Lack of good, consistent snow and shorter winters threaten their bottom line - and perhaps their existence.
It's no accident that a report commissioned by the Park City Mountain Resort last year caused more than a little concern. If trends continue, by the year 2075, the elevation where enough snow would fall to sustain skiing would be 9,500 feet.
Since that's above most of Park City's skiable terrain, the result is obvious. There would be no skiing.
Resorts are working to find ways to solve the problem. According to the National Ski Areas Association, there are 28 resorts in the U.S. - but none in Utah - offsetting 100 percent of their carbon emissions by purchasing and using clean power. There are another 33 including Alta, The Canyons, Deer Valley, Park City Mountain Resort and Sundance that are partially powered by green energy.
If you want to talk about climate change, few people offer more common sense than Brent Giles, director of mountain operations for Park City Mountain Resort and head of environmental affairs for the Powdr Corp.
There are many skeptics who don't think global warming is an issue. Giles frames the discussion differently.
"The biggest debate is not weather or not there is global warming or climate change," he said. "The debate is whether it is human caused."
That leads to us making choices. Even if carbon dioxide greenhouse gasses are not directly affecting climate change, they do not have a positive effect. So why not do the right thing and try to reduce emissions wherever possible?
"If I woke up tomorrow and found that global warming was a big hoax and not caused by mankind, that's OK," said Giles. "I could say that I did what I could to make the earth a better place to be."
Giles has worked in the Park City area for almost 30 years and has observed many changes in the forests. There are more dead trees, often infected with insects. Warm weather allows many of those bugs that once froze to death to live longer.
"You've got to be a blind man to not see what's going on out there," he said.
What makes buying green power particularly difficult in Utah is that most of our electricity is produced from coal. Giles said that in Oregon and Vermont where many of the resorts meeting the 100 percent power goal are located, much of the power comes from hyrdoelectric plants.
So Park City Mountain Resort has tried to help by buying enough wind power to operate its four, detachable six-pack lifts for the entire winter season. It is using bio-diesel in all of its snow cats and heavy equipment. It has purchased low-energy snowmaking guns. It is replacing the lightbulbs with more energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs in its corporate offices. And it has even used grazing goats to control weeds on the mountain instead of pesticides.
These are the kind of positive steps that all outdoor recreation companies should follow. Park City Mountain Resort and the other Utah ski areas trying to go green deserve praise for their efforts.
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* TOM WHARTON can be contacted at wharton @sltrib.com. His phone number is 801-257-8909. Send comments about this story to livingeditor@sltrib.com.
