Dear authors, thank you for your diligent response to the concerns raised by the reviewers. Based on those responses I am submitting your revised m/s to the reviewers for their final recommendations.

Best regards, Ross Brown (ed.)

Dear authors, I have received the two referee reports and both complimented the authors on the major improvements in the paper. However, their recommendations are still split on whether the paper should be accepted for publication. Reviewer 2, who is a world expert in this area, is not in favour of publication because the study failed to include machine-made snow in the analysis (see comment below) which is seen as a fundamental limitation. However, I think there may be a way forward if this limitation is presented and discussed in more detail, and the caveats (and potential consequences) are clearly presented in the conclusions and abstract. I therefore invite you to submit a revised manuscript for my review and final decision.

Best regards, Ross Brown (ed.)

"The [key remaining] limitation of this study [is that] it does not represent a combined natural and machine-made snowpack... I would agree that the study has done the best it can at the scale of analysis [it is] conducted at. However, as has been empirically shown in comparisons in Norway, Austria and New England, USA, when proxies for snowmaking are used instead of physically modeling a combined snowpack, the proxy model underestimates observed ski seasons by an average of about a month (and more in some locations) (e.g. see analysis of Norway in https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13683500.2019.1608919?af=R&journalCode=rcit20). That is the difference between profitability and not.
From a scientific perspective the available evidence in other international ski regions is that using proxy approaches will not accurately reflect current operating conditions (or potential).

Dear Authors, thank you very much for your complete understanding of the changes I was looking for. I am therefore very pleased to accept your paper for publication in The Cryosphere. Congratulations and thank you for considering The Cryosphere to publish your research.

Best regards, Ross Brown (ed.)