RED LODGE – Red Lodge Mountain Ski area ended up with about 150 inches of snowfall for the 2018-19 season, about 40 percent above the previous five-year average.
Kelsey Borge, Red Lodge Mountain marketing manager, said the mountain “had an excellent snowfall year.”
And Red Lodge Mountain marketing director Spencer Weimar said he heard from locals “it was the best conditions they can remember.” The mountain closed earlier this month.
While the powder gods were smiling on Red Lodge in 2019, Borge said visitor numbers this year were flat compared to 2018. The mountain does not provide specific numbers.
“Had it not been for the month of February, being so cold as it was, we would have probably exceeded last year’s skier total,” said Weimar.
There is still off-season work to be done on the mountain.
Borge says crews will work over the summer to “thin and glade about 20 acres.”
This project is two-fold. Borge says it will reduce wildfire risk around the ski area and will provide fuel for the new biomass heating system being added to the Main Lodge.
According to Weimar, a biomass heating system will allow the mountain to burn wood to efficiently heat the Main Lodge. It would also reduce the mountain’s total electricity costs.
Both the forest thinning, and the biomass heater will be funded in part by two grants from the U.S. Forest Service.
With ski season wrapped up in 2019, Red Lodge Mountain officials will open the golf course May 17.
Reporting by Mitch Lagge for MTN News
