National Ski Areas Association (NSAA) skier visit records stretch back 48 years, to winter 1978-79. This past winter’s 52.9 million skier visits rank 32nd over that nearly half-century (annual rankings in black):
That’s not great, especially following six consecutive top-10 winters (excluding the truncated 2019-20 campaign).
But here is a more alarming data point: nationwide average ski area snowfall crashed to historic lows in winter 2025-26. The NSAA’s snow stats only date to winter 1991-92, but this past season’s 112 inches lands dead last over that 35-year period, a full 11 percentage points below the previous low of 126 inches (annual rankings in black):
Truncating the skier visit timeline to match the snowfall records reveals an interesting nuance: while 2025-26 ranks as the worst snowfall season in at least 35 years, it only clocks in as the sixth-lowest for skier visits:
This past winter’s 52.6 million skier visits would have finished as a pretty average season in the 1990s, even with those winters’ substantially higher snowfall totals: