November Nightmare for Ski Resorts

By Richard Martin, 11-19-07

The ski resorts of the Mountain West are looking at millions of dollars in lost revenue as unseasonably warm temperatures and an almost complete lack of snow pushes back opening dates for the region’s major resorts. This is especially troubling in a year when resorts across the region have invested hundreds of millions in new developments and upgrades in hopes of luring more visitors.

Telluride became the latest ski area to postpone its opening when it said on Friday its planned opening date of Thanksgiving Day is unrealistic given the lack of snow. Aspen and Snowmass are still saying they’ll open on Thanksgiving but that looks increasingly unlikely. So far seven of Colorado’s 26 ski areas are open, most of those operating on drastically limited terrain.

It’s not much better elsewhere: Park City, Utah has pushed its opening back to at least Wednesday, Nov. 21, while Big Sky, in Montana, which has one inch of snow in the last 24 hours, is still hoping to open on Thursday – weather permitting.

Many mountain operators were hoping for a big dump early this week to allow for Thanksgiving skiing – but it now appears that the real snow will happen only in the far northern Rockies, bypassing Colorado and Utah.

In other business news:

-- Less eager for heavy snow this winter are officials at Denver International Airport, which was battered by a holiday blizzard last year that stranded thousands of passengers for days. Doing what it should have done years ago, DIA “is bringing aboard two companies with experience removing snow at major airports as part of its new strategy for handling winter storms,” writes the Rocky Mountain News’ Chris Walsh. New York-based Aero Snow Removal Co. will handle snow-clearance by the airport’s gates, while SnowGo, from Illinois, will remove snow from the parking lots.

-- After incurring the wrath of Denver’s power structure during the successful effort to win the 2008 Democratic National Convention, organized labor is now moving into a new era of flexing its muscle with public employees in Colorado. “Three of the largest public employee unions in Colorado are joining forces to woo state workers,” the Post reports, “creating a labor behemoth that some observers believe will dominate the effort to organize state employees.” Gov. Bill Ritter earlier this month granted expanded bargaining power to about 32,000 state workers.

-- Boulder residents accustomed to a high level of city services may come in for some shocks in coming years as the city tries to manage a gap between revenue levels and the cost of providing those services. Affected could be public safety, transportation, parks and libraries. Hoping to preserve the city’s high standard of living, the City Council has formed the Blue Ribbon Commission (BRC) on Revenue Stabilization. Just the name makes you feel better already, doesn’t it?