The failing is hitting home everywhere in the USA, including (and probably especially) the top ski resorts. Visits are down. Lift tickets are down. This will have a ripple effect across the valley as business see fewer customers, restaurants fewer diners and bar fewer drinkers (well probably not the latter since the locals can more than make up the difference). Vail Daily has the story:

Vail Resorts revenues slide

by Melanie Wong, Vail Daily

VAIL, Colorado — Skier visits, lift ticket revenue and bookings for the early season are all down compared to last year, a slide that wasn't unexpected, Vail Resorts reported Friday.

The numbers are for the comparative periods from the beginning of the ski season through Jan. 4, 2009, and for the prior year period through Jan. 6, 2008, with both periods including the holiday period through the first Sunday after New Year's Day.

In a December earnings report, Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz said the company expected to be hit by the economy just like the rest of the travel and leisure industry. Several indicators are now confirming that prediction.

Bookings improve, but still down
Skier visits so far this season are down almost 6 percent compared to this time last year, the resort said in a press release. However, while overall visits were down, the company caught up on some of the loss thanks to busy holiday weeks, when skier visits actually topped last year's numbers.

Lift ticket revenue, which takes into account revenue from season passes, is also down 7.5 percent.

3 skiers have been killed in avalanches in bounds in North America. It's getting dangerous out there. Be careful when skiing both in bounds and out of bounds, particularly if its just been dumping. The New York Times has the story:

Fatal Avalanches Rattle Ski Country in the West

by Christina Erb, New York Times

JACKSON, Wyo. -- Whistler Blackcomb resort in British Columbia has stationed guards at the top of some areas to prevent skiers and snowboarders from entering hazardous terrain. Grouse Mountain resort, in North Vancouver, has suggested that government action may be needed to deter skiers and snowboarders from using off-limit areas. And Jackson Hole in Wyoming has already burned through nearly half of this year's budget for avalanche hazard reduction work, one month into the season.

Resorts throughout the western United States and Canada are struggling with avalanche hazards as weather patterns have created uncommonly widespread conditions of instability, wreaking havoc on mountains crowded with skiers of all levels at the start of ski season. Last week, avalanches at Whistler Blackcomb killed a snowboarder and a skier on terrain outside the resort's boundaries. On Wednesday morning, a controlled slide ran past Jackson Hole's $10 million Bridger Restaurant -- already damaged by a recent avalanche -- while the mountain was closed to the public.

"It's a war zone," said Lanny Johnson, a wilderness medical advisor and former patroller at Lake Tahoe's Alpine Meadows ski resort. He added that this avalanche cycle had "the best in the field scratching their heads."