Summit County will see a cooler, wetter spring, setting the stage for possible flooding

#Summit County #Colorado

Summit Daily

The 26th annual Summit County State of the River meeting took place at the Silverthorne Pavilion on Tuesday evening. The meeting, organized by the Colorado River District, drew together dozens of local, state and federal water officials, business leaders, ranchers, farmers and others with stakes or interest in the Colorado River, the lifeblood of the West.

The mood at this year’s State of the River was more upbeat than last, when a historically dry winter and hot summer led to increasing worries of a future water crisis. Major reservoirs had been struggling to make up for previous year shortages during a decadelong drought.

But thanks to one of the wettest, wildest winters in recent memory, Colorado went from 67% of the state experiencing some form of drought in February to 0.6% in the latest assessment from the U.S. Drought Monitor.

The dramatic reversal of fortunes was brought along by waves of moisture hitting Colorado from the West Coast in March and April, coming down in the form of some truly memorable powder. This year’s State of the River featured speakers who explained what that snow will mean for Summit County going into the summer.

Among the speakers featured was Blue River Basin water commissioner Troy Wineland. Wineland spoke to the current state of the basin and what we should expect to see in the upcoming spring runoff, which has been greatly anticipated since a historically low snowpack last year. 

Wineland noted that current snowpack was 150% of the median. While that’s good news, the volume of the runoff and efficacy of the snowpack is dependent on how long it lasts.

On that front, there’s promising news. Wineland said that the National Weather Service’s eight-to-14-day temperature and precipitation forecast, the best current measure of when snowpack will start sloughing off the mountains and melting into rivers, shows that the next couple of weeks will be both colder and wetter than normal.

That is a good sign that the runoff will be stalled until the end of the month or early June.

Wineland said that the monthlong forecast shows a similar trend with precipitation, but a more even chance of above or below-average temperatures.

A late winter storm Wednesday through Thursday is expected to add more to the snowpack while delaying meltoff further.

Wineland also said forecasts were predicting peak flows of the Dillon Reservoir’s three tributaries to be well below bankfull, or when rivers reach the top of their banks before flooding. But that does not mean residents can let their guard down when it comes to flooding risk.

“Regardless of how much snow is up on those hills, you always have risk for flooding, even in below-average years,” Wineland said. “One of the biggest factors is how fast that snowpack falls off, which is when sustained temperatures are above freezing. It’s probably a good thing we have below-average temperatures in the near and long term.”

Wineland also noted that the basin has a soil moisture deficit 10 to 12 inches deep, and would absorb a portion of the runoff, “like a dry sponge.” But even if those factors don’t prevent flooding, Wineland was confident Summit County authorities are prepared for it.

“Everyone is on high alert,” Wineland said. “The county’s road and bridge workers are very proactive. The town of Frisco and Copper Mountain Resort have staged excavators just in case they find there is debris building up in the creek that needs to be cleared. What happens is completely dependent on when the snow starts melting.”

Courtesy Summit Daily

Breckenridge’s Ullr Fest moves from January to December

#Breckenridge #Colorado

Summit Daily

The annual invasion of Viking helmets across Breckenridge will show up a month earlier next winter, as the town’s Ullr Fest celebration has been moved from January to December.

Announced on Tuesday, the switch was made by the Breckenridge Tourism Office, with the Breckenridge Events Committee in agreement. However, there’s been talk among town leaders and tourism officials about moving the multiday festival up in the calendar for months now, if not longer.

The festival’s shifting dates were precipitated, at least in part, by the anticipated loss of the Dew Tour in Breckenridge. The Dew Tour ran Dec. 13-16 last winter but isn’t expected to return for next season. However, those close to the decision say that isn’t the only reason for Ullr’s new do.

“Moving Ullr Fest to December better aligns with roots of the event and ultimately what the Breckenridge community is looking for — earlier Ullr, earlier snow in the winter,” said Austyn Dineen, public relations director for the BTO.

With that, the next rendition of the annual festival — and the prayers for a good winter that come with it — will be Dec. 11–15, opposed to mid-January, when the festival has typically been scheduled in recent years. 

