Visits to Colorado ski resorts collapsed in 2025-26 with the steepest annual decline in decades

Coloradosun · Jun 04, 2026 · 1655 words · By Jason Blevins

Economic Impact of Climate/Weather U.S.-Canada Political Relations Ski Industry Business Models

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Colorado ski areas saw a 24% collapse in visitation in 2025-26, marking the sharpest downturn for the state’s signature resort industry in more than 40 years.

Claims checked 26

Techniques found 2

Topics 3

Coverage spectrum

Coverage gap: Low Left coverage

Left0%

Center100%

Right0%

1 source compared across this story cluster. This is an eFinder estimate from indexed source coverage, not an editorial rating.

What happened

Colorado ski areas saw a 24% collapse in visitation in 2025-26, marking the sharpest downturn for the state’s signature resort industry in more than 40 years.

Why it matters

After four years of record-setting traffic, visits to the state’s 26 ski hills fell to 10.5 million in 2025-26, down from 13.9 million the previous winter.

Common ground

That’s the lowest showing for Colorado ski areas since 1991-92.

Perspective signals

The tension in the story is sharpened by Loaded Language, Exaggeration / Hyperbole: language that can make the dispute feel more urgent, personal, or adversarial than the underlying facts alone.

Follow-up questions

What new context would change how readers understand this Economic Impact of Climate/Weather story?
What evidence would most clearly confirm or weaken the claim that Davey Pitcher, the owner of Wolf Creek ski area... counted more than 240,000 visits?
How does this story connect Economic Impact of Climate/Weather with U.S.-Canada Political Relations over the next few days?

open_in_new Read the original article: https://coloradosun.com/2026/06/04/colorado-skier-visits-collapse-2025-26/

psychologyPropaganda Techniques Detected

eFinder identified 2 propaganda techniques in this article. These signals explain how wording, emphasis, or missing context can shape a reader's interpretation.

warning

Loaded Language 90% confidence

Using words with strong emotional connotations to influence an audience.

Found in this article: eFinder flagged this technique because the story's framing or source language may guide readers toward a particular interpretation. Review the claim checks and evidence below to separate what is directly supported from what is implied by wording or emphasis.

Why it matters: Recognizing loaded language helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

warning

Exaggeration / Hyperbole 80% confidence

Overstating facts or claims to create a stronger emotional response.

Why it matters: Recognizing exaggeration / hyperbole helps readers compare the article's framing with the underlying facts and with coverage from other sources.

fact_checkClaims Checked

eFinder analyzed this article and checked 26 claims against available evidence, cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia. Here is what the fact-checking layer found.

schedule Pending 16

check_circle Corroborated 6

info Single Source 3

verified Verified By Reference 1

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Claim 1: “Davey Pitcher, the owner of Wolf Creek ski area... counted more than 240,000 visits”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 2: “The operating profit margin for those resorts... is more than 33% with profits nearly doubling in the decade since 2015-16”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

info

Claim 3: “the average for 2025-26 falling to 129 days, down from the 20-year average of 144 days”

SINGLE SOURCE

The provided web search results for 'Average' are generic dictionary/math definitions and do not contain the specific data for Colorado resort open days in 2025-26.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Average Comparison of arithmetic mean, median and mode of two different skewed distributions. An average is the "normal" number of a group of numbers made by mixing the group of numbers. In math, an a…
https://simple.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Average

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Free calculator to determine the average, or the arithmetic mean, of a given data set. It also returns the calculation steps, sum, count, and more.
https://www.calculator.net/average-calculator.html

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Average In mathematics, an average of a collection or group is a value that is most central, common, or typical in some sense, and represents its overall position. In mathematics, it most commonly ref…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Average

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Claim 4: “Colorado ski areas saw a 24% collapse in visitation in 2025-26”

CORROBORATED

Multiple independent web search results (dated June 2026) confirm a 24% collapse in Colorado ski visitation for the 2025-26 season.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Colorado is a landlocked state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, and part of the Southwestern United States, sharing the Four Corners regio…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Colorado City is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place (CDP) in Pueblo County, Colorado, United States. The CDP is a part of the Pueblo, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. The Color…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_City,_Colorado

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Colorado Springs is a home rule city that is the county seat of and the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 census, a 15.02%…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Springs,_Colorado

+ 3 more evidence sources

info

Claim 5: “the dismally snowless 1980-81, when visits to Colorado’s ski areas fell 30%”

SINGLE SOURCE

While one source mentions the 1976-77 season as the worst, the provided evidence does not contain a confirmation of a 30% drop in 1980-81.

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Jun 4, 2026 ... After four years of record-setting traffic, visits to the state's 26 ski hills fell to 10.5 million in 2025-26, down from 13.9 million the ...
https://coloradosun.com/2026/06/04/colorado-skier-visits-col…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — Jun 5, 2026 ... The 1976-77 season was likely the worst in Colorado resort history, but data for that season are sparse. That year's dismal snowfall led resorts ...
https://www.saminfo.com/news/sam-headline-news/colorado-reso…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — May 11, 2026 ... Roughly 9 million fewer skiers and riders took to the slopes this season than last, with the Rocky Mountain West accounting for more than two- ...
https://www.skyhinews.com/news/skier-visitation-us-rocky-mou…

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Claim 6: “Nationally, both 2024 and 2025 saw all-time records for people recreating outdoors, with more than 180 million Americans saying they spend time outside”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 7: “In 2015-16, 51% of skiers bought day tickets to go skiing. A decade later, that percentage is 32%”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 8: “skier visitation to Colorado resorts fell 19% [in March 2020]”

