CRESTED BUTTE — Well that was fun, wasn’t it?
Just when it appeared that winter had signed a sponsorship deal with UPS to finish up ski season under the slogan “What can brown do for you?” the white stuff made a cameo appearance for the final week of February.
The series of storms that have steamrolled the state since Presidents Day weekend finally brought the conditions up to snuff at the majority of Colorado resorts. But during a winter when powder days have been outnumbered by ski base repairs for many Rocky Mountain riders, the too-little-too-late reality of the season that wasn’t is rapidly becoming evident.
Whatever the shovel-induced ache in your lower back may try to tell you, the numbers just don’t lie. And lurking just beneath the new canvas of snow, the picture they paint remains somewhat grim in the heart of Colorado’s ski country.
True, the southwest portion of the state has reaped the bounty of El Niño this winter, with places like Crested Butte, Telluride, Monarch and Silverton stacking up copious quantities of the fluffy stuff. But farther north along the Continental Divide, we’re talking about midmountain snow depths of no more than 40 inches to cover the stumps in some ski areas. Less in others.
Those are New Year’s Day numbers, a starting point for many slopes. With only six more weeks of winter realistically remaining in ski season, it will take a recurring Groundhog Day dream dump to recoup even an average snowpack at the Interstate 70 and Front Range resorts before snow depth achieves its annual peak in mid-April.
The optimists note that March tends to be the snowiest month of the year for Colorado. The reality is that March and April will require near- record snow numbers in many locations if the season is to be salvaged with the kind of snow we expect to know before spring melt gets underway. Anything less leaves the region staring at drought conditions.
A quick check of the central mountain snowpack feeding the key Upper Colorado River basin shows snow measurements below 70 percent of the 30-year average and just more than half the amount that was on the ground this time last year. That’s the drainage that tops out in places like Arapahoe Basin (with only a 39-inch mid-mountain base), Copper Mountain (currently measuring 67 percent of average) and Vail (57 percent of the 2009 year-to-date snow total).
That’s not to say that the skiing and snowboarding is utterly awful out there. To the contrary, last weekend was easily the best it has been all season. Problem is, that little taste is hardly enough to satisfy the 12 million skier appetites ravenous for the gold standard that is Colorado skiing come February. And with spring looming within the one-month window, we may have seen winter’s peak just pass us by.
A shallow and often unstable snowpack has made the malady more evident by shrinking the skiable acreage statewide. Even in the wake of the biggest storm cycle Colorado has seen all season, several ski areas remain unable to open portions of their best expert skiing terrain. As a result, the powder-starved masses that have bought into the prevalent season pass bargains along the I-70 corridor have contributed to the calamity by ravaging the remaining terrain like they’ve never seen snow before.
The mere suggestion of snow is enough to send rabid skiers racing to the slopes in an attempt to salvage some sort of season. As often as not, though, they’re heading to the wrong spot.
The fact that 49 out of 50 U.S. states saw snowfall at some point last week should serve notice that it’s time to spread out a bit. Rather than following the crowds to below-average conditions along the interstate every Friday, consider a spring break to find some real snow and sample the diversity of the nation’s leading skiing state. Deals and discounts are available almost everywhere this year, but more than likely that means heading southwest.
Crested Butte scored some of the state’s best snow totals (more than two feet) just in time for last weekend’s U.S. Extreme Freeskiing Championships. And almost all the competitors left before ski patrol dropped the ropes to some of the resort’s top terrain on Monday morning.
The challenge this winter is to get the skiing while it’s good, where it’s good. Because, while there’s always hope, there won’t always be snow. And so far 2010 has seen far more of the former than the latter.
Colorado ski area snow comparison
39 inches Arapahoe Basin’s midmountain base (Central Rockies)
131 inches Wolf Creek’s midmountain base (Southwest Colorado)
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