Record snowfall in Juneau has created some hazards and headaches but it’s also been a boon for the Eaglecrest Ski Area.
The National Weather Service reported more than 7 inches of snow at Juneau International Airport on Tuesday — breaking a record set in 1969.
North Douglas received 9 inches in 24 hours and fresh powder has been bringing people in droves to the mountain.
Record snowfall Tuesday in #Juneau. Another stat of interest: Snowfall Sunday-Tuesday added up to 20.8 inches at the Juneau Airport. #akwx pic.twitter.com/srKRs9rsCT
— NWS Juneau (@NWSJuneau) March 15, 2017
“It’s been a great season so far,” Eaglecrest’s marketing director Jeffra Clough said Thursday. “Today, we have over 2 feet of new snow since Monday and the parking lot looks more like a weekend than a Thursday.”
February’s cold and clear conditions had made it challenging to draw skiers, but this month the tide has turned.
“March over previous years has been great,” she said. “We’ve had great snow conditions. Right now our attendance up through March 6 has been approximately 4,500 people.”
That’s compared with just 2,400 skiers last March and a paltry 1,000 in 2015.
A lack of snow in those years forced Eaglecrest to shut down before the end of March.
Two previous poor snow years had spooked many skiers and season pass sales suffered.
With this latest burst of snow, Eaglecrest’s fans are coming back — a day at a time.
“Day tickets definitely have been increasing and I think that’s where you are seeing people who used to be season pass holders,” interim General Manager Nate Abbott said. “Since they’re concerned about those previous seasons, they probably didn’t buy a season pass.”
Eaglecrest is owned by the City and Borough of Juneau, which subsidizes its operations.
This spike in ticket sales could keep the ski area on budget and and he hopes it’ll boost skiers’ confidence in the mountain, Abbott said.
“Hopefully with this snow, people keep coming up and skiing and it ends up being a great end of the season,” he said. “And everybody next year, when they think back, they’ll be like, ‘The 16-17 season was great!’ and they’ll have a little bit more confidence that winter’s back and we had a couple of bad seasons but those were flukes and it does snow at Eaglecrest.”
Abbott was named interim manager this month following the departure of Matt Lillard for a job at a ski hill in Vermont.
The Eaglecrest’s board has received 19 applications — including Abbott’s — for a permanent replacement.
