But the snow gods have smiled on Winter Park recently. As of Thursday, the resort had received 340 inches of snow this season, the most of any ski area in Colorado. Its base depth of just under six feet stood at 11% above normal for the date.

And so, even as other ski areas are shutting down for the season — eight have already closed and five more will close on Sunday — Winter Park is still going strong. It will stay open two more weeks, while the Mary Jane side of the mountain will remain open as long as conditions permit. Last year, that was May 28.

Resort companies like Alterra and Vail Resorts that are investing in expansions of their snowmaking systems acknowledge the threat of climate change is a consideration in their thinking, but the more immediate goal is to extend the length of seasons in the near term.

“There are benefits to it being a hedge against climate change, but that’s not why we did it,” said Winter Park spokeswoman Jen Miller. “It’s kind of an interesting story for us, because we are now one of the resorts that has the longest seasons in Colorado. We’re opening earlier and we’re staying open later.”

Vail Resorts invested more than $100 million in snowmaking company-wide over the past 10 years. In 2019, Vail Mountain underwent the largest snowmaking expansion project in the resort’s history with a heavy focus on two trails from the summit down to Mid-Vail. The company also has invested in snowmaking at Keystone, so that it can offer skiing at the top of that mountain in October, and at Breckenridge, where it aims to offer skiing into May.

“We’ve been able to extend our season by 12 days at our Rocky Mountain resorts,” said Bill Rock, president of the mountain division at Vail Resorts. “The industry (overall) has invested in snowmaking as well, but the industry in the Rockies has added about five days.

“We look to provide more days, and more consistent conditions, for our guests,” he continued. “We try to open Keystone as early as we can, and thanks to our investment in automated snowmaking, we’re able to do that. We go into May at Breckenridge, and that’s because of our investments in snowmaking there. We’ve been able to have some of our longest seasons at Vail over the last few years.”

Mountaintops tend to be colder than base areas and can hold snow longer. That’s why early-season skiing at Keystone and Vail can involve skiing at the top of the mountain, but riding the lift or gondola down to the base rather than skiing.

In 2020, the Aspen Skiing Company installed snowmaking at the top of Aspen Mountain for similar reasons. “It was very much intended to create an upper-mountain opening and closing scenario in lower snow years,” said Aspen Snowmass spokeswoman Hannah Dixon, adding that there are provisions to do the same at Snowmass in that resort’s master plan.

According to the Lakewood-based National Ski Areas Association, the average length of ski seasons in the Rocky Mountain region over the past decade has fluctuated between 122 and 132 days, excluding the COVID-shortened season of 2019-20 (103 days). The average length over that period has been 127 days, but the past three seasons stood at 130 days or more.

Miller said Winter Park exceeded 200 days the past two seasons, and it will again this season if Mary Jane hangs on until late May as it did last year. Winter Park has seen above-average snowfall the past three seasons, too.

“This is our 85th season,” Miller said. “If you go back to the early days of skiing in Colorado, we didn’t start skiing until late December or January. Natural snow is variable, and snowmaking has allowed us to broaden the season. It’s part of doing business as a ski area in the west.”

Although ski areas operate their snowmaking guns primarily in early season, resort officials say those efforts continue to pay dividends in the spring because manmade snow is denser. As a result, it is more durable and holds up better when warmer temperatures arrive in the spring.

“When you build a super-solid, consistent base on the front end, you see less snowmelt and fewer issues when temperatures warm in the spring,” said Vail Resorts spokeswoman Lindsay Hogan. “It has benefits on both sides of the season.”

Eldora Mountain Resort, the Front Range ski area that opened Nov. 7 this season and will close on April 20, is seeking approval to expand its water storage capabilities for snowmaking in the future.

“That is just a common-sense hedge against what we’re seeing in terms of climate trends,” said Eldora spokesman Sam Bass. “We need the opportunity to store more water in case there is a summer when our primary snowmaking water storage doesn’t fill up all the way. Any ski resort that’s thinking about the future, which is every one, is probably thinking about ways to ensure that they have adequate water supplies and the ability to make snow.”