Proclaimed as a kickoff to the busy winter ski season in Breckenridge, Ullr Fest has brought thousands upon thousands of visitors from across the world to town. Many of them are unmistakable, as they don the historically inaccurate but incredibly fun horned Viking helmets in an effort to appease Ullr, the Norse god of winter and patron saint of skiers, and thus ensure abundant snowfall for the season.

In previous discussions, town leaders and officials from the BTO have expressed a desire to better spread out the town’s wealth of wintertime events, especially with expectations that the Dew Tour will be leaving its mid-December slot open.

Officials from the BTO and Breckenridge Town Council have previously spoken about the Dew Tour like they’re sure it won’t be back next winter, but the BTO referred questions about the tour’s future in Breckenridge on Tuesday to Breckenridge Ski Resort.

“We’re excited about the decision to move Ullr Fest closer to the beginning of the resort’s winter season,” a resort spokeswoman said via email. “While the new Ullr Fest event dates overlap with the historic timing of Dew Tour, we are currently still in discussions with PepsiCo on plans for future event activations at Breck.”

Given that Ullr Fest serves as one of the town’s kickoffs to winter, bumping the festivities up a month might not be such a bad idea, regardless of what happens with the Dew Tour.

“Ullr Fest is Breckenridge’s wacky way of showing a little love to Ullr, all in the hopes that he will bring more snow,” said Lucy Kay, president and CEO of the Breckenridge Tourism Office, in a news release. “It only seems fitting, that the modern day Ullr Fest would align with the beginning of the winter season for snow-praising purposes.”

According to the BTO, Breckenridge has been honoring Ullr for over five decades with Trygve Berge and Sigurd Rockne — the pair that founded what would become Breckenridge Ski Resort — starting the festival in March 1963.

“Over the event’s 56 year run, Ullr Fest has occupied many different time periods, so it wasn’t married to January,” Dineen explained, adding that the BTO and Breckenridge Event’s Committee felt like January didn’t need “the extra animation” with such strong holiday tourism and another hugely popular event, the International Snow Sculpture Championships, filling out the end of the month.

While Ullr Fest has become synonymous with January’s happenings in Breckenridge, some of the people at local businesses that rely on winter tourism either weren’t in the know or were completely indifferent about the change.

Reached over the phone, a man working at a Breckenridge T-shirt shop said he hadn’t yet heard of the move and had no reaction. Another worker at a local hat store, which sells buckets of Viking helmets every year, said the same, though the Summit Chamber of Commerce applauded the decision.

“I do think shifting Ullr is a great idea,” said Judi LaPoint, executive director of the chamber.

Without any inside information about the town’s scheduling, LaPoint said that with the anticipated loss of the Dew Tour in Breckenridge, December would be a great time to bring people into Breckenridge while town isn’t busy with other events.

LaPoint noted that Ullr Fest is a fun happening that “centers everything downtown.” While she’s not exactly sure how it all might affect local merchants, she’s guessing local restaurants see an uptick in business with the Ullr Fest traffic.

“I also think (the change in dates) will help to even out visitor traffic — which is important to many in our community,” LaPoint continued, as she said there’s a fine line between bringing people to town for an event and getting them to support local merchants.

“When too much is going on, visitors can get frustrated,” she said.

The schedule for next winter’s Ullr Fest has not yet be released, but attendees have enjoyed a series of festival events over the years, including Breck’s Got Talent, a record-breaking attempt at the largest ski shot in the world, the Main Street parade, the Ullr Ice Plunge, a bonfire and more.

The worker at the hat store openly wondered what would become of the Ullr Fest bonfire, given that discarded Christmas trees collected after the holidays have fed the flames in the past.

Well, he can rest assured that’s not gone under the BTO’s radar, as Dineen said the source of fuel for the annual Ullr Fest bonfire is still being determined for next season’s festival because, as she put it, “the Ullr bonfire plays an essential role in paying homage to Ullr.”

