SAM Magazine-Killington, Vt., June 20, 2006-Vermont ski areas recorded 4,147,467 skier visits for the 2005-06 season, a nearly 6 percent decline from 4.4 million visits in 2004-05, according to the Vermont Ski Areas Association. Despite the decrease in skier visits, Vermont remains the number three ski state behind Colorado and California, the association said.

Parker Riehle, president of the Vermont Ski Areas Association, credited snowmaking and grooming for making the best of a difficult winter. "Given the strength of the Vermont winter brand and how well-positioned Vermont skiing is in the marketplace, we fared much better than the rest of the Northeast, which was down 9 percent from last year," he said. With American Skiing Company reporting that visits to Killington and Mount Snow combined declined by nearly 300,000, it appears that other Vermont areas were nearly flat with the previous season.

At its annual meeting here June 20, VSAA graced Dave Wilcox with its Industry Achievement award for his lengthy career at Killington and Okemo. Long-time industry promoter and ski-show guru Bernie Weichsel earned the Friend of the Industry award.