I’ve already talked at length about some of the challenges ski areas will face this year.  This time I’ll start with the good news.

Snowbird just got pounded with a 36″ storm and plans to open this coming Friday.   Snowbird is certainly one of my all-time favorite ski resorts and I wish I was gonna be there for opening day.  I don’t consider the white ribbon of man-made snow at Arapahoe Basin and Loveland to be actual skiing, so Snowbird opening with real snow is pretty exciting stuff.

I’ve decided my blog is lacking in imagery so here are a couple of pictures taken from one of my backcountry trips into the terrain adjacent to Snowbird.

Folks in the ski-industry (particularly the NSAA) continue trying to convince us that ski areas will still make plenty of money as long as the snow falls.  I personally am a little more pessimistic about skier numbers, but those resorts that aren’t too leveraged with real estate investments will probably do okay this season.

Since I can’t seem to have a post about the ski industry that doesn’t include some bad news – we can now add Revelstoke Mountain Resort to the list of over leveraged mega-resorts affected by the credit crunch.  Details are still a little sketchy, but news reports are saying that Revelstoke has laid off a number of employees and significant management and ownership changes are underway.

Best wishes for the Revelstoke crew.  I’m selfishly hoping that the resort stays in business – I’m really hoping to ski up there next season.