Salt Lake City, Utah — Did Utah skiing peak during the 2022-23 season? That’s what I’m wondering after skier visits dropped for the second straight winter.
Yesterday, Ski Utah announced its skier visitation numbers for the 2024-25 season. They recorded 6,503,635 visitors, which was their third-highest tally ever. While it was the third-best ski season ever for visitation, there’s a caveat: the top two were from the prior two seasons.
This total was 3.6% below the 2023-24 season, which also saw inconsistent snowfall. The tally was 3.3% above the five-year average, which is a positive development from this news. The highest ever total was during the 2022-23 season, which was when Utah received record snowfall.
“To hit our third-best season ever and generate $2.51 billion for Utah’s economy is a major win,” said Nathan Rafferty, the president and CEO of Ski Utah. “The ski industry in Utah supports approximately 25,000 jobs, and with the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games on the horizon, the eyes of the world will be on us once again. We’re excited about the opportunities ahead and grateful to all who helped make this season a success.”
One of the main factors that made it below the prior two seasons includes the dry start to the winter, which was described by Ski Utah as “variable weather patterns.” There was also the Park City ski patrol strike, which likely impacted visitation to Park City Mountain Resort.
It’s a decent total, but it’s one that displays the challenge that Utah’s ski industry faces. Utah’s known for its convenience for tourists, but crowds have brought crowds and traffic to the state. It’s a challenge that Utah will have to figure out, as another Olympics looms.
Another challenge Utah will have to handle is losing one of its signature winter events. The Sundance Film Festival will be leaving Utah after its 2026 screenings, leaving a considerable void for Utah’s tourism industry, especially in Park City. It’s also true, though, that Utah will garner more attention as the 2034 Olympics draw closer.
While I’d call this a disappointing tally for Utah, I think they’ll be just fine. The good news for Utah is that many noteworthy improvements are on tap for next winter. Deer Valley will add 80 trails and seven new lifts, Park City is adding a new gondola from the Canyons Village, Snowbasin is adding another high-speed chairlift, Snowbird is opening a new Mid-Gad Restaurant, and Alta is realigning the Supreme chairlift. According to Ski Utah, 13 new lifts are scheduled to open in the next two years.
Will these changes draw more or fewer people to Utah? I think it’s possible they could beat the 2022-23 tally someday, but there are limitations to how many new skier visits they can garner without new ski resorts.
Image Credits: Alex Moliski, Ski Utah (James Niehues)
I am a life-long Utahn and ski at Alta 25x/year. While I appreciate the importance of the ski tourist industry to our local economy, none of us who live and ski here want any further growth or record numbers. The industry is plenty healthy. Our mountains are on the brink of being loved to death. For those who love skiing here, the only numbers we really want to see go up are snow totals – -it’s time for crowds, development, commercialization, and cost to level out.