Aspen Skiing Co. says skier visits were down 8 percent during the two weeks that covered Christmas and New Year's Day, compared with last year.

Spokesman Jeff Hanle said Friday that the week of Dec. 21-27 was noticeably down compared with last year but Dec. 28 through Jan. 3 was as strong if not stronger than last year.

Company officials had projected that visits would fall between 5 and 15 percent over the holidays.

Meanwhile, Vail Resorts Inc. said Friday that skier visits at its five mountain resorts were down 5.8 percent for the season-to-date period based on preliminary results. It has four resorts in Colorado and one in the Lake Tahoe area.