Winter Rebound : Resorts: After a sluggish summer and a series of earthquakes, Big Bear merchants are cautiously optimistic that ski season will be better for business.

Merchants peered out their windows all over this mountain resort town Saturday, monitoring an economic indicator that isn’t listed in any financial report: the number of cars cruising down Big Bear Boulevard.

What they saw, to their relief, was gridlock--or at least a milder version of gridlock--in a rustic resort community accustomed to bustling weekend crowds.

At Eileen’s Browsing Bear and Down Home Shop, one of a dozen antique shops along the main strip, a steady stream of customers picked through the collectibles. “No Vacancy” signs were flashing at some motor inns, a rarity in recent times. And light crowds were forming at ski lifts as thousands of visitors descended for the traditional start of the winter ski season.

Not bad for the day after a magnitude 5.4 earthquake.

Big Bear has been hit hard in recent months by the temblors that have rocked the mountainous region east of San Bernardino. But Saturday’s bustle, although not as intense as in previous years, gave merchants some confidence that the area is bouncing back.

Billy Vaughn, who runs Eileen’s antique store, gave a thumbs-down sign when asked about recent sales. But he acknowledged that things were looking up this weekend. His inventory was hit hard by the June earthquake, with most of his rare glassware demolished.

“It’s been a real slow summer,” said Carole Koenig, a Big Bear Chamber of Commerce official whose house suffered more than $30,000 in damage in June. “We’re ready for the crowds. Nobody can say they haven’t heard about Big Bear now because these earthquakes have put us all over the news.”

Worse than the thousands of cracked chimneys and other manifestations of minor physical damage, many residents say, is the shattered confidence of visitors who once injected $2.1 million a year into the local economy.

Business at local shops has dropped by about 80% since June 28, when a magnitude 7.5 quake, coupled with a 6.6 aftershock, hit the region.

At Bear Mountain, officials said, ski attendance was down 20% this weekend over the same time last year.

But while Mother Nature has yet to drop a flake of snow, the resorts have been pumping out a man-made covering for weeks. And they are reporting good skiing conditions with about half their trails open.

“We’re still here,” Bear Mountain marketing director Brad Wilson said. “People see the news and think we’ve been flattened. Skiing is as normal as ever, and the geologists say it is unlikely there will be any stronger aftershocks.”

Greg Ralph, the director of marketing for Snow Summit, which had a drop in attendance similar to that suffered by other resorts, chalks up the decline to the region’s stagnant economy, which has skiers, like everyone else, watching their wallets.

Yet he voiced optimism Saturday that attendance would pick up after the first natural snowfall.

Some weekend visitors who braved the slopes said that soaring down a mountain is a way of defying Mother Nature. And in keeping with that thought, they said, no earthquake was about to keep them away.

“A 5.4 is a baby,” said Diane Pacheco, who rested at the lodge at Bear Mountain. “Anyone who stays away is a pansy.”

Andrew Soto, 20, said he laughed as he drove into town Friday and saw people heading out after Friday morning’s quake.

“You can’t have any fears to snowboard,” he said. “If you were worrying about earthquakes, avalanches and other things, you’d never get up the nerve to go.”

Dan Buren was the only person inside his ski rental shop Saturday, but he was not worrying.

He said he had faith that the skiers eventually would come. Even if it took a while, Buren said, he was on solid financial footing, because he doubles as a contractor and has already repaired 43 chimneys since the June quake.

The construction trade has been one of the few businesses that has escaped Big Bear’s recent slump. Work was so plentiful that even people from down the hill--as locals refer to outsiders--showed up for jobs.

“We’ve doubled our volume because of all these earthquakes,” said Lowell Wilson, who runs Summit Fireplace & Patio.

“My friends are all complaining about the business,” he said, “but I’ve never been busier.”