Last month a fairly important piece of ongoing legislation was passed by Congress that describes how resorts can use U. S. Forest Service land. From Vail Resorts PR:
The bill will allow ski resorts to add new jobs during the summer and will help increase employment in rural mountain communities across the country. This opens up new opportunities for the entire ski industry,” said Rob Katz, chairman and chief executive officer of Vail Resorts.
From what I understand one implication is that the Forest Service can now permit more year-round recreational uses, such as zip-lines, mountain biking and ropes courses which would certainly shift the balance of power from the winter sports. I’ve visited Keystone in the off-season and while there are a number of folks doing mountain biking, there’s no crowd like you’d see on a typical Saturday in February.
If Vail and all the other state resorts are excited for it and Congress has passed it unanimously: this must be good.