Football fans remember Oct. 15, 1984, as the day the John Elway-led Broncos slipped and slid past the Packers at blizzard-bound Mile High Stadium on nationally televised “Monday Night Football.”
Skiers remember something else. They remember the next day, when a flood of phone calls deluged mountain resorts all over Colorado for lift tickets and reservations.
But maybe our memories make more of that snow than the truth. For a firsthand, up-close look at some serious snow, you need look back no further than this week.
It may be bone dry in Denver, but some of the heaviest early- season snow to hit the Colorado mountains in recent years dumped a doozy of a base on nearly every corner of skiable terrain — as if on cue for Thanksgiving weekend.
For example, Steamboat Springs cranked up the lifts Wednesday with its biggest opening in more than 10 years, with 72 trails and more than 1,000 acres of powder ready for riding.
Winter Park’s Mary Jane opened last Saturday on one of the earliest dates in its history.
And for the first time since the turn of the century, Sunlight in Glenwood Springs opened early. Its first run was bumped up from Dec. 3 to last Wednesday.
There’s more.
Breckenridge has 1,100 open acres of terrain, with one of the biggest bases in the state. And Keystone’s North Peak opened before Thanksgiving — a rarity, reported the Summit Daily News.
For boarders, Copper Mountain planned to open its Main Vein Superpipe on Thursday, what may be the first superpipe open in the country, spokesman David Roth told the Daily News.
And Vail has some of the most terrain open in Colorado, with 2,744 acres open Wednesday, according to the resort.
Blizzards, make yourselves at home here. We will remember your gifts. The snow must go on.
Snow time
Ski and snowboard season ramped up this week with heavy snowfall. Mountain openings and snow counts:
A-BasinOpen 29 inches
Aspen HighlandsDec. 11
Aspen MountainOpened Thursday
Beaver CreekOpen 23 inches
BreckenridgeOpen 42 inches
Buttermilk Dec. 11
Copper Mtn.Open 36 inches
Crested Butte Opened Wednesday
Echo Mtn. Dec. 1
EldoraOpen 34 inches
Howelson Dec. 4
KeystoneOpen 27 inches
LovelandOpen 37 inches
Monarch Opening TBA
Powderhorn Dec. 16
Purgatory Opens today
Silverton Mtn. Dec. 4
Ski Cooper Opened Thursday
Snowmass Opened Thursday
SolVista Dec. 15
Steamboat Opened Wednesday
Sunlight Opened Wednesday
Telluride Opened Thursday
VailOpen 25 inches
Winter ParkOpen 32 inches
Wolf CreekOpen 36 inches
AROUND TOWN
Red-hot Pioneers play host.
The University of Denver hockey team enters a weekend tournament as one of the hottest teams in the nation, winner of four in a row and six of its past seven games. But the No. 12-ranked Pioneers are just one of four interesting stories in the 19th edition of the Denver Cup Classic tonight and Saturday.
Air Force, Clarkson and Lake Superior State will also be vying for attention.
The Falcons take on Clarkson today at 4:35 p.m. in a rematch 28 years in the making. In the team’s only previous meeting, Clarkson drubbed Air Force 17-0 at the Syracuse Invitational in 1982. Denver plays Lake Superior tonight at 7:30 p.m. on FSN.
But the marquee matchup will pit the Falcons against the Pioneers on Saturday at 7 p.m. at Magness Arena. It will be the 33rd meeting between the teams, in a series dominated by DU 29-3 since 1972.
STAY ON THE COUCH
Expert’s view on Broncos.
The Broncos’ third game this season against the NFC West brings the St. Louis Rams to Denver on Sunday. This is good news for Broncos fans clinging to brighter years past.
Former Denver fan favorite John Lynch will do color commentary for Fox on KDVR-31, the home of the NFC. The game kicks off at 2:15 p.m. at Invesco Field at Mile High.
Lynch, who tag-teams with play- by-play guy Ron Pitts and sideline reporter Nischelle Turner, should have a unique perspective on this Broncos squad. Lynch played on the last Broncos team to finish with a winning record (9-7 in 2006) and was on the last Broncos team to win a playoff game (a 27-13 divisional win in 2005 over New England, after Denver finished the regular season 13-3).
Can the Broncos’ defense hold up through six more games this season? Where are their biggest breaches? And how best do they brace them for the future?
Here’s hoping Lynch, a nine-time Pro Bowl safety, will give Broncos fans some answers.
GET OFF THE COUCH
Time to get active, turkey.
There were at least 14 turkey trots, gobble wobbles and other various tryptophan-related runs Thursday throughout Colorado, from Durango to Windsor. But you’re not out of the woods yet.
In fact, it’s best to stay near the woods, in the mountains, for the seventh Gobbler Chase 5K Snowshoe Race at Copper Mountain on Saturday. The race starts at Burning Stones Plaza at 11 a.m., and benefits the employee-founded Copper Environmental Foundation. Check for info.
For runs with sneakers instead of snowshoes, find today’s Turkey Trot 5K in Colorado Springs at 9 a.m. (). Or see two races Saturday: Fishers of Men Fellowship 5K in Aurora at 10 a.m. () and the Temple Canyon Prediction Race 4-miler in Cañon City at 9 a.m. ().
WHAT WE’D LIKE TO SEE
High-altitude entertainment.
For some, the Thanksgiving weekend is a great time for sleeping off too much food and otherwise lazing around. To those ends, flip to Altitude.
The local cable network is airing alternating Avs and Nuggets games on four consecutive nights. On Thursday, the Avs played at Edmonton. Tonight, the Nuggets host Chicago for a 7 p.m. tipoff. Saturday, the Avs return to Denver for a 7 p.m. game against Minnesota. Then the Nuggets finish off the marathon weekend with a 6 p.m. Sunday game against the hard-charging Phoenix Suns.
