Spring's a super time to slip away to the slopes
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By Thurston Hatcher
CNN
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- If all that talk from Salt Lake City about slaloms, moguls and halfpipes has left you with a hankering to hit the slopes, it's not too late for a little late-season skiing.
There's a whole lot of time, and powder, for some extra downhill runs before your thoughts turn from skis and snow to sand and surf.
In fact, experts say it might just be the best time of the season to go skiing or snowboarding.
"Spring skiing is an absolutely delightful experience," said Michael Berry, president of the National Ski Areas Association.
"Snow depths tend to be the greatest in the spring, and the number of people at the resorts tends to be fairly low, so it's a time filled with sun and great snow and few, if any, people. It's one of the great secret seasons."
And that's true whether you're out West or back East.
"Skiing is good through at least mid-April in this neck of the woods, and sometimes even into May," said Kirt Zimmer, communications manager with Stowe Mountain Resort in Vermont. "So there's plenty of time."
If you were hoping to ski or snowboard a little sooner -- even next week -- don't sweat it, although your chances for lodging, not to mention shorter lift lines, are better midweek.
"I'm sure a call to whatever resort you want to travel to, you'll be able to find some way to find a few days," Berry said.
But remember that spring break will bring a deluge of additional skiers to resorts.
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"It's not too late, but you have to be pretty flexible, especially if you try to do something in March," said David Rojahn, president of the Rocky Mountains chapter of the American Society of Travel Agents. "Usually March is a very, very busy month."
Last-minute booking is becoming a lot more commonplace at resorts and among travelers in general.
"In the age of the Internet, more and more people are booking at the last minute," Zimmer said. "One of the advantages of the Internet is that people can track the weather and the trail conditions up to the last moment."
Heapings of snow
Despite concerns about how declining travel after September 11 would affect the ski industry, resorts reported strong business over the all-important holidays. The skiing has remained steady since then, thanks in part to heaping helpings of snow in most regions.
"I think there's always going to be that need for people to get away and just relax and forget about the outside world," Zimmer said.
The experts don't expect the season to live up to the success of 2000-2001, when a record number of skiers and snowboarders raced down the slopes at American resorts after heavier-than-normal snowfall in many regions.
Resorts saw 57.3 million visitors, an increase of 9.8 percent over the previous year, according to a survey of 220 resorts by the National Ski Areas Association.
"The resorts throughout the country are having quite a reasonable year, and in some cases kind of exceeding expectations, particularly post-9/11 expectations," Berry said.
As for the Olympics effect, it's a bit too early to tell whether the Winter Games will send people scurrying to the slopes.
"It's one of the great questions for the industry quite honestly," Berry said. "Will the Olympics make a difference in terms of the number of people?"
