Colorado rafting industry expects strong spending, long 2017 season
Despite mild winter weather in many parts of the state, Colorado’s rafting industry says they are gearing up for a season on par with record-breaking 2016.
After a record breaking year of rafting revenue and visitors on the Arkansas River in 2016, signs point to a season that will be just as good, if not better, in 2017, thanks to above average mountain snowfall levels and current economic conditions.
Reservations for the upcoming season are already coming in to multiple rafting companies along the Arkansas.
Data collected by Colorado Parks and Wildlife shows current Arkansas River discharge water levels well above average at the Wellsville data point, just downstream from Salida, which hosts FibArk, a rafting festival each June.
“Recent snows portend a good runoff in the 2017 season. Snow that falls earlier in the season often solidifies into an extended snowmelt season. The continued bull stock market is also a very good indicator of continued 2017 spending,” said the 2016 Commercial Rafting Use Report, put together by the Colorado River Outfitters Association.
The Arkansas River holds the largest sector of Colorado’s commercial river rafting market, 40.6 percent, according to the same report. A significant portion, considering the second in line is Clear Creek, holding only 14.1 percent of the market.
For state economic revenue, the Arkansas River brought in $73 million last season and had 223,878 paying guests taken down the river throughout the season, the report showed.
It is “the most commercially rafted river in the world,” according to the Bureau of Land Management.
Rafting companies along the Arkansas are already booking for the 2017 season and are optimistic about the outlook.
“We anticipate there to be plenty of water this year. March is a very unpredictable month,” said Will Colon, a partner at Raft Masters rafting company in Cañon City. “Overall levels right now are really good for this time of year, but we still have seven more weeks of spring weather. That doesn’t mean anything because that can all change. We could get a lot of snow and it could go up or we could get nothing.
“All in all, we are in a very good place. With the current pace it looks like snow melt will come off slow which means we will have water for the entire summer.”
Colon said last season was one of the best Raft Masters has had since 2007. He expects 2017 to be just as successful based on current conditions.
“It was a combination of the right weather, right amount of snowpack, right amount of water, last year was the perfect storm. As of now the economy looks good and people seem to be very positive. They’re spending money and wanting to travel. Our preseason reservations up right now. I anticipate another good year if not better,” Colon said.
About three miles away from Raft Masters at Whitewater Adventure Outfitters rafting company in Cañon City, owner and operations manager Tony Keenan, has very similar optimism, but is still cautious talking too much about it in anticipation of what the remaining weeks of spring will hold.
“Well the last couple of years have been really busy tourism wise in the whole area in general. We’re anticipating much of the same. It’s unknown what is going to happen in the next six to eight weeks,” Keenan said. “If we get an average amount of snow, we will finish well above the overall average in yearly snowpack. I expect the flow should be good and be good all season if we get an average amount of snow the next six to eight weeks.”
A little west of Cañon City, Royal Gorge Rafting employee, Heather Ingraham, said her coworkers are feeling positive about the coming rafting season as well.
“We have already started booking for the coming season. From what it sounds like, we’re expecting a good summer with a lot of good water. We look at the Sangre de Cristos and we can tell there is a lot of snow up there still and a lot of snow up there means a lot of good snow melt and water to come for us.”
According to Ingraham, mid-April is when the Arkansas river begins to get some runoff from snowpack. The runoff generally picks up toward the end of May and beginning of June and river levels rise and then typically peak at the end of June.
