— A chairlift cranks into gear as a group of ski patrollers at Whitefish Mountain Resort gets the mountain ready for another season.
"Yeah, if we don't have snow, that's going to dictate how our season goes," says resort spokesman Chad Sokol.
Kirk Siegler / Ski patrollers at the Whitefish Mountain Resort in Montana conduct preseason trainings on Nov. 19.
But the ski industry is also bracing for a continued drop in international guests due to President Trump's tariffs and his negative rhetoric about their countries.
The U.S. Travel Association is projecting that 5 million fewer international visitors will visit the United States this year.
Most are citing U.S. politics like the tariffs and Trump's rhetoric as the reason for canceling their trips.
Sokol, the resort's spokesman, says the tariffs hit after some of the resort's busiest, most important weekends. »