Courtesy Summit Daily

CFPB accuses two of the nation’s largest credit repair companies of tricking and cheating customers

Two of the largest credit companies in the nation illegally charged customers for credit repair services and used deceptive advertising to trick and cheat consumers, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau claims.

The CFPB this week filed a lawsuit against CreditRepair.com and Lexington Law, which the bureau claims are two of the country’s largest credit repair companies, alleging that the companies violated the Telemarketing Sales Rule by requesting and receiving payment of prohibited upfront fees for credit repair services.

The lawsuit also claims that the companies violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act by making false claims in its ads, or by “substantially assisting” others in doing so.

The lawsuit also names sever other companies, all of which are either related to or associated with the consumer-facing outlets CreditRepair.com and Lexington Law.

The CFPB lawsuit names PGX Holdings and subsidiaries Progrexion Marketing, Progrexion Teleservices, eFolks, and CreditRepair.com; and against John C. Heath, Attorney at Law, which does business as Lexington Law.

The companies’ relationships are complicated with different subsidiaries performing operations on behalf of other companies, and in the case of Lexington Law, Progrexion conducts most of Lexington Law’s core business operations, but Heath, operating as Lexington Law Firm, serves as the face of Lexington Law, according to the CFPB.

The companies also allegedly use each other as lead-generation outlets for credit repair services, and that, according to the CFPB, is where the issues begin.

“Defendants operate two of the largest credit repair companies in the country, Lexington Law and CreditRepair.com. They market their services through various media, including online and over the telephone, offering to help consumers remove negative information from their credit reports and improve their credit scores,” the CFPB said in its lawsuit.

“Consumers sign up for Defendants’ credit repair services and pay hundreds of dollars in fees seeking to improve their credit scores and get better access to credit products, on better terms,” the CFPB continued.

To generate business, the companies allegedly use a network of marketing affiliates that advertise a variety of products and services, often related to consumer credit products, the CFPB said.

But that advertising isn’t always on the up and up, the CFPB claims.

“Progrexion’s marketing affiliates have used deceptive, bait advertising to generate referrals to Lexington Law’s credit repair service,” the CFPB said.

Courtesy HousingWire Newsletter.

Colorado’s trail app puts a comprehensive statewide trail map in your pocket

#Colorado

Summit Daily

The Colorado Department of Natural Resources and Colorado Parks and Wildlife is boasting the release of the Colorado Trail Explorer — or COTREX for short — as Colorado’s official trails app.

COTREX is a free application for website and mobile users with over 39,000 miles of public Colorado trails in the database, and people can use the app to navigate trails on federal, state, local and private lands with public access.

COTREX was also reportedly built for all trail users, meaning that hiking, mountain biking, equestrian riding and motorized recreation are included. 

“The COTREX app is a marriage of Coloradans’ love of the outdoors and using the latest technology to discover more of our beautiful state,” said Alex Dean, trails and recreation project manager for the Colorado Department of Natural Resources. “We are excited for Coloradans to download the COTREX app. It’s a great tool for exploring our wide diversity of trails and encouraging more Coloradans to spend time outdoors.”

For adventurists planning on heading in no-man’s land for cellphone service, they can download maps ahead of time for a continuous experience that doesn’t depend on a network. Find the app by searching for “COTREX” in your smartphone’s app store.  

Courtesy Summit Daily

NAHB chief economist: Tariff tweets could be signaling pricier U.S. homes

#USA

President Donald Trump’s recent tweets escalating the U.S.-China trade war weren’t just a threat to the stock markets and the agricultural sector. Housing could be affected as well.

The president tweeted on Sunday that he might increase tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods at the end of this week and “shortly” impose levies on hundreds of billions of dollars of additional imports. Check the shelves of any Home Depot, and you’ll find lots of items labeled “made in China.”

“Additional tariffs on a country like China, where we get many of our construction products, are an additional tax on homes,” Robert Dietz, chief economist at the National Association of Home Builders, said in an interview. “This comes at a critical time because we currently are at a 10-year low for housing affordability.”