The ability to offer early-season skiing is a key part of Eldora’s competitive strategy. This season it opened a week earlier than scheduled. Last season, it opened two weeks ahead of schedule.

“That time of year, we’re essentially the same size as Winter Park or Copper, or any of the big guys, because we all only have a couple of trails open,” Bass said. “The Ikon passholder, early in the season, if they only have two or three Ikon options to choose from, they say, ‘Why would I drive to Winter Park or Copper when I can just drive to Eldora for the same amount of terrain or more?’ It’s an opportunity for us to make hay early and provide a good product for the people who really want to get out and get after it early-season.”

The looming specter of climate change remains a concern for the industry, however.

“Climate change has a real impact on our business, and it’s something that we’re concerned about,” said Rock, who is second in command at Vail Resorts to chief executive Kirsten Lynch.  “We’re uniquely positioned to serve our guests during this volatility that it represents. The $100 million in snowmaking across the company has allowed us to provide reliable conditions for our guests throughout the whole season.”

The same is true of Winter Park’s massive investment in snowmaking.

“It puts us in a much better position long-term, depending on how snowfall will be in the next 10, 20, 30 years,” Miller said. “It’s a tricky subject. It’s something that ski areas have done for a very long time, but it’s become more of a reality that this is what we’re going to need to be able to operate in the future.”

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Ski Cooper is offering $35 lift tickets — the price they charged for children ages 6-14 this season — while Monarch is charging $39. Both close on Sunday.

For comparison, Eldora is offering lift tickets in advance online for $99 through closing day on April 20. Copper Mountain will offer $99 lift tickets from April 14 through closing day on May 11.

The other ski areas closing for the season on Sunday are Aspen Highlands, Beaver Creek and Silverton. After Sunday, Purgatory will be open weekends-only through April 27

Buttermilk, Crested Butte, Keystone, Powderhorn, Sunlight, Telluride and Wolf Creek closed last Sunday.

Cooper, which is located 10 miles north of Leadville on Tennessee Pass, has 100% of its terrain open with a mid-mountain base depth of 57 inches. Monarch, 140 miles from Denver at Monarch Pass, has a 64-inch mid-mountain base with 100% of its beginner, intermediate and expert terrain open. Its double-black slopes are 88% open.

Temperatures at Cooper will be in the 30s Tuesday and Wednesday, then in the 40s through Sunday, according to the OpenSnow reporting and forecasting service. Monarch will mostly be in the 40s with a high temperature of 50 forecast for Saturday.

Areas scheduled to close April 20 include Aspen Mountain, Eldora, Snowmass, Steamboat, and Vail. The Winter Park base will close on April 27,  but its Mary Jane complex will remain open as long as conditions permit. Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, Loveland and Arapahoe Basin also will remain open into May.

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By the end of April, the only areas expected to be open are Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, Loveland and Arapahoe Basin.

Many areas seem likely to close with good snow cover, though. As of Thursday, according to figures curated by the OpenSnow reporting and forecasting service, 12 Colorado resorts have above-average base depths. They included Winter Park, Steamboat, Keystone, Arapahoe Basin, Loveland, Eldora, Copper Mountain and Breckenridge. Vail and Beaver Creek were close to average, coming in at 95% and 99%, respectively.

Base depths are expected to grow over the next week as a series of storms is headed to the high country.

“The total snow from Friday through Thursday, which includes three storms, should get into the 10- to 20-inch range for most areas,” OpenSnow founding meteorologist Joel Gratz wrote in his Thursday morning update, “so it’ll be a return to winter after this week’s summer sneak peek.”

The 30-day forecast for April, issued by the Climate Prediction Center of the National Weather Service, calls for above-average temperatures in Colorado and below-average precipitation.

