SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah, the No. 4 skiing state, is fast approaching Vermont for drawing crowds of skiers.

Final figures for the 2005-06 winter show Utah ski resorts had 4,062,188 skier visits, a record increase for the third consecutive year, according to the trade association Ski Utah.

That was barely 38,000 behind Vermont, the No. 3 skiing state, which reported its results on Tuesday. A skier visit is one person skiing at a resort for part or all of a day.

Utah's challenge to Vermont is mostly symbolic -- the nearly 2,000 miles that separates one state from the other makes them less competitive than Utah and neighboring Colorado, which widened its lead as the nation's most popular place for skiing.

Utah and Colorado compete for vacationers from around the country who are willing to travel long distances for skiing.

And last week, Colorado ski resorts reported 12.53 million skier visits, citing good snow, a resurgent U.S. economy, strong international traffic, favorable exchange rates and disappointing conditions at Canadian ski areas for the record number. The previous Colorado record was 11.98 million in 1997-98.

No. 2 California gets nearly 8 million skier visits per winter, said Kate Powers, member services director for the National Ski Areas Association.

Utah's 13 resorts have shown steadily increasing skier numbers since the 2002 Winter Olympics were held here. While it is closing in on Vermont, that state suffered from a poor winter and could sprint ahead with better weather.

Visits to Vermont ski areas dropped 6 percent over the previous winter due to rain on holidays and an early spring, according to the Vermont Ski Areas Association.

The state's 17 ski resorts recorded 4.1 million visits compared with 4.4 million visits in the 2004-2005 season.

"The past season was certainly a challenging one for the industry," said Parker Riehle, president of the Vermont Ski Areas Association, in a statement Tuesday. "With our resorts' ever-improving snowmaking and grooming capabilities, we were able to survive the wildly variable weather patterns that seemed to hit hardest during our key holiday periods and finish the season stronger than many had predicted."

The ski industry contributes more than $1.5 billion annually to Vermont's economy.

Cross-country ski areas were forced to close for weeks at a time.

Some Vermont resorts suffered more than others. Skier visits were down 19 percent at Killington resort and 18 percent at Mount Snow in Dover. American Skiing Co. owns those resorts and six others, including The Canyons resort in Park City, Utah, and Steamboat resort in Steamboat Springs, Colo.

Despite the bad weather, Vermont fared "much better than the rest of the Northeast, which was down 9 percent from last year," Riehle said.

Even when conditions were good, a lack of snow in the lower areas and in metropolitan areas dampened people's enthusiasm for winter sports, Riehle said.

Preliminary national figures show a record of 58.8 million visits for the 2005-06 winter.

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