Ticket sales at ski resorts in Southeast Michigan have been average to better than average this season, say managers at the four metro Detroit ski destinations.

Representatives for White Lake-based Alpine Valley Ski Area, Brighton-based Mt. Brighton Ski Resort, Clarkston-based Pine Knob Ski and Snowboard Resort and Holly-based Mt. Holly Ski and Snowboard Resort all agree that this season beats last year’s mild winter.

Snowfall this season has been 29.3 inches through this afternoon.

“It’s been up and down,” said Joe Bruhn, president and general manager of Mt. Brighton. “We’ve had so many interruptions, where we’re open-close, open-close.”

Bruhn said Mt. Brighton, which sees an average of 500-1,000 people per day come through its doors, has had an above-average season.

Mt. Brighton’s revenues are about $5 million a year, according to Bruhn. The ski resort, which was purchased in December by Vail Resorts Inc. of Broomfield, Colo., employs 300-350 people during ski season.

Mt. Holly expects to get about 90 days of ski days this year, said Mark Tibbitts, general manager. “This seems like a winter of extremes,” he said.

The resort sees 90-100 days of skiing a year and around 100,000 skiers for the season. Last year, Mt. Holly, which has 18 runs, only had 82 days of skiing. It was the resort’s worst season ever, Tibbitts said, with sales down about 30 percent.

Pat Deibel, ski school director at Pine Knob, said that resort has had an experience similar to Mt. Brighton – up and down.

The season got off to a late start with warm weather and no snow in November, but had a successful holiday period with snowfall on Christmas Eve.

Pine Knob expects 60,000-80,000 skiers a season for its 17 runs. “We’re pretty average compared to other seasons,” said Gail Winterhalter, operations manager at Alpine Valley, which averages 1,500-2,000 people a day on the weekends and 500-600 people per day on weekdays. “A little bit better than last year.”

Source: www.crainsdetroit.com

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