PARK CITY — It's the monkey on the back of Utah skiing, and it's not exactly a cute chattering chimp.
The notion vacationers probably will stay away in droves during the winter of the 2002 Salt Lake Games is a serious animal the local ski industry is grappling to tame.
"It's the 500-pound gorilla sitting in the room," said Melissa O'Brien, communications director for Park City Mountain Resort.
Shortfalls happened in Albertville, Lillehammer and Nagano. There's little reason to believe things will change here.
"We're told we could be 50 to 20 percent down the entire 2002 season. There's the perception of crowds and price gouging. Surveys on the mountain show vast majorities don't know when the Games are. People just assume there'll be problems the whole winter and can't come," O'Brien said.
"We feel skier numbers will be off double digits," said Dirk Beal, director of sales for Deer Valley Resort. "Our biggest challenge will be the week leading up to the Games, during the Games themselves and in the cleanup period right after."
"Consumers believe you're too busy and too tired to treat them the way they want to be treated," said Kip Pitou, president of Ski Utah.
"We've all known the Olympics are a long-term investment, not a reward the year of the Games," O'Brien said.
The industry isn't taking the hit lying face-planted on the ground. It's fighting back with marketing strategies. Better news is how they benefit you, the faithful, if horde-wary, Utah powderhound.
"We'll have discounts on lodging and lift tickets you probably won't see again," O'Brien said.
"We'll aggressively target locals with nice discounts. Utah skiers may never have a better chance to ski the venues," Beal said.
The resorts have high hopes for an upcoming Ski Utah promotion.
"We won't roll out specifics until May," Pitou said. "But I will say only 2 percent of all our terrain will go to venues. There's a lot of tremendous skiing open."
Speaking of promotion, Pitou and his Colorado counterpart expect a civil 2002 marketing atmosphere between the sometimes border combatants. "The billboard war is a thing of the past as far as I'm concerned."
"We hope to be supportive neighbors and want Utah to have the best Olympics ever," said David Perry, president/CEO of Colorado Ski Country. "The exposure is good for all Rocky Mountain recreation. If skiers don't go to Utah, do we hope they come to Colorado? Yes. Will we invite them? Yes. But we plan to take the high road."
As for skiers, a recent sampling indicates a variety of attitudes about Utah 2002.
"I wouldn't come near the place during the Games," said Bob Curry, Columbus, Ohio, preparing to snap into his bindings at Park City. "But March? Yeah, sure. Why not?"
Suspicions of gouging have been confirmed for Holly Garces, Jacksonville, Fla.
"The guy where we're staying says he's offering it for $17,000 for the Olympics — maybe $20,000," Garces said. "We're paying $275 a day for five days."
Would anyone in their party consider triple-markup Games prices?
"Never!" said Kathleen Rein, Baton Rouge, La.
John Mitchell, ski instructor at The Canyons, isn't so sure everything will be so dire.
"I think a lot comes down to snow conditions. Great snow, we'll get some business."
E-MAIL: gtwyman@desnews.com