Tariffs, also known as duties or levies, are collected by Customs and Border Protection agents from U.S. importers as items enter the country. The nation of origin doesn’t pay the tariff, though demand for its products may drop as a result of products being more expensive. Typically, U.S. importers pass on tariffs to customers who eventually pass it on to the consumer at the end of the line – in the homebuilding industry, that’s the homebuyer. 

Tariff tweets from the president on Sunday and Monday sent stock markets tumbling around the globe and caused a rout in the grain markets. Policy analysts at Goldman Sachs issued a report saying a trade deal with China could still be reached, while others, such as Raymond James, warned the process may have been derailed.

“You have to view it in context that sometimes, with this administration, it’s seen as part of the negotiating process,” said Dietz. “The president has put these types of things out before as a type of negotiating stance.”

Last month, NAHB issued a study that showed tariffs set on Chinese goods last year was the equivalent to a $1 billion tax on the housing industry. The report noted that even the announcement of an intent to levy tariffs in the future could have a “substantial” effect on housing. 

“To improve housing affordability, we really need to bend the cost curve and that means finding ways to reduce construction costs of single-family homes, apartments and remodeling,” Dietz said. “Freer trade is good for housing because it helps to keep down cost of building material.”

Courtesy:  Kathleen Howley, HousingWire Newsletter

Breckenridge Grand Vacations sells its interest in Peak 8 hotel project

#Breckenridge #Colorado

Summit Daily

Vail Resorts has sold just over 4 acres to Lionheart Capital, a Miami-based firm that intends to build a branded hotel and over 100,000 square feet of wholly-owned condos on the valuable piece of property at the base of Breckenridge Ski Resort’s Peak 8.

The local hands from Breckenridge Grand Vacations — a purveyor of timeshares that helped guide talks — are absent from the project off of Ski Hill Road, however, since what was once a two-company development team negotiated a difficult agreement with Breckenridge Town Council in July after elected officials rejected the project in February 2018.

“We’re pleased to be selling the East Peak 8 site to a prominent global developer with extensive experience in luxury hospitality and branded residences, and are looking forward to seeing Lionheart’s vision for the parcel come to life,” said James O’Donnell, Vail Resorts’ executive vice president of hospitality, retail and real estate, in an April news release. “The development will be a true asset to locals and guests from around the world.” 

Adjacent to One Ski Hill Place, the developer is proposing a ski-in, ski-out, full-service branded hotel with about 150 rooms that would be managed by a subsidiary of Vail Resorts, which owns Breckenridge Ski Resort.

In addition to the branded hotel, the scope of the project now includes approximately 35 residential condos along with a spa and fitness center; restaurant, bar and lounge; meeting space; and parking. 

Over the phone, BGV co-owner and CEO Mike Dudick expressed pride in his company’s involvement in the Peak 8 project, as he confirmed BGV sold its interest in the development to Lionheart Capital about three weeks ago.

“We’re moving forward; it’s just not on this hotel site,” Dudick said.

He described the sale of BGV’s interest in the project as “a mutually beneficial business transaction.” He declined to provide financial details but said that BGV is already pursuing “new opportunities” in town.

After leaving his seat on Breckenridge Town Council last spring, Dudick became the face of the Peak 8 project, which was being pursued at the time through a partnership between his company and Lionheart on land belonging to Vail Resorts.

The negotiations hinged largely on developers seeking to move a historic amount of building density — stripped from a resort-owned parking lot in downtown Breckenridge — up to the base of Peak 8, on land that previously housed a Breckenridge Ski Resort administration building.

Council members repeatedly expressed comfort with BGV’s involvement in the project, but they were reluctant to approve the development agreement until the development team put together a package featuring a long list of public benefits and gained support for the project in the community.

The benefits included a one-time gift and continual funding for the Cucumber Gulch Wildlife Preserve, in addition to new workforce housing and a nice boost for Breckenridge Outdoor Education Center, a local nonprofit that offers to people with disabilities and special needs the chance to participate in outdoor activities like skiing.

Without BGV’s help brokering the agreement, it’s hard to believe elected officials would have approved it. Meanwhile, Dudick believes that BGV helped produce “a better project” with a host of the community benefits “codified, memorialized and protected” in the agreement.

