Britni Webb, 4, had no qualms about the cold or the snowpacked roads. “It’s fun, fun, fun,” said the rosy-cheeked tot as she tossed handfuls of snow into the air and danced beneath the shower.
Coyote Ridge Park echoed with sounds of happy denizens Thursday, as the best snow day this winter blanketed north Douglas County. Dozens raced down the hillside on sleds and metal garbage-can lids. They tossed snowballs the size of cannonballs. They created family memories.
“I grew up in Ontario, and days like this are the times I cherish the most from my childhood,” said Ann Wentworth, a grandmother to a half-dozen of the 40 or more children on the hill. “I wish my daddy was still here to shove off my sled today.” -Joey Bunch, The Denver Post
Call of the malls too great
The bargains were too good to allow snow-capped highways and parking lots to dissuade shoppers at Park Meadows mall in Lone Tree.
“If the roads start icing, I might go home,” said Joon Ng of Highlands Ranch, stashing bags in the trunk of her Volkswagen. “I kind of like this weather because it thins out the competition in the stores.”
The snow didn’t dissuade too many. Cars navigated the muck and fresh snow in parking lots.
“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” said Henry Dupree of Centennial as he stretched his sneakered feet over icy puddles near the mall’s front entrance. “The wife wanted to exchange stuff, so here I am.”
Park Meadows marketing manager Stephanie Jackson said people seemed to be getting a later start on their shopping Thursday, “but our shoppers are pretty die-hard.”
“I think we’re still getting affected somewhat, but on the whole we’re still pretty busy,” she said.
Sales and the drive to return items gave shoppers “a little more spirit to get out there,” Jackson said.
Southwest Plaza marketing manager Nicole Cosme said there were fewer people in the mall Thursday, compared with Wednesday, “but I think people are still making their way out.”
At FlatIron Crossing in Broomfield, many also succumbed as post- holiday sales beckoned.
“We’re pretty crowded,” said Hugh Crawford, senior property manager at FlatIron Crossing. “It’s been a good, strong day.”
People generally like to get out of the house this time of year, he said.
“This storm wasn’t big enough to affect people’s decision to go play, so they’re shopping and dining and having a good time,” Crawford added.
Sleds, boards — and a boat
Sleds were a hot commodity Thursday, with kids out of school and the newness of Christmas toys fading.
“We can’t wait to hit the hills,” said Jeff Golden, as he lugged a Ski Doo boogie board out the door of the Costco in Lone Tree. “Sleds are too slow.”
Snowboards, however, have become an urban replacement for city kids accustomed to the heavy snows of the last two years, said Doug Woolman, manager of T.S. Boards on South Broadway in Denver.
“They’re flying out the door,” he said during a brisk day of sales Thursday. “I can’t keep them in stock.”
Twins Danny and Tony Rollins, 12, carried an inflatable raft along Wildcat Reserve Parkway in search of a hill.
“We wanted a sled, but our dad said we should use this boat,” Danny said.
Silverton in its snowy glory
When the snow piles up on Red Mountain and Molas passes and the streets of peak-bound Silverton are lined with 10-foot-high snow banks, this town takes on its own Norman Rockwell winter-wonderland charm.
Not many cars were moving Thursday. But locals were gliding through downtown on their kick sleds or their cross-country skis as they headed to the grocery store or the bank.
Others were sliding down the town’s little ski hill or spinning on the ice rink.
The intrepid were blasting through record powder on the expert runs at the Silverton Mountain Ski Area, where a humble tent serves as the base lodge.
Jen Brill of Silverton Mountain and Brice Hoskin, the maker of all the sleds at Mountain Boy Sledworks, said it really warms their hearts to see the whole town getting such joy out of the snow that seems to target this hardy, high-mountain community.
“It totally feels good,” Hoskin said. “I love to look out and see this.”
Dump doesn’t pan out
Cortez, in the southwest corner of the state, was expected to get dumped on, but only a little more than an inch of dry flakes whitened the town.
At Cortez Municipal Airport, that sent manager Russ Machen climbing onto his plow to clear the runway, although he said it wasn’t really necessary.
The three flights a day that all take passengers to and from Denver in “puddle jumper” planes were running pretty much on time. All that passengers had to complain about was the frigid northwest winds that dropped the temperature well-below zero.
Snow-weary perk up at cafe
While skiers and snowboarders were enjoying unprecedented powder up the hill at Grand Mesa’s Powderhorn Ski Resort, it was standing room only around the fireplace at Blink coffeehouse in the tiny and very snowy town of Mesa.
Mesa, the aptly named burg on the world’s largest flat-top mesa in Mesa County, has been hit with snow almost every day for the past two weeks, so the new coffeehouse has become a welcome refuge. Many were parked in comfy chairs and exercising their fingers on their laptops while they escaped the flakes.
Topsy-turvy system
Want an indication of just how upside down this storm was?
At midafternoon in Black Hawk — 8,000 feet high — the highway was clear, the sun glowed bright yellow behind a thin veil of clouds and everybody was talking about how unexpectedly easy it was to get there.
In town, flakes had barely flown during daylight.
Driving toward Denver on Interstate 70, traffic flowed down Floyd Hill at 60 mph.
Near Lookout Mountain, however, it looked as if somebody had dropped a curtain. Visibility plummeted. Winds whipped snow across the road.
At C-470, snowpacked spots on the highway first appeared. On Interstate 25, traffic congealed to a slow ooze for the first time.
And the most snow-clogged patch of road on the entire mountains to metro-area trip? Colorado Boulevard.
Sun in the hills; blizzard at their feet.
Go figure.