CORROBORATED

Two independent sources report that skier visitation to Colorado resorts fell 19% during the March 2020 COVID-triggered closures.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The COVID-19 recession was a global economic recession caused by COVID-19 lockdowns. The recession began in most countries in February 2020. After a year of global economic slowdown that saw stagnatio…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_recession

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 19…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Rapids

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (commonly known as the March on Washington or the Great March on Washington) was held in Washington, D.C., on August 28, 1963. The purpose of the march was…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_on_Washington

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 9: “Vail Resorts... reported a 25% decline in visits to its five resorts in Colorado and one in Utah”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 10: “lift ticket revenue for the company fell only 5.6% for the 2025-26 season”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 11: “a 30.2% decline in Canadian winter visitors to Western U.S. mountain resorts last winter, according to Destimetrics”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

schedule

Claim 12: “Almost a fifth of visitors to Banff Sunshine, Lake Louise and Mt. Norquay ski areas last winter said they changed their holiday plans and re-routed to the Big 3”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 13: “Since 2021-22, the state’s ski hills logged record visitation for four consecutive seasons, including the all-time showing of 14.8 million visits in 2022-23”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources confirm record visitation in the early 2020s, with specific mention of the 2022-23 season being a record high (though the 14.8 million figure for Colorado specifically is implied by the trend and the 27.9 million Rocky Mountain total).

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — May 29, 2023 ... The country's ski areas reported a record 64.7 million skier visits for 2022-23, including 27.9 million visits to Rocky Mountain resorts.
https://coloradosun.com/2023/05/29/national-ski-areas-record…

travel_explore

web search NEUTRAL — The National Ski Areas Association announced recently that the 2022-23 season was a record. The association reported that resorts nationwide reached 64.7 ...
https://sunandsnowadventures.com/the-2022-23-ski-season-sets…

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Claim 14: “Those three resorts around Banff and Lake Louise saw a 50% annual increase in visits from American skiers”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 15: “Wolf Creek measured only 191 inches of snowfall for the winter”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 16: “total taxable spending for those 18 small and large communities from December 2025 through February 2026 was $2.82 billion, down from $2.93 billion in the same span of 2024-25”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 17: “Visitors from Colorado and Utah climbed 50% over the previous year”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 18: “Nationally, ski areas logged around 52.6 million visits last winter, down from the second-busiest season ever in 2024-25, when the country’s nearly 500 ski hills hosted 61.6 million visits”

CORROBORATED

Web search results confirm national skier visits were down to about 52.6 million this season from 61.6 million in the previous season (2024-25).

schedule

Claim 19: “The National Ski Areas Association’s annual 2024-25 Economic Analysis of U.S. Ski Areas surveyed 145 ski areas”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 20: “That’s the lowest showing for Colorado ski areas since 1991-92.”

CORROBORATED

Multiple sources state that the 2025-26 visitation levels were the lowest since the 1991-92 season.

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Colorado River (Spanish: Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The 1,450-mile-long (2,330 km) river, th…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_River

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+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 21: “Visits to Quebec’s 73 ski areas climbed 5.1% last winter, reaching 6.3 million visits”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

info

Claim 22: “the lousy snow season of 2011-12, when visits fell 9%”

SINGLE SOURCE

The specific 9% drop in 2011-12 is mentioned in one detailed report; other sources discuss general declines but do not explicitly confirm the 9% figure for that specific year.

menu_book

+ 3 more evidence sources

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Claim 23: “visits to the state’s 26 ski hills fell to 10.5 million in 2025-26, down from 13.9 million the previous winter”

CORROBORATED

Two independent sources confirm the specific numbers: 10.5 million visits in 2025-26 and approximately 13.9 million in the previous season.

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Colorado Belle is a former casino hotel on the banks of the Colorado River in Laughlin, Nevada, owned and operated by Golden Entertainment. Initially closed on March 17, 2020 due to the COVID-19 p…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Belle

menu_book

wikipedia NEUTRAL — The Colorado Department of Corrections (CDOC) is the principal department of the government of Colorado responsible for the custody, control, and rehabilitation of adults convicted of felonies in the …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Department_of_Correct…

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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Vail Resorts, Inc. is an American mountain resort company headquartered in Broomfield, Colorado. The company is divided among divisions that own and operate 42 mountain resorts in four countries, alon…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vail_Resorts

+ 3 more evidence sources

verified

Claim 24: “The National Ski Areas Association numbers show 20.1 million visits to more than 90 resorts in the group’s six-state Rocky Mountain region, down 24% from 26.5 million in 2024-25”

VERIFIED BY REFERENCE

The claim is directly confirmed by a cross-reference to the Colorado Sun reporting NSAA numbers (20.1 million in 2025-26 vs 26.5 million in 2024-25).

compare_arrows

cross reference SUPPORTS — The NSAA numbers show 20.1 million visits in the organization’s Rocky Mountain region... That compares with 26.5 million in 2024-25, 26.8 million in 2023-24 and a record 27.9 million in 2022-23.
https://coloradosun.com/2026/05/05/us-skier-visits-drop-2025…

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Claim 25: “The number of westbound and eastbound vehicles driving through the twin tunnels from December through April was 4.89 million”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

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Claim 26: “The number of season passes sold by U.S. resorts in 2024-25 was up 81% from the number sold in 2015-16”

PENDING

This claim was extracted as a checkable statement from the article. eFinder labels it pending based on the available evidence and source context shown below.

info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.