“I feel great about it in the sense of what’s going to end up at the base of Peak 8,” Dudick said, adding that a similar basket of benefits has never before been offered by any other developer in town.

He applauded the more than 20,000 square feet of net new workforce housing that’s coming with the project, which Dudick noted was far greater than the 3,500 square feet that’s required to get 10 positive points for the project through the town’s planning process.

Dudick also said the new space on Peak 8 for BOEC — 1,500 square feet of locker room and storage facilities — also likely wouldn’t have happened, nor the money for Cucumber Gulch, without BGV’s local understanding and hand in the negotiations.

With that and more explicitly written into the development agreement, Dudick said, “the developer knows the ground rules to satisfy the community.”

In Vail Resorts’ news release, Ricardo Dunin, a founding partner of Lionheart Capital, said that the Miami-based company plans to continue communications with the town.

“Following Lionheart’s tradition of embracing the communities where we do business, we intend to keep working with the town to bring a very special project to Breckenridge,” he said. “Having developed properties such as Le Sereno Hotel in St. Barths and two Ritz-Carlton projects in South Florida, we are thrilled to be adding a mountain resort to our portfolio.”

As for BGV, Dudick said the company is actively pursuing new opportunities in Breckenridge. He wouldn’t say exactly what they might be or where those opportunities could take BGV, but when prodded for a hint, Dudick suggested it could be another large parcel owned by Vail Resorts.

“We have bought and closed on land owned by Vail Resorts three times, and it’s our hope we can do it again in the future,” he said.

Courtesy Summit Daily.

Summit County adopts Community Climate Action Plan

#Summit County #Colorado

Summit Daily

Summit County has a stronger interest in mitigating the effects of climate change than many other communities. Warming temperatures have chipped away at the length of winter over the past few decades, inviting a beetle invasion that killed off half the trees, and leaving less and less water in the Colorado River.

To affirm the county’s commitment to be on the forefront of climate change policy, Summit’s county commissioners passed a resolution during their regular meeting on Tuesday, April 23, adopting a Community Climate Action Plan that would have the county drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions from its buildings, transportation and infrastructure within certain time frames.

“A stable climate is essential to Summit County’s natural resources, economy and quality of life,” Summit County Commissioner Elisabeth Lawrence said. “The Summit Community Climate Action Plan is a thoughtfully crafted roadmap that will help ensure we’re doing our part to facilitate the transition to clean, renewable energy.”

The climate action plan was created within the two-year time frame mandated by the Compact of Colorado Communities, a multicommunity agreement to implement climate action plans, in May 2017. Summit County signed onto the compact along with the town of Breckenridge, the town of Frisco, Eagle County and Pitkin County.

The plan aims to reduce countywide emissions by 50% by 2030 and 80% by 2050; eliminate all emissions from electricity use by 2035; reduce building energy emissions by 21% by 2030 and 36% by 2050; reduce transportation emissions by 25% by 2030 and 91% by 2050; and reduce waste emissions by 50% by 2030 and 90% by 2050. 

The plan will achieve these goals through various strategies, including electrifying the county’s vehicle fleet, encouraging the use of public transit and non-motorized transportation, amending building and land use codes to optimize energy efficiency, installing renewable energy installations and electric vehicle infrastructure, and improving recycling, compost and water conservation programs.

The plan also seeks to streamline the solar permitting process and implement “Solarize Summit County,” a program that will allow local homeowners the ability to bulk-buy solar panels.

The plan was drawn up by the Summit Climate Action Collaborative, which was in turn facilitated by the High Country Conservation Center. Consulting firm Lotus Engineering & Sustainability performed analysis and modeling of how the county could best cut its greenhouse emissions, finding that the county’s emissions would be reduced by 60% by 2050 with full implementation of the plan. To reach a goal of 80% reduction, the county would have to find a way to reduce its reliance on natural gas-based heating.

