Ear to the ground

Q: “Can’t you take just one run with girlfriend on her birthday?”

A: “Your birthday isn’t until tomorrow.”

-An exchange at Purgatory during last Sunday’s big powder day

One for the books

It was a winter for the record books even before La Niña brought Colorado close to 5 feet of snow last weekend. Each of Colorado’s 26 ski resorts enjoyed a banner December with fresh snow falling somewhere in the state on 30 of the month’s 31 days.

Telluride and Snowmass experienced their snowiest Decembers in the resorts’ histories, and other ski areas reported near-record snowfall totals. Purgatory at Durango Mountain Resort reached its second highest December snowfall total with 99 inches falling locally in the 31-day period. Wolf Creek received a staggering 14 feet of snow in December, 173 inches to be precise, and Silverton Mountain boasted 137 inches of fresh during the month.

Telluride Ski Resort reported 82 inches, which it claimed was the largest in the ski area history which dates to 1972. However, The Telluride Watch expressed some doubts about the record and alleged creative measuring by resort management. The paper did add that the snowfall gave the previous December of record, 1983, a run for its money. A new record was also established at the Snowmass ski area, where the 119 inches of snowfall edged the 117 inches recorded in December 1983 and bested average by nearly three times.  

Aspen Skiing Co. playfully called the month “DEEPcember,” because of the abundant powder. However, on Aspen Mountain, the snowfall was just shy of the 1983 record. At the Steamboat Springs ski area, the 126 inches was the third-highest monthly total in the ski area’s 46 years of operations.

‘Grand Opening’

Silverton is going back in time this weekend, way back in time. Throwing convention to the wind, Silverton’s Kendall Mountain Ski Area has decided to hold a “Grand Opening” on Sat., Jan. 12. The down-home ski area has been open for more than four decades and well more than a month this year, but what the hell?

To celebrate the occasion, the ski area is reducing its lift ticket prices to match those of the original opening of the mountain in January of 1964. