ORDA REPORT ON WINTER 2016
Albany Tines Union Rick Karlin
Snowstorms and cold weather will be the far from the minds of New Yorkers this holiday weekend. But the annual report from the organization that operates New York's three publicly owned ski areas - as well as other winter sports venues - records the chilling effect of last winter's freakishly warm, dry weather on the state's sizeable snow sports industry.
The Olympic Regional Development Authority noted that there have been significant investments and improvements at its Belleayre, Gore and Whiteface ski centers over the past year, including energy-efficiency equipment and high-tech snowmaking guns.
And hockey tournaments as well as figure skating competitions in ORDA's Lake Placid rink were well attended. But Mother Nature dealt ORDA and the state's entire snow sports industry a tough blow last winter in the form of a Christmas that felt more like Easter, followed by extended periods of snow drought or heavy rainfall.
The report from Gore describes a "historically adverse" season at that Adirondack ski center. About 90 minutes north outside of Lake Placid, Whiteface underwent the "worst season on record," according to the report.
The proof was in the weather statistics and snowfall averages, brought on by the El Nino effect.
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El Nino winter dented ORDA's snow depths
Belleayre: Typically gets 130 inches of snow. Last year it got 38.
Gore: Typically gets 133 inches of snow. Last year it got 37.
Whiteface: Mountain near Lake Placid typically gets more than 100 inches of snow. Last year it got 58.
While the Whiteface area typically gets 100 inches of snow and less than 5 inches of rain during a ski season, the winter of 2015-16 dropped just 58 inches of snow and a slush-inducing 17-plus inches of rain. A more man-made wound to the North Country resorts was the drop in the value of the Canadian dollar, which resulted in fewer visitors from the Montreal market.
The nearby cross-country ski center shut down in February and some ski-jumping competitions, scheduled for the iconic facility in Lake Placid had to be canceled.
In the Catskills, Belleayre received a paltry 38 inches of snow - about what one might expect from two decent-sized storms in a normal year. Normally, the area is blanketed by 130 inches.
All told, ORDA skier visits were down 25 percent last winter, which translated to an $8.8 million drop in revenue. ORDA resorts were not alone in feeling the fiscal chill from the literal warmth.
Ski Areas of New York, a regional trade group, had previously estimated that the low-snow winter would cost about $330 million in what is usually a billion-dollar winter tourism industry, according to published reports. Representatives of the group couldn't be reached on Thursday.
There were some bright spots, ORDA officials noted.
Loyal skiers who take advantage of ORDA's popular season pass deals provided needed cash at the start of the season. The report noted that ORDA sold 9,140 such passes, down just a bit from the 9,234 in the 2014-15 season.
And Berry said pent-up demand means a more seasonable 2016-17 winter should bring out the crowds.
That phenomenon happened on the West Coast, where this winter's heavy snows ended a four-year drought. Resort operators in states such as Oregon and Washington, he said, saw their business more than double from the year before.
"The bounce back we saw in the West is what we expect to see this year in the Northeast," Berry said.
