Montana Ski Areas Report Hot Winter But Snowmobiling In West Yellowstone Drops By 20 Percent

Winter business dropped in the snowmobiling hub of West Yellowstone, but several Montana ski areas report a strong season.

Business in West Yellowstone, which bills itself as the world’s snowmobiling capital, fell 20 percent compared to last year, the Chamber of Commerce said. Director Vicki Eggers said storms in the Midwest probably contributed to the drop.

“For a good, long part of the winter, you couldn’t get here from there,” Eggers said.

She also said some people mistakenly believed Yellowstone National Park was closed to snowmobiles. The park was closed to the vehicles for a few days in early January because of rain and poor snow conditions, said Stacy Churchwell, a park spokeswoman.

Yellowstone opened for snowmobiling on Dec. 20, a week later than usual.

There also was confusion about conditions at Yellowstone and at Yosemite National Park in California.

Yellowstone officials said they received calls from people concerned about flooding. Flooding occurred in Yosemite during the past winter and brought a temporary closure, but there was no flooding in Yellowstone.

Reports from some ski resorts in Montana suggest a brighter season economically.

Bridger Bowl near Bozeman posted its third-best year and was open for 124 days, about 10 more than usual, said Doug Wales, director of marketing for the ski area.

Wales said Bridger would have received more business if not for storms that occasionally closed highways in North Dakota.

The Big Sky resort drew just under 300,000 skiers this season. Record attendance of just under 300,000 was set in 1995-96.

“This year, we got a lot of print in the major ski magazines and that enticed a lot of people to come out,” said Sarah Healey, advertising coordinator for Big Sky. After receiving record snowfall, managers want to keep the slopes open on weekends until June.

Near Whitefish, The Big Mountain saw a 12 percent increase in skiers compared to last season, spokesman Dusty Hailey said. Exact numbers will be released later.

Hailey attributes the increase to good snow and to aggressive marketing that targeted Seattle, Minneapolis and the Alberta cities of Calgary and Edmonton.

Statewide figures on winter tourism are based on the payment of taxes for overnight lodging and will be available later, said Travel Montana, the state tourism office. Winter visitation accounted for $122 million of the nearly $1.3 billion that tourists spent in Montana in 1995.

University of Montana tourism researchers have found that 28 percent of winter tourists are from Canada, and 19 percent are from Washington. Researchers also have found the winter tourist spends more than the summer tourist, and is more likely to be a repeat visitor to Montana.