DENVER – Ski resorts in the southern and central Rockies, California and New England enjoyed good snow and healthy crowds last winter, but the drought-plagued Pacific Northwest suffered through a disastrous season and dragged down total skier numbers nationwide.

New Mexico led the way with an 18 percent increase in skier numbers while Washington state suffered the biggest decline, 74 percent.

“We were thrilled. We had a super winter in terms of moisture and snowfall and we saw a lot of people come back to us,” said Steve Lewis, spokesman for Ski New Mexico.

But on the other extreme, Scott Kaden, president of the Pacific Northwest Ski Areas Association, called it “the worst year ever in the history of Washington snow sports.”

Nationally, 56.4 million skier visits were reported by the National Ski Areas Association, down from 56.8 million the previous season.

Utah was up 12 percent, reporting record numbers for the second straight year. Kit Pitou, president of Ski Utah, said the Olympic games of 2002 are paying off and the state benefited from the drought in the Northwest.

“The door is open now where it wasn’t always,” Pitou said. “We had great snow all season long. Snowbird is still open for its longest season in history and it goes on and on.”

Jackson Hole in Wyoming set a record with a 5 percent increase.

Mammoth Mountain in California has so much snow – still 6 to 8 feet and runs open from top to bottom – that it will be open until the Fourth of July. “We are up about 10 percent and are on track for a record-breaking season,” said Joani Lynch, Mammoth spokeswoman.

“Tahoe was extremely strong. It could have been even better except we got too much snow for the Christmas holidays,” said Bob Roberts, executive director of the California Ski Industry Association. He said California skier numbers will exceed 8.1 million, up from the record 7.5 million of the previous season.

Colorado was up 5 percent to 11.8 million. More importantly, the weak dollar helped bring 28 percent more international visitors, who spend more money and stay longer.

New England’s numbers were up 6 percent. New Hampshire had its second-best year ever, 2.2 million, up almost 10 percent from the year before.

The Southeast region was down about 1 percent, the Midwest 3 percent and the Pacific West region, including California, 13.9 percent.

Intrawest Corp. did not release figures for its flagship, Whistler-Blackcomb in British Columbia. It was plagued by the same warm, wet weather as Washington and Oregon. The company said its skier visits were down 11 percent in the last quarter at its North American resorts. The weak U.S. dollar also hurt Canadian resorts.

Oregon was down 47 percent from 1.6 million to 866,412. Washington declined from 1.8 million to 491,537.