No doubt about it, a pall has fallen over the party in Colorado's ski country.

Spiked energy prices are likely to dampen airline and other travel, real estate sales have fallen off a cliff and people haven't been rushing to book reservations. Only good snow can lift spirits.

"Three feet of snow on Nov. 15 covers up a lot of sins and problems," said Kent Meyers, an aviation consultant in the ski industry. "I think we have some challenges, but the ballgame isn't over. We lived through 9/11, and we'll live through this."

Ski areas got snow in bounteous quantities last year, nipping records that in some cases extended to the 1950s. With international skiers flocking to Colorado, the state's ski industry posted 12.5 million skier visits, just a hair below the record season of 2006-07.

This year, even good snow is unlikely to produce miracles. Still, amid the glumness are efforts to smile. Consider Seth Cagin, publisher of the newspaper The Telluride Watch: "Everybody is freaking out. I just hope the election will calm everyone down, including me," he said.

Telluride has always been a place for the well-heeled, financially and in turning ability. This year, Telluride has something new for both.

A new 100-room hotel, Capella, opens in February, the first in North America in a chain started by Horst Schulze, the longtime chief executive of the Ritz-Carlton chain. It gives Telluride the high-end lodging comparable to anything found in Aspen, Vail or Beaver Creek.

"There aren't enough stars in heaven to describe it," Cagin said of the Capella.

On the mountain, Telluride will have a lift in Revelation Bowl, which has steeps and deeps of biblical proportions.

Avon, at the base of Beaver Creek, also has a new hotel. A new gondola began operating last winter from the $500 million Westin Riverfront Resort and Spa, which recently opened.

By the measure of simple statistics, Beaver Creek has been Colorado's most remarkable resort during the past decade. As Colorado skier numbers crept higher, Beaver Creek's figures ambled to a 33 percent increase since 1999. The reason? New lodging and more terrain.

Vail's skier numbers, in contrast, have been stagnant, but it remains a marquee attraction for international skiers, who tend to stay longer and spend better. Foreign business grew 23 percent at Vail Resorts' five locales last winter, and foreigners are now at 12 percent of all visitors. Other resorts, in addition to Vail and Beaver Creek, are Breckenridge, Keystone and Lake Tahoe's Heavenly.

At Aspen, 20 percent of skiers last winter were foreigners, also a sharp increase.

Both Vail and Aspen Skiing Co. continue to bet on the international market. Conspicuous in this international trend is Russian money. Two of Aspen's most expensive houses were purchased by Russians this year, and for three years Vail has been recruiting Muscovites. Vail's other major foreign markets are the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Mexico, Australia and Brazil.

This year, Vail Resorts debuted the Epic Season Pass, offering unrestricted access to its five ski areas, plus Arapahoe Basin. Nowhere else has uphill transportation ever been so cheap.

How successful sales have been, Vail officials are not saying. In Vail and Breckenridge, perennially Colorado's two busiest ski resorts, there is a fear of too much success. Vail's parking garages overflowed 48 times last winter, with cars sometimes sprawling for 3 miles down a frontage road.

But Vail Resorts officials say it aimed the pass at filling pillows, to use the ski-town jargon for overnight visitors. Former ski company executive Jerry Jones, who pioneered discounted ski prices when at Keystone in the 1970s, said the pass "may be the smartest move ever" by a ski company. Regardless of how much snow Colorado gets or how badly the economy tanks, Jones said, Vail already has a lot of money in the bank.

Conventional wisdom in the industry is that Steamboat and Aspen hardly will be affected by Vail's boldly priced ski pass.

Copper Mountain and Winter Park may be another matter. Still, there are new reasons to explore both resorts. Copper has Camp Woodward, a year-round training facility for younger athletes. Winter Park has a new lodge, The Village at Winter Park Resort, opening in January. Also coming is a cabriolet, or open-air gondola, to transport people from the parking lot to the base of the ski mountain.

Increasing airfares and airline surcharges, however, could hurt everybody. "It's a bit of an unknown how significant that will be. It certainly won't be positive," said David Perry, senior vice president for marketing at the Aspen Skiing Co.

Air capacity to Steamboat will increase by 8 percent, thanks to Frontier's new Lynx Aviation turboprop shuttles form Denver. There, skier can find massive amounts of base area redevelopment as Ski Times Square gets an update.

Snowmass is also getting a makeover from its origins in the 1970s. The first 90 of what will eventually be 610 condominiums are finished at Base Village. A new chairlift, Sheer Bliss, will provide access to the 700-acre Big Burn area. An on-mountain restaurant, Sam's Smokehouse, will showcase riveting views of the Elk Range. Construction of the building was certified under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design process. Wolf Creek used the same LEED process to guide expansion of its day-use area.

Across the Colorado ski industry is evidence of this new attention to energy. In the Vail Resorts chain, chief executive Rob Katz has issued orders to cut energy use by 10 percent within two years. Atop Snowmass, instruments have been assembled to test the potential for harnessing wind. If successful, two-thirds of the Aspen Skiing Co.'s electrical use could be provided.

Arapahoe Basin, one of Colorado's oldest ski areas, also reports that its snowmaking system requires 20 percent less electricity.

The more telling change at A-Basin is the addition of 300 parking spaces, now connected via a pedestrian tunnel under U.S. 6. For years A-Basin never had crowds until late spring. Neither did it have snowmaking. It still has no slope-side real-estate development.

Since 2001, though, "The Legend" has nearly tripled the number of skier days. It's on a roll.

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