DENVER—Christmas skiing at Colorado ski resorts isn’t quite as joyful as last year.
Snow totals at many resorts are down overall and meager in comparison with record snowfall seen during the holiday week in 2010.
Vail had 19 inches of snow on Sunday. The Denver Post () reports that’s down from the average of nearly 33 inches seen on Christmases in the 2000s. Last Christmas, the resort had 41 inches of snow.
Last Christmas, Breckenridge had 58 inches of snow but this year there’s only 29 inches.
Winter Park has 26 inches of snow, with 70 percent of its beginner terrain open. Resort spokeswoman Rachel Anderson said they still had a busy day on Christmas.
“We’d of course love to have more snow. But we’re doing the best we can with what we have, and that’s pretty good,” Anderson said.
Lack of snowfall prevented Ski Cooper near Leadville from opening until Saturday.
Jennifer Rudolph of Colorado Ski Country USA said the lack of snow so far isn’t a concern.
“We know that there is a lot of winter ahead of us. When you’re in the ski industry, you can’t help but be optimistic,” she said.
Resorts farther from and closer to Denver are faring better.
Wolf Creek in southwestern Colorado had 58 inches of snow Monday while Echo Mountain near Idaho Springs has a 40-inch base, benefiting from a storm that hit the Front Range last week.
“When you compare this year to last year, it really took us until about March to get us to where we are today,” Echo Mountain spokeswoman Cindy Dady said.
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Information from: The Denver Post,
