The Colorado trade group that represents 22 ski areas in the state said its resorts had 6.9 million skier visits this season, up 2.6 percent from last season.
That puts the state’s ski areas on track to pass the 12 million-skier mark, a number surpassed only three times previously, according to Colorado Ski Country USA.
Vail Resorts, which withdrew from Colorado Ski Country in 2008, has four Colorado properties: Vail, Beaver Creek, Keystone and Breckenridge.
Counting Vail Resorts’ numbers, Colorado Ski Country said as many as 12.2 million skiers might have made it to the state’s slopes this season.
Some of the increase in Colorado was because of early snowfalls that sustained throughout the season, said Melanie Mills, president and chief executive of Colorado Ski Country.
“At Thanksgiving, Colorado resorts had a great deal more terrain open for skiing and riding than they typically do at that point in the season,” she said.
Meanwhile, Aspen Skiing Co. officials said Wednesday that Aspen Mountain won’t remain open for another weekend of extended-season skiing because snow conditions are too “soupy.” The mountain closed as scheduled April 10, but snow conditions were so good that it reopened for a number of weekends, including Memorial Day.
One ski area, Arapahoe Basin, is still open.
David Migoya: 303-954-1506 or dmigoya@denverpost.com