Aside from the county, several local towns, ski areas, utilities, the Summit School District, Colorado Mountain College and other significant Summit businesses and organizations are participating in the collaborative.

The plan will seek input from and coordinate with Xcel Energy, Mountain Parks Electric and other utilities and community partners to achieve these goals. Xcel Energy has already committed to going 100% carbon-free by 2050, which would significantly help with the county’s efforts to diminish greenhouse gas emissions.

Summit Climate Action Collaborative members are still studying the climate action plan and their individual requirements, with all participating organizations dedicating staff time to participate in development and implementation of the policies, programs and initiatives identified in the plan.

The climate action plan can be viewed in its entirety on HC3’s website at HighCountryConservation.org/Climate-Action-Plan.

Courtesy Summit Daily.

Breckenridge trail troll Isak Heartstone halfway complete in new location

#Breckenridge

Summit Daily

Isak Heartstone, the beloved Breckenridge trail troll whose wild popularity led to its demise this past November, is close to being whole again. Danish artist Thomas Dambo has returned to bring Isak back to life after reaching an agreement with the town of Breckenridge to rebuild the 15-foot wooden sculpture on a new, different trail in a less residential part of town at Illinois Gulch.

The town previewed Isak’s unveiling to the media Friday morning. Isak is half-built, with completion expected next week. Dambo insisted on the media not taking photographs of the troll as it was being constructed, desiring the work to be seen in full only when completed. At the moment, the troll’s feet have been completed, and work on the new Trollstigen (“Trolls Road”) trail is not expected to be completed for at least two to three more weeks.

The town has said that it chose the location, behind the Stephen C. West Ice Arena at 189 Boreas Pass Road, because of its location away from populated areas, easy access to the road and public transit, local mining history and scenic forestland.

Dambo is expected to complete Isak on Friday, May 10, and at 10:30 a.m. there will be a ceremonial placement of Isak’s “heartstone” by local children who placed the same stone in the original Isak last year.

The existing social trail will remain closed for two to three weeks so that town staff can build the new Trollstigen trail and make it accessible and sustainable for visitors. Visitors are asked to respect the work and not visit the troll until early June.

Courtesy Summit Daily.

Notices mailed out to Summit County property owners this week

Michael Yearout Photography

#Summit County #Colorado

Notices of valuation from the Summit County Assessor’s Office went out to property owners on Wednesday, as state law requires county assessors reevaluate property values every other year.

“Most Summit County properties saw an increase in market value since the last reappraisal in 2017,” said Summit County Assessor Frank Celico in a news release. “Sale prices continued to climb throughout the county during our data collection period from July 1, 2016, to June 30, 2018, with certain areas of Summit County seeing substantial increases.”

According to the 2019 revaluation, the average value of a single-family home in the county is now $1.1 million. At the same time, the average condominium is valued at $499,000. In Breckenridge, the average single-family home rose to $1.3 million and the average condo is now $587,000.

The highest-valued single-family home is at $8.8 million and condominium at $2.9 million. Both are in the Breckenridge area. Outside the Breckenridge area, the highest-valued single-family home and condominium are now at $4.4 million and $1.9 million, respectively. The areas in Summit County that saw the largest increases in market value of residential property since 2017 are Dillon Valley, Wildernest and Keystone.

The assessor’s office values properties using sales recorded during the data collection period. There were 2,204 qualified sales of condominiums and 1,125 of single-family homes in the county. 

As explained in the notices, taxpayers can appeal their valuations online, in person or by mail with the Summit County Assessor’s Office throughout the month of May. Mailed appeals must be postmarked by June 3. In-person appeals must be delivered to the Assessor’s Office by 5 p.m., June 3. Online appeals may be filed through the website SummitCountyCO.gov/assessor until 11:59 p.m. June 3.

Colorado taxpayers over the age of 65 as of Jan. 1, 2019, who have lived in their homes as primary residences for at least 10 years may also be eligible for the Senior Property Tax Exemption. To apply for the exemption, go to the assessor’s office in person or go online. For more, call the office at 970-453-3480 or email assessor@summitcountyco.gov.

