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I n a season of extremes, the number of downhill snow- FIGURE 2: 2015/16 VISITS
sports visits nationally was up slightly over the 2014-15 VS. 5-YEAR AVERAGE
season, to 53.9 million visits. The Rocky Mountain and
Pacific Northwest had record seasons, while the Midwest REGION 2014-15 2014-15 VS
had its lowest visit total in the 38-year history of the Kottke 5-YEAR AVG. 5-YEAR AVG.
End of Season Survey.
Northwest 9,592,343 13,332,252 -28.1%
The results of the Kottke Survey—a study that docu-
ments the business and operational patterns in the US snow- Southeast 3,956,577 5,673,328 -30.3%
sports industry—were presented at the NSAA National
Convention and Tradeshow in Nashville in mid-May. A total Midwest 5,813,840 6,981,766 -16.7%
of 172 ski areas contributed information to the preliminary
report, which shows variability across the country in terms of Rocky Mountain 22,350,036 20,767,721 7.6%
business volumes, lessons, season passes sold, days open, and
other indicators. Pacific Southwest 7,381,945 4,822,329 53.1%

The preliminary figures document that total downhill Pacific Northwest 4,830,563 2,000,229 141.5%
snowsports visits rose by 0.6 percent to 53.9 million. Over
the last 10 seasons, the average number of visits recorded NATIONAL TOTAL 53,925,303 53,777,625 0.6%
nationally was 56.5 million visits, which puts the 2015-16
season down 4.6 percent from this recent average (figure 1). in the Eastern half of the country. Large losses in visits were
For additional perspective, visits nationally in 2015-16 were experienced in the Southeast (down 30.3 percent), Northeast
down 4.5 percent from the 2013-14 season, and down 5.2 (down 28.1 percent), and Midwest (down 16.7 percent).
percent from the 2012-13 season.
The Midwest had its worst season in 38 years of down-
Visits are estimated to have been up strongly in the hill snowsports visit tracking in the Kottke report, while
Western half of the country and down in the Eastern half the Southeast had its second worst season (only the 1978-
of the nation (figure 2). The biggest rebounds from a poor 79 season was worse), and the Northeast its fourth worst
2014-15 season were witnessed in the Pacific Northwest (up season. By contrast, both the Rocky Mountain and Pacific
141.5 percent to a record total) and Pacific Southwest (up Northwest regions had their best seasons ever, while the
53.1 percent), while the Rocky Mountain region had its Pacific Southwest region recorded its 12th best season in
best season ever in terms of snowsports visits (up 7.6 per- the 21-year history of visits in that region.
cent). The performance in these three regions (particularly
the Rocky Mountain region, which is the largest for down- Visit performance correlated strongly with the number of
hill snowsports visits) offset the difficult season for ski areas days open. The eastern regions experienced abbreviated seasons,
punctuated by unscheduled mid-season closures. Nationally,
the average number of days open fell by 7 percent, to an aver-
age of 112 days this season from 119 days last season (figure 3).
The operating winter season was truncated in the Northeast

FIGURE 1: TOTAL US DOWNHILL SNOWSPORTS VISITS, 1978/79 TO 2015/16

70
2010-11: 60.54 Million HIGH

60
Skier Visits (Millions)
50

40
1980-81: 39.7 Million LOW

30

20

10

0 1980–81 84-85 1990–91 94-95 2000–01 04–05 2010–11 15–16

78-79

SUMMER 2016 | NSAA JOURNAL | 27