Denverites flocked to parks across the city Friday to enjoy a white Christmas outdoors despite temperatures in the low 20s.
At Rude Park in west Denver, Jeff Keene and Anna Duarte took their 6-year-old daughter, Luna, for a few passes down the park’s busy sled hill.
“We moved out here a few years ago from California, and there was never an opportunity for sledding,” Keene said. “It’s just one of the cool things we can do in Denver. And what better way to celebrate Christmas than get out in the snow and go fast?”
A few snowboarders even lined up to take advantage of a small ramp someone built out of snow, he said.
The setting was more serene at City Park, where Evelyn Hutt glided in quiet contemplation through the powdery snow on a pair of wooden cross-country skis.
One of just a handful of visitors, Hutt was thinking about her father and the trips they took to the park when she was young, she said.
“I’m Jewish, so skiing on Christmas Day is my tradition,” Hutt said. “It’s a great time to think through the issues in your life.”
Several cross-country skiers and snowshoers in Washington Park said chilly temperatures in the mountains kept them Denver-bound on Christmas morning.
Poles in hand, Deborah Lebow Aal and her husband trekked along the edge of the park on skis with their two dogs in tow.
“I was feeling too cooped up, and it was too cold to go skiing in the mountains,” Lebow Aal said. “There’s plenty of snow down here. It’s nice. Normally we have to wait until February to do this.”
Jessica Fender: 303-954-1244 or jfender@denverpost.com
