Pikes Peak Region Trail Finder

By TOM ROSS, STEAMBOAT PILOT & TODAY

Skier visits to Steamboat Ski Area aren’t what they were in the first half of the past decade, but last winter saw some positive growth.

The release by Steamboat Ski and Resort Corp. this week of its 2011 Master Development Plan provides insight into the ski area’s business that hasn’t been available since Intrawest purchased it in March 2007.

For the first time in the past five years, the ski area’s recent annual totals for skier visits are open to public review. What those numbers reveal is that skier visits dropped below 1 million per season each of the past four winters.

However, the numbers also show that last year’s 6.58 percent growth in skier visits to 941,026 well outpaced growth in skier visits both nationally and among other resort members of Colorado Ski Country USA.

Steamboat’s growth translated into 58,115 skier visits more than what the resort had in 2009-10.

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