By BOB WILLIAMS

COPPER MOUNTAIN, Colo., Oct. 11 (World Wide News) – Ski resorts aren’t just for skiing.

Concerned with the bottom line, and keeping an eye on the fickle weather, a growing number of ski resorts have in the past decade been turning into year-round full season properties.

Here at Copper Mountain, for instance, a covered wooden bridge spans a sparkling creek spilling past the condominiums, T-shirt shops and restaurants that form the nucleus of this small community at the base of towering ski slopes.

Bill and Nellie Dry of Oklahoma City sat in the shade of an umbrella on a lazy summer day, watching visitors wander from shop to shop as rock music blared from a huge tented stage at the center of the pedestrian village.

“When we first started coming, we hiked a lot,” said Nellie Dry, who has visited this mountain resort with her husband for 17 years. “Lately, we’ve been laying back and enjoying the peace and quiet.”

With its ski runs blanketed in grass and wildflowers, Copper Mountain has built a blossoming summer business, a strategy mirrored from California to Vermont as resort owners expand their livelihoods beyond the snow by investing in condos, entertainment and, in at least one case, an adventure travel company.

“If you look at the larger companies in the industry, it’s a year-round business,” said Michael Berry, president of the National Ski Areas Association. “It’s really a hospitality industry on a year-round basis and we’re in the ski business from December to March.

A half-century ago, it was fairly simple to get into the ski business: put up a rope tow and wait for the snow to fall. With the advancement of snowmaking and high-speed lifts came the need for investment money that was more than lift ticket sales could generete.

At the same time, the pool of skiers and snowboarders has climbed just slightly in the past decade and largely consists of baby boomers who typically want more off-mountain entertainment.

Resort owners took over the ski schools, rental shops and on-mountain restaurants. They began investing in real estate development around the mountain base for lodging, restaurants, retail shops, grocery stores, service stations and entertainment such as music festivals to draw and keep visitors for longer periods of time.

Although ski areas survive without ancillary development, the business model today is to be a “comprehensive provider of everything,” Berry said.

“The base village concept promotes the idea of warm pillows and the greater the number of warm pillows, the greater the number of lift tickets sold,” Berry said.

Berry pointed to Jiminy Peak in Hancock, Mass., a ski area that increased its bed base significantly over the last 10 years and saw a corresponding increase in lift ticket sales.

This summer, for instance, as in the past, Jiminy Peak drew guests who sped down the mountain on an Alpine Slide; splashed in one of the area’s four swimming pools; scaled the Climbing Wall; bounced on the Euro Bungee trampoline; and took a ride on the brand new Giant Swing.

Not to mention shooting a few rounds of golf – and miniature golf – and taking in a concert by the Boston Symphony Orchestra at nearby Tanglewood.

Some resort-area residents and leaders question the developments, hoping that they don’t permanently alter the small-town atmosphere.

Sandy Shore of the Associated Press reported from Copper Mountain; Bob Williams reported from Massachusetts.