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Show r 4_Monda%WpfJl]&2Qd6."""". '."""".. " Campus News The Utah Statesman] Utah catching up to Vermont in skier days million skier visits, up 12 SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Utah's skiing governor, Jon percent, even with a shorter season, said resort execuHuntsman, hit the slopes Saturday as industry officials tives and Nathan Rafferty, president of Ski Utah. gave an early assessment of the 2005-06 season, saying Snowbird, about 18 the total number of skier miles east of Salt Lake City, visits was fast approaching 4 had its busiest March for million. skier visits and lodging, resort spokeswoman Laura Utah, the No. 4 skiing stale, could move up a notch Schaffer said. Executives at other Utah and replace Vermont, which resorts said their numbers usually tops 4 million skier were up, too, although for visits but suffered from a competitive reasons the shortage of winter snowfall, 13 independently owned with many of its ski areas resorts don't release figopening late and closing ures. Ski Utah compiles and early this season. releases a single figure for Ski areas in Utah's Wasatch Range, by contrast, all resorts at the end of the season. have had about 50 feet of snow since October, with Rafferty said Utah's final three feet falling last week. numbers will depend on The mountain snowpack traffic in the final weeks of is 171 percent above northe season. mal, the National Weather Most Utah resorts will Service reports. The resorts close next weekend, except got even more snow last for Snowbasin, which plans winter, when Snowbird had to stay open until April 23. skiing for 205 days straight. Snowbird, a year-round resort, will offer skiing until The resorts could match the end of May. last winter's record of 3.9 The resorts don't close for lack of a snowpack but for interest, as skiers switch to playing golf, riding bicycles or mowing lawns. Even as they lose customers, resorts stay open for weeks, just to show they can, said Gary DeSeelhorst, president of Solitude Mountain Resort, which is staying open until April 16. "April will be a bummer financially. There's no question," he said. Overall, Utah resort officials think they're taking traveling skiers from No. 1 Colorado, which logged 11.81 million skier visits last winter, but industry officials in Colorado say they're not seeing any losses. "Certainly we're looking at a record year," said Molly Cuffe, communications director for Colorado Ski Country. "Right now we're on track to hit 12 million skier visits - we've gotten close to that number in the past, but it's always eluded us." Half of Vermont s ski areas closed WIM.1!;.*. ago. Mad River Glui ski area, a cooperative owned by skiershareholders, hud its worst winter in a decade and shut down March 13, Mad River's President Jamie Wimble said. "We are definitely in the red for this year," Wimble said. On the plus side, "we < have no debt and a low [ overhead." • At Solitude, about 18 miles east of Salt Lake City, skiers were cruising on slopes with 14 feet of : packed iiiow on Saturday. Huntsman said the ; secret was ;_;t tUng out, thanks in part to the 2002 Winter Olympics - that Utah resorts have good skiing, abundant snowfall and quick access from Salt Lake City's airport. Eight resorts are within a 45-minute drive of the airport. Huntsman said the ski industry contributes nearly $1 billion to the Utah economy. Utah bankruptcies drop under new law of the MERRILL-CAZIER LIBRARY J y Keynote Presentation by essayist Richard Rodriguez Friday, April 14,2006 2:00 p m Library Atrium Following the Ded.aLtcn.jDn us for refreshments, and gu:ded tours of the building. SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Utah's bankruptcy filing numbers dropped 79 percent during the first quarter of this year - a slide some say is a direct result of sweeping changes to federal bankruptcy law that make it tougher for consumers to walk away from debts. Still, most observers believe the decline is only temporary. "We're just seeing the results of the new bankruptcy law that went into effect in October, but nothing has really changed," said Jean Lown, a professor at Utah State University who has studied Utah's consumer bankruptcy rate. "Lenders remain as aggressive as ever, providing credit at high interest rates to just about anyone who has a heart beat." In the first three months of 2006,1,015 Utahns sought bankruptcy protection. During the same time in 2005, some 4,861 bankruptcy petitions were filed. David Sime, clerk of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for Utah, said large numbers of consumers crowded bankruptcy courts in September and October prior to the nation's new bankruptcy law going into effect. In Utah this year, there were 233 petitions filed in January, 311 in February and 471 in March, he said. Last year's bankruptcy reform bill, known as the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, was passed by Congress after heavy lobbying by credit card issuers, who portrayed consumers as out-of-control spenders. The law established a "means test" for anyone who files and earns at least 125 percent or more of their state's median income level. In Utah that's only $45,726, so only households earning more than $57,157 a year are subject to the test. ; The test determines if bankruptcy filers '• can afford to pay at least 25 percent of what ' they owe, or a minimum of $6,000, over a five-year period. Those who can must file for a Chapter 13 reorganization and make payments rather than get immediate relief under a Chapter 7 liquidation of their assets. Attorney Duane Gillman, who also serves as a bankruptcy trustee, said Utah's current robust economy and high employment rate I should keep bankruptcy filings down, but | only in the short term. j Gillman blames Utah's historically high i number of bankruptcies on a lack of consumer financial education. ( "Thirty years ago the bankers took a gamble," he said. "They fired of all those guys' who used to sit around with rolled up sleeves and green visors and go over someone's \ loan application with them to see if they j could afford to borrow the money they were [ requesting." 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