In record heat, US ski resorts bulldoze snow — skiers wear bikinis

TAOS SKI VALLEY, New Mexico — The lowest snow levels in decades in the US West and a brutal heat wave have forced ski resorts like Taos Ski Valley in New Mexico to bulldoze snow off mountain ​areas onto runs to stay open.

In Park City, Utah, which has received about half its normal snowfall this year, streets and restaurants that would normally be packed with ‌vacationers are quiet. And in Colorado, brown dirt patches covered ski runs in resorts like Vail, where less than 20% of trails remained open.

So much for spring skiing.

More than half of the 120 ski resorts in the US West have already closed, will close early, or never opened this year due to the mild winter that saw record-low snowfall, according to a Reuters count.