Season Recap

Season Recap

In a year that was down for many resorts across the United States, Powderhorn Mountain Resort has many reasons to celebrate. The season started on August 4th, 2011, with the purchase of the resort by Andy Daly and Ken, Tom and John Gart. With the purchase came a sigh of relief from the residents of Grand Junction, the surrounding communities, and loyal customers of the resort.

Powderhorn's luck continued when, on the day before we opened for the season, we received 16 inches of fresh powder. Throughout the 2011-12 season, we were blessed with consistent snow conditions and strategic powder dumps. Presidents' Day is the perfect example; while many Colorado ski resorts received just a few inches, Western Slope residents awoke to 19 inches of fresh snow at Powderhorn. The previous week, the resort received 10 inches and the following week, we received an additional 35 inches of snow to bring the total to 64 inches in a three week period.

While most resorts had to open late or close early this season, Powderhorn had almost 90 percent of its terrain available on opening day. Within a few weeks, 100 percent of the mountain was open. On closing day, we had over 95 percent of the mountain open. Throughout the season we consistently had some of the best conditions in the state.

Snow conditions aren't the only thing we are celebrating this season. While most resorts saw a decline in numbers across the board, we experienced increases in many different categories. Pass sales for the 2011-12 season were up 15 percent, and overall skier days were up 5 percent while there was a statewide average decline of 7 percent. In addition, pass sales this spring for the 2012-13 season are already up almost 27 percent over last year.

Guest satisfaction also was up this season and much of that increase can be attributed to the new ownership and management.

We hope all of you were happy with how this season turned out and welcome any comments and suggestions to make the next year and the coming years even better! Thanks for the great season and we look forward to many more!