Aspen Times file photo
Old Man Winter did his part this year and skiers in Colorado responded in record numbers, according to data released Thursday.
Colorado Ski Country USA announced at its annual meeting in Denver that the state’s resorts set a record with a projected 13.8 million skier and snowboarder visits. The old record topped 13 million visits for the first and only other time in 2015-16.
“The 2018-19 season was one for the history books,” Colorado Ski Country USA President and CEO Melanie Mills said in a statement.
Colorado Ski Country is a state trade group with 23 members. Vail Resorts doesn’t belong to the group because of a dispute over marketing strategy, but the visits at its ski areas were included in the 13.8 million projection. CSCUSA said it used publicly available information to make its projection.
For CSCUSA members, skier visits were up 13 percent over the 2018-19 season and up nearly 12 percent above the five-year average, the organization announced.
The ski season started strong as Aspen Mountain and other resorts opened early because of stellar snow conditions. The snow kept coming and so did the skiers.
This story will be updated.