"We are being proactive in educating the public in what to expect when they come to Colorado to ski," she said.
She added: "We're getting the word out that we have a lot of things to offer guests, but smoking marijuana is not one of them. . . . We have so much to offer our guests that outweigh the legality of possession of marijuana."
Rudolph says her organisation is informing visitors through social media and its blog about the new pot laws, which were passed last year and legalise marijuana possession in small amounts for adults over 21, including out-of-state visitors.
Some resorts also are addressing the issue with their respective towns and chambers of commerce.
Rudolph said she hasn't heard of anyone deciding not to come to Colorado because of the new pot laws, and it's too early to tell what resorts can expect to see after January 1.
"That's why we're doing some education now to let people know what they can and can't do," she said.
"The bottom line is guests should not expect to smoke marijuana in public at a ski resort."
But that expectation may not be realised in the Colorado counties that are home to some of the state's most popular resorts. In those counties, the measure to legalise the drug passed by overwhelming margins.
Aspen's home county approved the measure by margin of more than 3 to 1, and more than two-thirds of voters also approved marijuana in the home county of Colorado's largest ski resort, Vail. A whopping eight in 10 voters in the home county of Telluride ski resort favored marijuana legalisation.
It's also relatively easy to smoke marijuana at resorts without getting caught. Wooded areas off some of Colorado's slopes already are dotted with "smoke shacks," old mining cabins that have been illicitly repurposed as places to use the drug out of the cold and wind.
Still, industry officials hope visitors will respect that it is still illegal to smoke marijuana in public and on federal land, where 90 percent of the state's ski resorts are located. Anyone who is caught risks having their pass taken away.
Peter Johnson with Colorado Green Tours, a Denver-based travel agency that plans custom cannabis-themed tours to ski areas and other destinations, insists his company and contracted guides will respect those laws.
"It would certainly be done in private. We obey the law," the 39-year-old entrepreneur said. "We don't give people the opportunity to flout it."
Johnson, who founded the company in March, said he is dealing with "a large backlog" of mostly out-of-staters who are interested in booking a cannabis-themed ski trip this winter. But he doesn't think the new laws will change much of anything at resorts.
"I think most people are pretty considerate. I think most cannabis users are pretty considerate," he said.
One other issue that put Colorado in the news this year aside from the new marijuana laws was flooding, but skiers don't need to give that a second thought: No major resorts were affected.
- AP