Colorado ski area closing dates for 2024-2025 season

March 30: Granby Ranch

April 6: Buttermilk, Crested Butte, Keystone, Powderhorn, Sunlight, Telluride, Wolf Creek

April 13: Aspen Highlands, Beaver Creek, Ski Cooper, Monarch, Silverton (Purgatory will be open daily through April 13, and after that will operate on weekends through April 27

April 20: Aspen Mountain, Eldora, Snowmass, Steamboat, Vail

April 27: Winter Park (Mary Jane will remain open as long as conditions permit. Last year that came on May 28)

May 11: Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, Loveland

Arapahoe Basin: As usual, A-Basin plans to stay open as long as conditions permit

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Segundo, the state’s oldest operating lift, began service on Aspen Mountain as Lift 3 in 1954. In 1969, it was replaced and sold to Sunlight, which had debuted as a ski area in 1966. It went into service there in 1973 as Sunlight’s second lift, hence the name Segundo. Resort officials have designated Friday as Segundo Day.

Segundo’s last day in service is likely to be April 6, when Sunlight closes for the season, but Segundo’s sendoff celebration will happen Friday with extended hours.

Those who want to pay their respects will be able to ride Segundo from Sunlight’s normal closing time of 4 p.m. until 6:30 p.m. Those who don’t already have Sunlight passes will be able ride Segundo starting at 4 p.m. for $20.

“We’re just hoping people come out and experience all eyes on the lift for two and a half hours, when the sun is getting low,” said Travis Baptiste, Sunlight’s director of business development. “We think it will be a really cool day.”

Segundo’s chairs seat two with a single hanger pole between the passengers. The lift was built by the Heron Engineering Company, founded by the legendary lift designer Robert Heron, which built 120 chairlifts across the country.

It will be replaced by what used to be Arapahoe Basin’s Lenawee, a three-passenger chair which was removed in the summer of 2022 and replaced by a high-speed, six-person chair. Installation of that lift at Sunlight was delayed for a year while the installer dealt with a construction backlog caused by COVID-19.

‘We’re really proud that we are repurposing the Lenawee Lift, because that is something that could have ended up in the scrap yard,” Baptiste said. “That lift has at least 25 years of service left on it.”

Sunlight is also replacing the Primo lift, a double that began operation in 1966. It will be replaced this summer by a four-person chair built by Poma in Grand Junction.

“It is coming off the assembly line as we speak,” Baptiste said.

This week, though, the focus will be on Segundo. Baptiste is hoping Front Range skiers and riders will consider coming over for some fun nostalgia.

“We really just wanted to designate a day with all eyes on Segundo,” Baptiste said. “We’re hoping people travel to come ride the lift and be on a piece of history – your last chance to ride the oldest in-service lift in Colorado. The biggest thing is for our local community. We have people living here who are on four or five generations of their family riding on this lift, so there is a serious emotional attachment. Some of those generations started off running the lift in Aspen.”

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The park, 1200 W. Florida Ave. off South Platte River Drive, features a variety of rails, boxes and other configurations for skiers and snowboarders of all skill levels to try.

March 20 marks the last day of the season for riding the park’s features before they start being removed March 21, according to a release from Denver Parks & Recreation. Gear lending will no longer be available starting that day.

Ruby Hill staff will offer free Learn to Ride sessions on March 22 and 23 for beginners to learn the ropes with the help of experienced instructors before the park closes.

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He retired from competition after the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, but now he’s on a mission to transform the sport in a different way. He has founded a new tour for halfpipe snowboarders and freeskiers called The Snow League, debuting this weekend in Aspen, where he dominated the Winter X Games from 2003 to 2013.

En route to Aspen, he stopped in Denver to visit Snöbahn, a Thornton indoor action sports facility in which he is an investor.

“This is something I would have killed to have near my home when I was growing up, loving these sports — snowboarding, skateboarding,” said White, who grew up in San Diego. “I would be here every day.”

