In a season marked by inconsistent cooperation with Mother Nature, Vermont resorts managed to pull in a slight increase in skiers.
The industry saw a 1.2 percent increase in statewide skier days from the 2016-17 season, for a total of 3.97 million skier days, according to the Vermont Ski Areas Association. Each skier day marks one person skiing for a full day, a standard measurement in the business.
Ski Vermont President Molly Maher said the numbers are positive after difficult conditions for a significant part of the core season.
“I think this particular season points to how well Vermont ski areas can adapt to the weather,” she said.
The successful ski season is good news for the state’s economy. The Vermont industry annually generates about $900 million in direct spending, $120 million in taxes, for $1.6 billion in economic activity when including indirect spending, according to Ski Vermont. The business supports around 12,000 direct jobs and an additional 22,000 indirect positions.
The ski season witnessed high snowfalls at the start, but inconsistent weather in the middle. Abundant spring snowfall and cooler-than-average temperatures allowed some resorts to keep lifts running into May.
Win Smith, owner of Sugarbush Resort, described the season as a “rollercoaster year.” The ski area saw a skier visit increase of 6 percent, higher than the state average.
Smith said the season started off strong with lots of snowfall and bookings going into Christmas — but followed by bitter cold which kept skiers off the slopes.
The mountain once again had excellent conditions heading into the long weekend for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, which was tarnished by rain and the worst business for that holiday at Sugarbush in the last 18 years.
“Usually in this industry you have three shots, the three holidays, and if you miss them it’s normally a terrible year,” Smith said. The third is Presidents Day weekend.
Bromley Mountain in southern Vermont experienced similar challenges. Marketing Manager Janessa Purney described it as an “up and down season,” which was slightly below average in skier visits, although she declined to provide a precise number.
The mountain also was hit with cold temperatures for Christmas and icy rain over the long weekend in January, from which it was difficult to recover.
The month of March saw more than 5 feet of snow and Ski Vermont issued 10 powder alerts over a six-week period. This helped several resorts extend their season. Sugarbush stopped lifts on May 6 after 162 days of operation, Jay Peak Resort had the longest season in its history and Killington Resort remained open for skiing and snowboarding through May 26.
Purney said the late snowfall allowed Bromley to “rebound quite a bit.”
“The season overall was really fun, the vibe everywhere in March was amazing,” she said. “We’ve never had snow like that in southern Vermont in years; it was amazing it to see all of it.”
Smith anticipates that when Sugarbush revenue numbers are out in July, this will have been one of the more profitable seasons under his ownership over the last 18 years.
“We had a record March, a record April, and at the end of the season it turned out as a really good year for us,” he said.
Maher and resort owners point to investments in energy efficient snowmaking as a key contributor to the season. Snowmaking allows resorts to rapidly respond to and change conditions on the slopes in a 24- or 48-hour period.
“Snowmaking is just a huge part of the business for us and it really allows us to smooth out the weather as much as possible, and to be able to provide a quality product throughout the season,” she said.
Sugarbush has invested significantly in its energy efficient snowmaking capabilities over the last several years, and has 70 percent coverage for its trail acreage.
“It’s allowed us to do things that are good for the environment using less electricity, produce more coverage, and have higher quality snow,” Smith said.
Bromley, which normally has 85 percent coverage, was left with limited capacity after a pump house fire in December shut down snowmaking for the month. The ski area managed to get back up to 50 percent by mid-January.
“The warmup in February did present some challenges for us,” Purney said.
Another factor that helped the industry was the Women’s Ski World Cup, which drew an estimated 18,000 fans to Killington Resort in November. Maher said the fall event served as a great showcase of what the state has to offer for snowmaking abilities, given its dependence on artificial snow.