We’re on the cusp of Spring Break. The barbarians are at the gates and will flow into Colorado over the next month or so. What can they expect when they arrive?
According to our estimates, about 96 percent of Colorado’s in-bounds skiable terrain is open; 75 percent of Colorado’s ski areas report that they’re now 100 percent open. The average mid-mountain base is around 48 inches. Steady snowfall since the beginning of the year has turned a relatively poor early season into a decent mid- to late-season.
When we tallied the percentages and acreage, which to our reckoning is about 40,296 acres of in-bounds skiing, we did not include Silverton Mountain or the snowcat operations run by Ski Cooper (Chicago Ridge), Monarch and the San Juan Ski Company, which offer an additional 50,000 or so acres of backcountry skiing.
You can be rest assured that Silverton Mountain is steep and deep as always, with a 70-inch base and the vast majority of its potential terrain accessible to advanced and expert skiers.
Overall, Colorado’s ski resorts are at about 50 percent of average for total seasonal snowfall. Even Wolf Creek is about 170 inches shy of its average season total, while Loveland is 268 inches short of average, to pick a couple of areas at random. The good news is that we have about three months to turn the tide and get closer to those seasonal averages.
We’ll get some help today and overnight tonight with basically a 100 percent chance for new snow overnight in most locations, followed by another chance for snow later this week into next weekend. So, if you can sneak away tomorrow morning you should have a nice powder day ahead of you.
Here are the past week’s cumulative totals over the past three days and the updated terrain report from across Colorado…
Arapahoe Basin: 0”, 4”, 9” (7 lifts, 71 trails, 2 terrain parks, 691 acres, 70% open, 41” base)
Aspen Highlands: 0”, 0”, 1” (5 lifts, 118 trails, 1,028 acres, 100% open, 40” base)
Aspen Mountain: 0”, 0”, 3” (6 lifts, 76 trails, 675 acres, 100% open, 43” base)
Beaver Creek: 0”, 2”, 5” (25 lifts, 149 trails, 1831 acres, 100% open, 49” base)
Breckenridge: 0”, 5”, 10” (30 lifts, 155 trails, 2358 acres, 100% open, 57” base)
Buttermilk: 0”, 0”, 1” (7 lifts, 40 trails, 470 acres, 100% open, 35” base)
Copper Mountain: 0”, 3”, 5” (21 lifts, 138 trails, 5 terrain parks, 2322 acres, 94% open, 46” base)
Crested Butte: 0”, 0”, 0” (13 lifts, 93 trails, 4 terrain parks, 958 acres, 100% of beginner/100% of intermediate open/100% of advanced open/76% of extreme open, 40” base)
Durango Mountain Resort: 0”, 0”, 0” (9 lifts, 88 trails, 100% open, 52” base)
Eldora: 0”, 3”, 6” (10 lifts, 100% of beginner/100% of intermediate open/98% of advanced open, 38” base)
Keystone: 0”, 1”, 4” (19 lifts, 125 trails, 3014 acres, 100% of beginner/100% of intermediate open/95% of expert open, 37” base)
Loveland: 0”, 11”, 19” (9 lifts, 84 trails, 1365 acres, 100% of beginner/94% of intermediate/63% of advanced open, 50” base)
Monarch: 0”, 1”, 2” (5 lifts, 63 trails, 100% open, 58” base)
Powderhorn: 0”, 0”, 0” (4 lifts, 41 trails, 100% open, 63” base)
Ski Cooper: 0”, 0”, 6” (3 lifts, 30 trails, 100% open, 39” base)
Ski Granby Ranch: 0”, 0”, 1” (5 lifts, 100% open, 30” base)
Snowmass: 0”, 0”, 1” (18 lifts, 94 trails, 3362 acres, 100% open, 42” base)
Steamboat: 0”, 1”, 2 1/2” (16 lifts, 165 trails, 100% open, 58” base)
Sunlight: 0”, 2”, 5” (3 lifts, 100% open, 47” base)
Telluride: 0”, 0”, 1” (18 lifts, 100% beginner, 97% intermediate, 100% advanced open, 53” base)
Vail: 0”, 4”, 10” (31 lifts, 190 trails, 5163 acres, 98% open, 44” base)
Winter Park: 0”, 1/2”, 5” (24 lifts, 144 trails, 2683 acres, 7 terrain parks, 87% open, 58” base)
Wolf Creek: 0”, 0”, 0” (6 lifts, 1,600 acres, 100% open, 76” base)
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