Ski Resorts Expecting a Lift

The California ski industry is hoping for a rebound from a disappointing 1996-97 season with weather and economic forecasts cooperating so far.

“We’re having a fine season,” said Bob Roberts, executive director of the California Ski Industry Assn., a San Francisco trade group that represents 39 resorts with combined revenue of about $500 million.

“The resorts have a strong sense of demand, our international business is getting stronger each year . . . and the state’s economy is very good,” Roberts said.

This year, the ski industry is expecting about 6.7 million “skier visits,” up from 5.7 million in the 1996-97 season, Roberts said.

The guardian angel this year is El Nino, which is expected to mean warm storms that bring snow to the upper elevations or, at least, cold-enough temperatures as the storms head out of town for resorts to run their snow-making machines. Either option would represent a lift compared with the 1996-97 season, which started out well in the early part of the season but plowed into uncooperative weather.

“Historically, the little fellow has always taken care of us,” Roberts said. “El Nino made 1982-83 a fabulous season.”

Balmy temperatures in Southern California in January and February sent local skiers, an impulse-buying crowd, in search of competitive warmer weather activities. Meanwhile, resorts in the Lake Tahoe area were hurt by heavy rains in January that flooded and closed U.S. Highway 50 and the Reno-Tahoe Airport for a time.

The Department of Transportation, Caltrans, spent the summer repairing Highway 50 so that “it’s much safer to drive this winter,” said Erin Entwistle, spokeswoman for the Lake Tahoe Visitors Authority.

This week the area got 4 feet of snow and all the resorts are open, Entwistle said.

Business is up at the 18 stores operated by La Canada-based Sport Chalet Inc., driven by excitement over new “parabolic” shaped skis, said spokesman Bob Haueter. “We’ve got weather. We’ve got a good economy,” Haueter said. “I want to pinch myself. It’s like being in Oz.”