Rocky Mountain region breaks all-time record with 24 million skier visits this winter

#Colorado

Summit Daily

Whether it’s at the hotels and inns, cafes, bars and restaurants, or with the season pass holders, most of Summit County knows this ski season was one for the books. Just how good, though, might be surprising.

The preliminary figures released Tuesday by the National Association of Ski Areas trade group show that skier visits in the U.S. increased by nearly 11% over last season with more than 59 million this winter.

The association found the growth was most dramatic in the Pacific Northwest and Rocky Mountain regions, which saw skier and snowboarder visits jump by 22.9% and 15.6%, respectively.  Overall, the 2018–19 ski season will go down as fourth best in terms of visitation since the association started tracking these figures in 1978. For comparison, the best season on record came in 2010–11, when there were more than 60.5 million visits, followed closely by the 2007–08 ski season.

According to the National Ski Areas Association, no region in the U.S. saw more ski visits this winter than the Rocky Mountains, which broke all previous records by surpassing 24 million visits in 2018–19.  Visits are defined by the purchase of a lift ticket for any portion of the day and the figures include season pass holders. The strong performance was announced at the National Ski Areas Association National Convention and Tradeshow in San Diego, and more data should be released later this year.

Like other groups in Summit County, including town officials and members of the businesses community, the industry association has attributed the increased skier traffic in large part to this winter’s abundant snowfall, which was up 31% nationwide from last season.

The association acknowledged the snowstorms posed problems across the country, but that snow also drew millions of powder-seekers to ski areas in the U.S., including the four located in Summit County — Arapahoe Basin Ski Area, Copper Mountain Resort, Keystone Resort and Breckenridge Ski Resort.

“Snow is our greatest asset and this year was one to remember,” said Kelly Pawlak, the association’s president and CEO, in a news release. Formed in 1962, the association represents 317 ski areas, their operators and industry suppliers from the association’s headquarters in Lakewood.

Traffic to Vail Resorts’ properties is included in the association’s totals, though as a publicly traded company, Vail Resorts closely guards the release of skier visits at its resorts.

However, the company had a good season on the whole. According to information released last week, season-to-date lift-ticket revenue at the company’s North American mountain resorts — including an allocated portion of season pass revenue for each applicable period — was up 9.3% over the previous year season-to-date period.

Company CEO Rob Katz recently hyped the outgoing ski season in comments about the company’s second quarter results.

“We are pleased with our overall results for the quarter, with strong growth in visitation and spending compared to the prior year,” he said, adding that Vail Resorts’ properties in Colorado and Utah experienced “strong visitation during the holidays and through the remainder of the quarter,” largely in line with the company’s expectations.

But the season is not over yet. In fact, two Summit County ski areas — Arapahoe Basin and Breckenridge Ski Resort — are still going strong while nearby Loveland Ski Area is also operating.

A-Basin typically runs lifts into June while Breckenridge Ski Resort is making good on its newfound plans to run through the Memorial Day weekend.

And if snow is their currency, the local resorts have fared quite well this year.

In the last week alone, Breckenridge Ski Resort received nearly 2 feet of fresh snow. For the season, that put the resort at 428 inches total, making this the third snowiest winter for the resort behind only the 2010–11 ski season with 519 inches of snow and the 2013–14 season, which had 441 inches.

All of this snow has been credited, not only for upping skier visits, but for solid growth rates in the county’s lodging, its sales tax revenues and traffic counts, as well.

According to the Breckenridge Tourism Office, the town’s winter occupancy data shows that as of April 15, Breckenridge saw winter occupancy rise 7% for November through April over the previous year.

“The strong snow year has driven increases in visitation and many of our ski areas have reported record years in that regard,” said Adrienne Saia Isaac, the association’s director of marketing and communications.

However, ensuring the trend of heightened skier visitation continues across the U.S. will require more than snow, Isaac predicted, as she said that engaging new skiers and riders, further improving the guest experience and mitigating the effects of climate change are all important to “ensure the health” of the ski industry.

Colorado Ski Country USA, a state trade group, will release its stats on skier visits in June.