Ski Resorts

But some say resort companies should be paying their own way.

Unions at three Colorado mountains penned a letter to Vail Resorts CEO Kristen Lynch, objecting to the company using their colleagues to backfill striking workers in Utah.

Wealth also continues to skyrocket in resort towns in Utah, Colorado and Idaho.

A recent incident involving a Lift Lines comic and a parking loophole in Teton Village illustrates an underlying friction in ski towns throughout the Mountain West.

The limited snowfall could have big implications for the Colorado River, which gets most of its water from snow in the Rocky Mountains.

Mom and pop ski resorts are often the heart of ski towns. They’re usually pretty affordable, safe and not very crowded – lending themselves to being family oriented where a lot of kids learn to ski. But what happens when winters become less predictable and there isn’t even enough snow to open around Thanksgiving – which has become widely thought of as the start of ski season? How can these resorts afford to stay in business?

Most industries faced a slump at the beginning of the pandemic, and that included the companies that make chairlifts. But they’ve made a big comeback as people return to ski resorts.

Many ski resorts in the state delayed their openings this year due to a lack of snow. Others had concerns about a lack of moisture. But in the past few weeks snowpack has caught up. In fact, the state's snowpack is better than it was at this time last year. Currently, the snowpack is at an 88 percent median while it was 80 percent the year before.

Eight out of the top ten snowiest winters at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort occurred in the last 15 years. Jim Woodmencey, Mountain Weather meteorologist, said this aligns with a trend of cooler weather in the valley in the last decade.

Update 3/18/20 at 3 p.m.: Sleeping Giant announced on its Facebook page Wednesday afternoon, March 18, that it will close."Due to new information and the…