With Colorado’s snowpack rapidly melting earlier than usual, some Colorado ski resorts have closed early while others stubbornly hold to previously announced closing dates, even as they shut down much of their terrain.
It’s particularly noticeable at Vail Mountain, Colorado’s largest ski area, where only 42% of its 277 trails are still open. China Bowl and Blue Sky Basin are closed, as are Sun Up Bowl, Sun Down Bowl and Tea Cup Bowl. The trail status page on Vail’s website displays a large exclamation mark in a triangle warning of “variable conditions” and “unmarked obstacles.”
Conditions there are rapidly deteriorating, according to Buzz Schleper, who moved to Vail in 1972 and has operated Buzz’s Boards ski and snowboard shop in Vail Village for more than four decades.
“What I’m seeing, by the day, once you get a brown spot on the ground, it just spreads like crazy,” said Schleper, who is predicting Vail will be forced to close the bottom of the mountain soon, restricting skiing to the upper mountain and downloading guests from mid-mountain by gondola. “I think they’ll be downloading within a week,” he said.
The resort, however, has stuck to its official closing of Sunday, April 19, according to officials there.
Like most of Colorado’s resorts, temperatures in Vail are expected to reach into the 50s the next three days, followed by high temperatures in the 40s into next week. The current base depth of 40 inches is 36% of normal.
“They’re not changing their tune,” Schleper said. “They’re insisting they can stay open.”
Schleper and Vail native Tom Boyd both say these are the worst ski conditions they’ve seen for March, but Boyd takes a more sanguine view of the situation.
“Every time I get ready to go skiing, I wonder how itap going to be, and every time I’m pleasantly surprised,” said Boyd, a former ski journalist who is an Eagle County commissioner. “Is it what I would expect when I look at the calendar? No. But if I pretend it’s April, it’s great. I was skiing in a Hawaiian shirt the other day, and having a great time.”
Boyd, whose father worked as a ski patroller at Aspen and Vail, has skied Vail Resorts’ mountains and elsewhere the past two weeks. “I’ve been really impressed by the work thatap being done at all of our Colorado ski resorts,” he said. “Everyone is working really hard to make sure that if you’re up there, you can still have a great experience.”
If Vail stays open until April 19 as planned, though, Schleper predicts it will be deserted.
“I think after Easter weekend (April 5), there’s going to be nobody in Vail,” Schleper said. “Nobody is going to come up here and ski after Easter when the temperatures are in the 80s down in Denver, and people are thinking golf and tennis and bike riding. Vail is going to be a ghost town the two weeks after Easter. To me, it makes no sense to stay open.
“Itap a losing proposition for me,” he added, referring to his ski and snowboard business. “I will still pay my staff to the end, but there won’t be any people.”
Ski Cooper, Powderhorn, Buttermilk and Sunlight have closed. Monarch and Purgatory will close on Sunday.
Officials at Winter Park insist it will remain open on both sides of the resort (Winter Park and Mary Jane) at least through April 12. Steamboat also plans to close on April 12. Copper Mountain is still scheduled to close April 26.
“Copper’s north-facing slope aspect and high elevation help us to maintain our snow surface,” said spokeswoman Olivia Butrymovich. “We’re optimistic we’ll be able to finish out the season strong.”
Arapahoe Basin is consistently the last Colorado ski area to close, usually in June, but that may not be the case this year.
“Snow is low and temps are high, but we never throw in the towel here at The Basin,” said spokeswoman Shayna Silverman.
Loveland usually closes in May, but that sounds like a stretch this year. “As we move deeper into spring, a number of factors will guide whether we operate through the planned May closing date,” said spokeswoman Loryn Roberson. “We will continue to monitor conditions and provide updates if our original target is not achievable.”
Aspen Snowmass is holding to its scheduled closing dates: Buttermilk on April 5, Snowmass and Aspen Highlands on April 12, Aspen Mountain on April 19.
Officials at Vail Resorts also say they intend to close on previously scheduled dates: Keystone and Crested Butte on April 5, Beaver Creek on April 12 and Vail on April 19. As usual, they don’t set a date for Breckenridge, saying it will stay open as long conditions permit.