The 38,000-square-foot space features four “ski slopes” — inclined moving ramps — where people can learn to ski and snowboard year-round. It also has performance trampolines, a big-air jump with an airbag for landings and a skate park. It opened a year ago, eight years after owner Sadler Merrill opened a smaller version in Centennial.

“I’m so hyped to partner with Snöbahn,” White said. “We hope to build more in other cities.”

White emerged as a superstar who transcended his sport at the 2006 Winter Olympics with long-flowing red hair that earned him the nickname “The Flying Tomato” and made him a darling of NBC’s Olympic coverage.

His hair is short-cropped now, but he believes the new competition tour he founded will help the sport soar like never before. Until now, there was no organized tour, just scattered events with no coherent organization or method of determining a season champion.

“Within the sport, there’s always been a disconnected sort of feeling,” White said. “Then every four years when you wanted to go to the Olympics, all of sudden you have to do these other events that get you the points to (qualify for) the Olympics. It’s really hard (for viewers) to figure out where to tune in, where to watch what’s happening – and even just to follow along.”

White recalled a season when he was 16 years old and won every event he entered — halfpipe and slopestyle competitions — prompting an interviewer to ask him how it felt to be undefeated for an entire season and not be a world champion.

“That was a very clear picture of what was wrong,” White said. “What we’re trying to create is just like any other traditional sport, a centralized tour where you can come and see how everyone is doing and how it’s progressing.”

White pointed to alpine skiing’s World Cup, an organized ski racing tour held in dozens of major ski areas around the world with weekly stops — including Beaver Creek every December — beginning in October and ending in March. Overall and discipline champions are crowned at the end of each season.

Some events on that tour are nearly 100 years old. The Hahnenkamm downhill race in Kitzbuehel, Austria, annually attracts crowds in excess of 50,000.

“When you look at the sport of downhill skiing, they have a lot of legendary events, and there are big prize purses,” White said. “Not that it’s our sister sport, but it’s also on the mountain, one run over. Why are we not curating the same experience and capturing the attention of major brands? We want to create that same excitement for freeski and snowboarding.”

Aspen marks the first stop of the tour. The next event will be held in China in December, followed by Aspen again next February — immediately following the Winter Olympics in Italy — and Switzerland in March. The event this weekend will involve snowboard halfpipe only, but freeski halfpipe will be added when the tour resumes in December.

Qualifying runs take place all day Friday at Buttermilk with quarterfinals, semifinals and finals following on Saturday, beginning at 9 a.m. Peacock will broadcast live, and NBC will rebroadcast on March 29.

Merrill, Snöbahn’s primary owner, was grateful that White dropped in (yes, that’s a snowboard pun) to visit his investment and bring some attention to it on the way to Aspen.

“The awareness that Shaun can bring with his massive following, his credibility, his experience as the GOAT in the industry, I think it’s a credibility signifier for our customers,” Merrill said. “Shaun is not an investor/ambassador that just puts his name on the website. He really wants to roll up his sleeves; he really wants to shepherd in the next level of skier-snowboarder action sports participants. He really believes in our mission of inspiring a life of adventure.”

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The unrestricted adult Epic Pass for next season is selling for $1,051, as compared to an early-bird price of $982 a year ago for the current season. The adult Epic Local pass, which comes with restrictions, is going for $783. It was $731 last year. Last year’s Epic Pass prices increased 8% over the year before.

Broomfield-based Vail Resorts usually announces its price structure before its Denver-based rival, Alterra Mountain Company, reveals Ikon Pass prices. Last year, Ikon prices were announced two days after the Epic reveal.

The Epic Pass offers unlimited access to all 42 resorts owned by Vail Resorts while offering access to dozens of partner resorts. The Epic Local pass offers unlimited access to 29 resorts and access to others with restrictions.

Vail Resorts also announced that passholders will have expanded access to resorts in the Verbier region of Switzerland, two hours from Geneva.

Epic Day passes (available in increments of one to seven days) are selling for $47-$100 per day.

