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Cupid shot an arrow straight through the heart of the 2006-07 ski season. Thankfully, his aim was true.

The February 14 Valentine’s Day snowstorm—the first significant snow of the season in the East—set up a record-breaking February vacation week and strong March, helping the region salvage a below average, but (whew!) decent year. Up until Cupid’s snowy arrow, it was shaping up as a disaster. “It’s surprising how late we can turn things around,” says Greg Sweetser, executive director of Ski Maine. “It shows you how important February and March are.”

The storm created one of those rarest of all occurrences—a three-day weekend with great conditions across the country. According to NSAA, more than 25 percent of U.S. ski resorts set single-day attendance records on Sunday, February 18. For the three-day weekend, NSAA estimated 3.1 million skiers hit the slopes, proving that nothing matters like snow. Not even price.

“Our single-day retail price tickets gave us several good bumps this year,” says Rob Megnin, marketing director at Hunter, N.Y. “It shows me there is significant demand in the marketplace when conditions are right. People come out and are willing to pay for those opportunities.”

Skiers also continued to come out in Colorado—on track for another record season. Utah and the Pacific Northwest also had great years, California so-so, and the Midwest good depending on where you were. Canada mirrored the U.S.: strong in the west and a great recovery in the east and middle.


EAST AND MIDWEST
Winter arrived in the East on January 16 this year—a day late and hundreds of millions of dollars short of both Christmas and MLK weekend. “We hit rock bottom on Martin Luther King Day,” says Tom Meyers, marketing director at Wachusett, Mass. “That day we had thunder, lightning and a power outage.” The next day it finally turned cold and stayed cold, and Wachusett and the rest of the East began clawing back to somewhere close to average.

“I stopped looking at the budget; it was too depressing,” Megnin says. “You can’t get a month and a half back.” Still, Megnin estimates Hunter would get back within “single digits” of budget.

Parker Riehle, president of the Vermont Ski Areas Association, says Vermont will also end below average. But there were lots of bright spots. February vacation was a record across the state. Many resorts set single-day, three-day, week-long, month-long attendance and other records. Okemo, for example, had its fourth-best February week, best-ever single day, and set records for group lessons, kids lessons and retail sales.

Loon, N.H., had 16 straight over-budget days in February. As a state, however, New Hampshire will end below average, says Karl Stone, marketing director at Ski New Hampshire.

Sweetser says Maine, buoyed by strong local loyalty to its many community areas, will end above average. “Valentine’s Day was our savior,” he says. “If we had to sacrifice something, it was better Christmas than February.”

Some areas actually had very good years, often because of amenities. Bretton Woods, N.H., had its fourth-best Christmas. “We made sure we had lots of other activities for people to do,” says Martha Wilson, PR director. By March, skier visits there were up five percent over last year.

“We had a great season,” echoes Lindsay Kutsko, communications manager at Snowshoe, W.V. “The weather gave us an opportunity to shine with our huge snowmaking system and lots of other things to do.”

“Other things to do” also helped Massanutten, Va., offset a 20 percent drop in skier visits. “We had to close for skiing for 12 days after Christmas,” says Steve Showalter, general manager. “What saved us was everything else. Our tubing stayed open the whole time. So did our water park and golf course. Even though people couldn’t ski, they still came on vacation. Skiing ended up 20 percent down, but our water park was up 20 percent. When one area dropped down, other areas picked up the slack.”

As bad as the first half of the season was in the East, everyone agreed that the strong finish will help build momentum for next year. “A year ago we closed on March 18,” says Craig Low, sales and marketing director at Camelback, Pa. “It’s March 19 and we have peak season conditions. A good ending makes skiers realize the season was pretty good. It makes them excited to ski next year.”

As a region the Midwest did well, especially the farther north you were. Southern Michigan, Ohio, Indiana were hit the hardest. But overall, it was a better year than expected given the slow start.


WEST
There was no slow start in Colorado. By mid March the state was on track to top last year’s record 12.53 million visitors, and was more than 720,000 skier visits ahead of its five-year, year-to-date average.

Despite a significant drop in snowfall (329 inches compared to an average 500 inches), Utah resorts could also possibly set a 4th straight record (5th straight for Park City resorts) if the locals come out. “Our destination skiers are on par with other years, but locals have come to expect three to four powder days a week,” says Hilary Reiter, communications director at Ski Utah. “Whether we have another record will depend on them.” Two ‘new’ resorts that are setting records are Powder Mountain and Snowbasin. “It’s good to see people branching out and going to some of the lesser known resorts,” Reiter says.

A couple of resorts in the Pacific Northwest were also having banner years: 49 Degrees North, Wash., which opened up several hundred new acres of terrain this season, and Hoodoo, Ore. were both on record pace. Overall, the region will not set a record, but had a very strong, “fun” season, says Scott Kaden, executive director of the Pacific Northwest Ski Areas Association. “We were on a blistering pace but hit a bit of a dry spell in January and first of February,” Kaden says. “But we did exceptionally well and have great snowpack for the summer ski season.”

Mother Nature was more stingy in California. “It was an underwhelming season,” says Bob Roberts, executive director of the California Ski Industry Association. “We’re off our numbers but there’s no sense of panic.”


CANADA
Claude Peloquin, president of the Quebec Ski Areas Association, estimates resorts there would end about five percent down. “We had a very strong finish,” Peloquin says. “It was not the catastrophe we thought.”

Although only six of 42 areas opened for Christmas (and a couple never opened all season), Ontario also averted a catastrophe. “We normally do 30 percent of our gross over Christmas,” says Dave Cormier, general manager of Kamiskotia ski area. “Everyone was very concerned.” By the end of January areas were at 100 percent open, and helped by a strong February and March, most pulled within striking range of budget.

Not so in Canada West, which had a wire-to-wire great year. “We had a bumper year,” says Jimmie Spencer, president of Canada West Ski Areas Association. “I don’t know about a record, but it will be close. We had piles of snow.”


TRENDS
Probably the biggest trend folks saw this year was pent-up demand. “It’s really true,” says Sweetser.

Other trends:

• “People are continuing to ski on fatter and fatter skis,” says Reiter in Utah. She says telemarking and women’s clinics were also up.

• Lessons were a hot commodity. Utah resorts started a learn-to-ski week promotion that was a big hit and will be repeated next year. Privates were up at many resorts. Bretton Woods expanded its family center and saw a spike in kids programs, including kids privates. Loon, N.H., revamped its adult privates and saw a 483 percent increase in its three-hour lessons. “We think it’s a combination of new pricing and better communication/promotion,” says Stacy Lopes, marketing manager. “Last year’s pricing was more expensive and more difficult to communicate.”

• Other trends at Loon included more multi-day product purchases, a 12 percent increase in gift cards and more online purchases.

• Events are also becoming big business at many resorts. The Maine Handicap Ski Challenge at Sunday River has become a $300,000 fundraiser; the national toboggan championships at Camden, Maine, attracts 4,000 people. “Everybody’s holding events,” Sweetser says. “Regardless of what the skiing is like, people are committing to go to them. Weather, which is normally a critical factor, becomes secondary to an event.”

• And finally, from east to west, demographics are achangin’. “I heard more languages at Hunter than I’ve ever heard before,” Megnin says. “All of our ski area operators understand the importance of attracting different populations and are doing all kinds of things to target minorities,” says Kaden in the Pacific Northwest. “We have a very diverse population here, and it only makes sense that our slopes reflect this.”