The Olympic Tram speeds skiers to the top of the mountain at Deer Valley Ski Resort in Park City. A Hinckley Institute of Politics panel
recently discussed the myriad things that have the potential to derail Utah's booming ski industry. Photo by Austin Anderson for Ski Utah.
THE GREATEST SNOW ON EARTH
Brice Wallace
Utah’s ski industry may have enjoyed a record-setting season a year ago and a strong current winter, but several threats could jeopardize its long-term future.
A recent panel discussion at the University of Utah revealed that climate change, dust from the Great Salt Lake and the West Desert, affordability and infrastructure issues are among potential problems that could derail the benefits of the “Greatest Snow on Earth.”
“The urgency that we have, the timeline to act on the climate crisis, I feel like the state Legislature is very misguided and they’re not appreciating and recognizing and taking care of the industry that brings so much money and so much business to our state,” activist and professional skier Caroline Gleich said at the event, organized by the Hinckley Institute of Politics at the UofU.
How much business? The numbers vary, depending on the source, but they’re all large. Utah ski resorts had a record-breaking 2022-23 season in snowfall and visitation. Alta Ski Area experienced 903 inches of snowfall and skier visits in Utah rose to about 7.1 million. The National Ski Areas Association estimates that ski and snowboard visitors spent $2.54 billion in Utah during the season, and the industry contributed $256.8 million in state and local tax revenue in the 2021-22 season.
Figures from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis indicate that in 2022, snow enthusiasts contributed nearly $602 million to Utah’s outdoor recreation economy, up from $369.7 million in 2020.
“Just taking a broad view overall, tourism is a huge economic driver in Utah,” said David Williams, associate managing director of the Utah Office of Tourism. He said skiers and snowboarders from outside Utah spend $1.49 billion a year, and the industry employs about 25,800 people.
Each out-of-staters on average spends $374 per day in Utah, said Raelene Davis, vice president of marketing and operations at Ski Utah. “We love those skiers to come and spend their money and then go home and do whatever they do the rest of the year,” she said.
As for industry threats, Davis said Utah’s ski resorts are all “very aware” of climate change and its potential downside. Resorts have responded by hiring sustainability managers, eliminating the use of plastics and instituting educational programs for visitors, among other measures.
“Many of the things that the resorts are doing are headed in the right direction,” she said. “But we’re concerned, for sure.”
Some resorts have responded by transitioning into year-round destinations by offering hiking, biking and water park options so they are not totally reliable on snowfall.
A shrinking Great Salt Lake is another potential trouble spot for the industry. State figures show that the lake contributes up to 10 percent to Utah’s snowfall and extends the ski season by five to seven weeks. But a drought-stricken smaller lake has left large areas of the lakebed dry and exposed to winds.
Otto Lang, a UofU graduate researcher studying snow hydrology, noted that dust from the West Desert and newly exposed areas of the Great Salt Lake lakebed makes its way to Utah’s ski areas. That dust darkens the snow surface, prompting it to melt more quickly. Models show that in the 2021-22 season, snow melted three weeks earlier than if had the snow had remained pristine white.
“Considering we had 903 inches last year, we should have been skiing into July and probably August, but it melted so quickly,” added Davis.
Long-term outlooks predict overall warmer temperatures from climate change, and Lang acknowledged that artificial snowmaking is a short-term solution. However, at some point in the future, even artificial snowmaking might not be feasible, he said.
“These innovation solutions are really critical at adapting and facing the challenges associated with climate change, but at the same time we need to be addressing the fundament, root cause of the issue,” he said.
Gleich contends that another industry issue is financial accessibility.
“One of the worries that I see, especially with some of the effects of the pandemic, is this widening gap with inequality between people who can afford to take vacations and people who can’t,” she said. “And I do really think that for the ski community to create resilience going forward, we need to do a lot more to invite people who don’t look like us, who might not have the same socio-economic background, people from different racial backgrounds, indigenous people. So that’s definitely one of the challenges … to make sure it’s not just for the 1 percent.”
Getting enough gear for a family of four was “daunting at first,” according to Williams. But ski swaps and deals, and passing down equipment and clothing to younger children, can “make it manageable,” he said.
As for infrastructure, Gleich said she wants to see more spending by the Legislature to help with the tourism economy. She said she wants to see more park-and-ride systems to get people to the ski resorts without driving there, and improved amenities, noting what she called “really pretty snarly outhouses” at existing park-and-ride areas.
Several speakers mentioned the possibility for an even-bigger ski industry if Utah can land another Olympics.
“There’s no doubt that Utah is a world-class destination — we have the best snow, great access — and the Olympics are a great opportunity,” Gleich said. “But that’s 10 years away, and we have a really short amount of time to take action on the climate change if want to avoid the worst-case scenarios.”
Utah cannot wait 10 years to improve air quality and public transportation infrastructure, she said. “It’s like, ‘The in-laws are coming, we’ve got to clean up the house’” for the Olympics. “We should be doing this for us and for Utahns to have an improved quality of life.”
Davis said she worries about a line of thinking that the tourism industry is doing so well that the Legislature begins to believe it should pull back its funding. But Utah “learned a really big lesson” during the COVID pandemic when it maintained tourism funding while other states did not, she said.
“And we made leaps and bounds with our out-of-state visitors coming to the state during that COVID period because we didn’t take our foot off the pedal,” she said. “And we’ve seen other states pull back on their tourism funding, and it’s taken them years to regain what they had before that.”