Snowbasin each plan to replace a lift this summer.

“I think,” Rafferty said, “we’re in for a busy nine years.”

6 Busiest Utah Ski Seasons

Note to readers • This story is available to Salt Lake Tribune subscribers only. Thank you for supporting local journalism.