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Richard Piatt ReportingThe Utah ski season is already underway, before Thanksgiving. Starting early is a big deal for the industry's economic forecast, which is trumped only by the weather forecast.
So far both the economic forecast and the weather forecast are favorable for the ski industry. It was a beautiful day for Brighton's opening day yesterday, Solitude and Park City are opening tomorrow; Snowbird and Alta will open Saturday.
The reason everyone's getting excited already is snow in the mountains this week, and more on the way. The base at many resorts is around 33 inches. The lifts are cranked up, and the hum of that motor means big bucks to the state.
We found out there is about an 872 million dollar impact to Utah's economy every year. More of that is thanks to snowboarders, who are taking to the slopes twice as fast as skiiers are, and they're bringing a lot of enthusiasm with them.
Kenny Mills, Snowboarder: "Just love it, it's something we love to do. Those six months when there's snow, we're going to be up here most of the time."
You might think of people on vacation hitting the slopes more. In fact, there were more slightly more in-state skiers last year.
There's plenty of snow to open up, but most of the resorts are not 100 percent open right now. They are making snow, though, and more is in the forecast, so it won't be long.
