Utah Ski Industry Deathwatch Update

In order to honor one of Utah's most smug, fatuous, narcissistic, and elitist citizens (no, it's not him), I've decided to keep track on one of his most idiotic predictions. As was blogged on this website last summer, during a snooty elitist Global Warming confab at Robert Redford's Sundance ski resort last July Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson provided us with this howler:

As an advocate, Anderson has tried to give locals a reason to care about global warming. In his 2005 State of the City speech the mayor said higher temperatures could level Utah's lucrative ski industry in just a few decades.

The world "stands at the brink of environmental catastrophe from global warming," he said. Climate change could "spell the end of much of the ski industry."

Of course, being Rocky Anderson he didn't let the reality that Snowbird Ski resort at that very moment was enjoying its' longest and most profitable season in history -- thanks to record snowfalls -- change his mind. Nope, Utah's ski industry is doomed, and it's all George Bush's fault.

His prediction doesn't look any better so far this year: Utah's ski resorts appear to be on the same track as last year. And it's not all due to location and the 2002 Olympics, either; snowfall has been generous at the higher elevations this season. All in all, Utah's ski industry is going through boom times, when they're supposed to be getting ready to shut down due to imminent desertification.

How dare they.