While ski resorts reap the benefits of heavier than usual snowfall, some high-country towns are working harder to stay above the white stuff.
The height of snow season hasn’t even hit yet, and already snow depths in Summit, Park and Grand counties are about 150 percent above what’s normal for this time of year, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Jim Kalina. Normally the mountains get the most snow in March and April, Kalina said.
At least one town, Minturn, has in recent years provided dump space – at a charge – for snow that private contractors bring in from surrounding communities. This year, the snow is so deep that Minturn is scrambling to find places to put it.
As of Friday, Minturn’s two major dumps were full, prompting the town to open a third 15-acre dump.
“We’re running out of room,” said Minturn town manager Ann Capela.
Jay Brunvand, Minturn town treasurer, said he came up with the idea of letting private contractors dump dirt in the summer and snow in the winter at empty fields in the former mining town. Large trucks pay $75 to dump and smaller trucks pay $50.
“I like to call it my little lemonade stand,” Brunvand said.
But the extra revenue expected this year – Minturn averages about $1,000 a year from dumpers – will likely go to pay overtime to the town’s four-member snow-removal crew, Capela said.
Most of the extra snow comes from well-to-do communities that have roads cleared privately, private homes and condominium parking lots outside town, Capela said.
Even though Capela’s 4-foot fence and a neighbor’s pickup have disappeared under the snow and the headstones in the cemetery are buried, she said Minturn will continue to take in outsiders’ snow.
The heavy snow has other small-town officials excited but also concerned.
“As a local, I’ve been enjoying skiing,” said Jeff Berino, chief of the Lake Dillon Fire Authority, which serves Dillon and Frisco. “We haven’t had this much snow in a long time.”
But as fire chief he is concerned about buried fire hydrants and gas meters and the possibility of roofs collapsing under the snow.
Buried gas meters are especially worrisome, Berino said. “They can fail to function properly, which can lead to a fire or explosion,” he said.
The snow has buried most of the fire authority’s 1,900 fire hydrants, which are 4 feet tall with flags that normally protrude above the snow so that firefighters can readily find them in emergencies. Denver fire hydrants are only 2 feet tall.
“We can’t find the fire hydrants, but the skiing is great,” Berino said.
Berino has begun to encourage residents to “adopt a hydrant” and clear it of snow.
Besides the problem of disappearing fire hydrants, the roof of a commercial building collapsed recently, and engineers in Frisco are concerned about at least two more, Berino said.
Big piles of snow can also make the roads treacherous. Snow pushed from homeowners’ driveways and onto roads can block views of oncoming traffic, said Alan Green, safety coordinator for the Grand County roads and bridges department.
Snowplow drivers have to be especially vigilant to avoid children attracted to the massive mounds of snow.
“Kids like to play in the edge of the road and dig tunnels in our right of way,” Green said. “We see little kids’ heads pop up before we get to the end of the road.”
So far, his department, which serves Granby, Grand Lake, Winter Park and other small towns, is keeping up with the heavy snowfall.
“The bottom line is we have to do it,” Green said. “We’re always able to stay up with the storms.”
Staff writer Katherine Crowell can be reached at kcrowell@denverpost.com.
