DENVER – A ski season threatened by an avalanche of bad news and below-average snowfall turned out to be the third-best ever.

A preliminary survey done for the National Ski Areas Association found that skier and snowboarder visits to resorts totaled 54.2 million, down only 5.5 percent from the record 57.3 million set the season before. The second-best year was the 1993-94 season.

“The 2001/02 ski season began under circumstances which were as difficult as could be imagined. The enthusiasm and momentum generated by the record-setting 2000-01 season came to a shocking halt about three months before the normal start of the season,” said a report compiled for NSAA by RRC Associates of Boulder, Colo.

“I think people were surprised. We had Sept. 11, we had the declining economy. We had variable snow. The only part of the country that had solid snow was the West Coast and the Pacific Northwest. And nowhere in the country did we get the great early snow that often leads to a successful season,” said NSAA President Michael Barry.

Barry believes equipment advances that have made skiing easier, especially shaped skis, and improved customer service created a momentum in the past couple of seasons that helped the industry survive. Discounted season passes, some for as little as $200, also helped. Pass sales have increased 75 percent since 1998-99, sparked by ski pass wars among resorts near Denver.

“But underlying it all was the appeal of the mountains, and spending quality time with friends and family after Sept. 11,” he said.

“Families moved up on the list of priorities. People made commitments to spend more time with their families and wanted to get back to nature, back to the earth,” said Joan Christensen, spokeswoman for Winter Park, a resort near Denver.