PARK CITY, Utah — When you look up at the mountains in Park City, there’s a lot of brown patches, and with visitors ready for Christmas, they’re not exactly happy with the scenery.
“Very unhappy, very unhappy that there was not snow on the mountain,” said Jessica Duggan, who was with her family visiting from Florida.
“Pretty excited to get back to the White Christmas that I'm used to growing up, but flying in from Tampa, seeing no snow on the ground,” said Brady Baumann, "it was little sad.”
“He just kind of shook his head when we were driving up. He says, 'There's no snow,'” said his father, Ted Baumann.
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They’re not the only ones who are unhappy; in-state businesses are having to adapt, just so they can keep their doors open.
“We've been doing this for about 35 years, the winter snowmobiling, and it's never been this warm this late in the season,” said Roger Osguthorpe, manager for Red Pine Adventures.
Osguthorpe told FOX 13 News that they had to go up even higher this year to find snow for snowmobiling.
“Get up to about 8,500 feet, and you get into snow. And so that's made us kind of alter our course this year,” he said. "It costs too much to make snow to put in a snow making system for snowmobiling. But we've got the natural stuff, so we are very fortunate, very lucky to be open this year.”
The warmer temperatures, however, may be on their side for one thing.
“The foot traction has picked up a lot because people, part of their ski vacation is to do other activities, and with the limited amount of ski runs open, people are looking for options,” Osguthorpe said.
The Duggans were one of those families.
“This is our happy place, so we love to spend Christmas in Park City, and we would come either way, because we love it and we find other things to do, like today we went snowmobiling,” said Brian Duggan.
Joining them in the lobby was Ted and Brady.
“We usually get a tree right after Thanksgiving, and we usually go back in on snowmobiles to get it,” Ted said. "Kind of walking around here right now, it’s the least amount of snow I’ve ever seen.”
However, it’s not just the tree Ted is worried about this year — it’s his livelihood as a realtor in Park City.
“When it snows, we do well because people come, they have good time. They're in the moment, they're emotional,” Ted said. "They're more apt to buy real estate, and when it doesn't snow, we as realtors feel it, and once the word gets out, when people go back to wherever they're from throughout the United States, and they talk about the poor conditions, I mean, it kind of sets the stage for the rest of the ski season.”
Businesses said they can only hope the weather changes so they can bounce back after the holiday season.
