Page 21 - 83628_NSAA_SummerVol26

Figure 1: Total US Downhill Snowsports Visits, 1978–1979 to 2017–2018
1

65 58.9 60.5 59.8 60.5
60 53.9 54.0 54.6 54.0 54.8 57.3 54.4 57.6 57.1 56.9 55.1 57.4 56.9 56.5 54.8

55 50.2 50.7 50.6 51.4 51.9 53.7 53.3 50.0 50.8 52.7 52.5 52.1 52.2 51.0 53.6 52.8 53.3
50 48.2 46.9 46.7
45
39.7
40
35
Skier Visits (millions) 25
30

20
15

10
5

0
1978/79 1979/80 1980/81 1981/82 1982/83 1983/84 1984/85 1985/86 1986/87 1987/88 1988/89 1989/90 1990/91 1991/92 1992/93 1993/94 1994/95 1995/96 1996/97 1997/98 1998/99 1999/00 2000/01 2001/02 2002/03 2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18

Encouragingly, the share of ski areas reporting unsched- respectively). Other regions, including the Midwest (50 per-
uled closures declined from a year ago. This season, 45 per- cent) and Northeast (48 percent) were less likely to report
cent of responding areas reported one or more unscheduled unscheduled closures. Very few Rocky Mountain ski resorts
midseason closures, down from 58 percent last season (fig- experienced a mid-season closure (4 percent).
ure 4). Ski areas in the Pacific Northwest, Southeast, and Historical patterns are inconsistent by region, illustrative
Pacific Southwest were most likely to experience one or more of the variability in any given area of the country from year
midseason closures (80 percent, 72 percent, and 69 percent, to year, with no clear direction able to be discerned. Mid-
season closures were typically associated with weather (wind,
Figure 2: 2017–2018 Visits vs. 10-year average rain) or power issues.

On an overall national basis, average inches of snow-
2017–2018
10-Season vs. 10-Season fall at US resorts was about average, with 173 inches per
2017–2018 2016–2017 Average Average reporting ski area in 2017-18 (figure 5). This figure is down
Northeast 11,824,751 11,936,451 12,520,761 -5.6% from 246 inches in 2016-17, a decline of 30 percent, but
largely similar to the snowfall in 2015-16 (176 inches) and
Southeast 4,334,916 4,184,432 5,094,737 -14.9%
the 27-year average (180 inches). However, snowfall was
Midwest 6,342,949 5,421,272 6,838,885 -7.3%
quite variable by month, with national figures showing that
Rocky March snowfall was above the 15-season average (the most
Mountain 20,641,781 21,736,268 20,671,660 -0.1%
current figures NSAA has for monthly snowfall), but every
Pacific other month of the season was down compared to the long-
Southwest 6,331,510 7,384,618 6,799,323 -6.9%
term average.
Pacific Average total snowfall was 79 inches in the Midwest
Northwest 3,776,872 4,098,216 3,717,298 1.6%
(up from 72 inches last season and very similar to the long-
National 53,252,780 54,761,258 55,642,664 -4.3%
term average of 74 inches). In the Southeast, average total

SUMMER 2018 | NSAA JOURNAL | 19