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Tonya Papanikolas reporting The holidays are winding down, but they brought some good business to Utah's ski resorts.
Those resorts say they always do well this time of year, but the weather helped out a little, too.
WeI heard consistently today that Colorado doesn't have as much snow as Utah, so that brought people to Utah.
We also had the perfect amount of snow in most places. Enough for great powder, and not so much that the roads were closed up Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons.
Ski rental shops like Lift House look forward to the holidays. That's because business tends to triple around Christmas and New Year's.
Chris Nielsen, Lift House Service Manager: “We're always busy during the holidays. This year it's been really steady. We've had a good crowd in here."
It's the same on the mountains. Snowbird says they've been packed since the week before Christmas.
Laura Schaffer, Snowbird Ski Resort: “It's an important time for us. And we have been really lucky this year because the weather has been so good. We've got about four feet of snow since the beginning of this Christmas period, 20 inches in the past couple of days."
Typically, the holidays bring a ton of people from out of state.
Jodi Thieking, In Town from Colorado: “Salt lake has some really nice ski areas. We've skied here for 20 years."
Rick Hill, In Town from Minnesota: “Everybody is friendly in Utah, and the snow's great."
Skiers at Snowbird admit lines can be long.
Jim Lord, In Town from San Diego: “This is very crowded. As crowded as I remember."
Colleen Lord, In Town from San Diego: “ I've never run into a line like I’ve run into with the trams."
But many don't seem to mind, since there's more room on the mountains.
Scott Haines, In Town from Massachusetts: “Everything's full, but honestly, once you get up there, everything's open. So it doesn't really matter what the crowds are like."
At Solitude, it's a little less crowded. But officials say their holiday season has also been great. They reached capacity twice during the holidays.
Jay Burke, Solitude Ski Resort: “The village has been full from the day before Christmas until yesterday. You know, it's a really critical time. We can capitalize on everyone being in Utah."
Solitude says Ski Utah really does a great job of getting the word out when we have good snow, that brings in a lot of out-of-towners.
Most of those people are heading home, so the resorts say they'll see more locals now.
