For many skiers and snowboarders, spring is considered “The Second Season,” when warm weather and soft, sun-kissed snow dominate Colorado’s mountainous landscape. It’s time to put away that puffy coat and ride out the season in short sleeves and sunscreen, taking pride in a “crack o’noon club” lift ride.
At least that’s how it used to work, anyway.
In this weird and anything but wild winter of 2009-10, Second Season has taken on new meaning in Colorado ski country. With more double-digit powder days (three or four, depending) since the spring equinox than in the cumulative five months prior, April has emerged as the best “winter” skiing of the year in many areas this season.
Of course, that’s not exactly bragging after a Central Rockies winter best summarized as easy to forget.
Still, El Niño’s grip finally seems to have been broken, and the upslope storms that have ravaged the Front Range all season have returned to their proper place in the high country of the Western Slope. No, the East Wall at Arapahoe Basin won’t be opening with a 47-inch base, but that doesn’t change the fact that the snowpack is considerably better this week than it was at winter’s peak.
In fact, the 17 ski areas that remain open in Colorado this week are seeing their deepest snow bases of the season right now, with a series of cold fronts preserving the powder as it piles up for the finale.
The irony, as always, lies in the motivation and anticipation that accompany every Colorado ski season. By October, the buzz of winter’s promise is too much to take for many die-hard riders who line up to be the first to slide on man-made ice commonly called “the white ribbon of death.”
By now, it’s the sunny days of spring that hold the allure far below the snowcapped Rockies, and those few surviving die-hards can barely muster the pulse necessary to make it to the mountains. Their season is done, even as it has just begun.
One of the best things about being a skier in Colorado is that there really is no expiration date. And in this screwball season, we’ve finally found that hanging curve we’ve been waiting for. Problem is, after consecutive years of “home run derby,” no one is really interested in a pitcher’s duel.
Despite the best skiing of the season, the shift has already occurred. At this point in the year, it’s less about snowfall than it is about snowmelt. And as annoying as these spring storms may seem to some, the inconvenient truth is that most of Colorado still needs a lot more snow just to see an average water year in the rivers that rely on the runoff.
The Upper Colorado River Basin, for example, remains at only 80 percent of its average snowpack, with only about a week remaining until its traditional peak date on April 14. Others, such as the Arkansas, Gunnison, Rio Grande and Animas/Dolores/San Juan, are hovering around 100 percent. Not so for key northern drainages of the South Platte, North Platte and Yampa, where the snow-water equivalent falls off to 80 percent of average. Statewide, the Natural Resources Conservation Service shows Colorado at about 90 percent of average.
It’s a vast improvement from where we stood earlier this winter, and all in all, not too bad. The biggest challenge may be in continuing to root for the snow to fall for another month in order to legitimately get the mountains back up to snuff.
Personally, I find that’s a lot easier to do during a powder day on the slopes. So I’m pulling my puffy coat back out, putting on the planks and hitting the hill early again this Second Season. As winters go, the spring version is already better than that other one.