Indy Pass, an alternative to Epic and Ikon that serves more than 200 independent ski areas, announced its prices Saturday with renewals going for $349 and new passes costing $369. Colorado ski areas that participate in the Indy Pass include Loveland, Powderhorn, Sunlight, Granby, Echo, Howelsen Hill in Steamboat Springs and Hoedown Hill in Windsor.

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As of March 3, half of the state’s ski areas have average or above average base depths. They are Arapahoe Basin, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Cooper, Copper Mountain, Echo, Eldora, Granby, Keystone, Loveland, Monarch, Steamboat and Winter Park. Vail stands at 95% of normal and Crested Butte 92%.

The Aspen areas are at 74-82% of normal while southern Colorado ski areas are hurting. Wolf Creek is at 48%, Purgatory 47%.

March can be a very snowy month, though, so it would be wise to follow storm systems.

Here is a list of projected closing dates, confirmed by contact with each resort for the latest schedule. All are subject to change depending on the weather. Some may extend beyond these dates; others may close earlier than scheduled. The Denver Post will update this list as announcements are made.

April 20: Aspen Mountain, Eldora, Snowmass, Steamboat, Vail

April 27: Purgatory, Winter Park. (Winter Park’s Mary Jane complex will remain open as long as conditions permit, however. Last year that came on May 28)

May 11: Breckenridge, Copper Mountain, Loveland

Arapahoe Basin: As usual, A-Basin plans to stay open as long as conditions permit

Closed: Granby Ranch, Buttermilk, Crested Butte, Keystone, Powderhorn, Sunlight, Telluride, Wolf Creek, Aspen Highlands, Beaver Creek, Ski Cooper, Monarch, Silverton

The first is Indy Pass, which is promising to bring together 250 ski areas in North America and Europe — a number that could rise this fall, according to Indy Pass founder Doug Fish, because summer is recruiting season for the organization. That was demonstrated last year when Loveland joined the fold in October — the biggest Colorado ski area in the collective.

Behemoths Epic and Ikon are likely to follow with on-sale information soon, because they typically announce in early March. Last year, Epic Pass announced its early bird prices for this season on March 5. Ikon followed two days later.

“The process to re-contract our current 230 independent partner resorts takes time,” Fish said in a news release. “Based on new interest to join the pass from various resorts, and conversations with our current partners, we are confident our total roster will increase significantly by next season, hence the guarantee.”

Indy Pass has already announced the addition of five new areas for next season in Vermont, New Hampshire, Chile, Austria and Italy. The addition of Corralco Mountain Resort in Chile is the first for Indy Pass in the Southern Hemisphere. Besides Loveland, Colorado ski areas that honor Indy Pass include Powderhorn, Sunlight, Granby, Echo, Howelsen Hill in Steamboat Springs and Hoedown Hill in Windsor.

Indy Pass renewals for adults are priced at $349, while new passholders will pay $369. For those buying season passes at participating Indy Pass ski areas, an “add-on” pass good at other Indy Pass ski areas costs $279.

“Indy Pass’ singular purpose has remained the same since our first season,” said Indy Pass director Erik Mogensen, “to empower more people to ski while supporting independent resorts and the communities around them,” .

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San Juan County Sheriff’s Office and Silverton Medical Rescue were alerted to the accident at 1:09 p.m. Thursday, according to a Facebook post from Silverton Medical Rescue.

The 41-year-old woman was snowboarding in the backcountry with a male skier, also from Crested Butte, in Middle Fork Mineral Creek, known locally as “The Nose,” when she was caught and buried in the avalanche, according to the post. The man was also caught in the avalanche but managed to ski out.

Staff in a nearby hut noticed the avalanche and alerted search and rescue, according to an accident report from the Colorado Avalanche Information Center, before joining the skier to help find and uncover the snowboarder. The woman was dead when rescuers found her.

Silverton Medical Rescue dispatched its Avalanche Response team to the scene at 1:57 p.m. where members extracted the woman using a helicopter, according to the Facebook post.

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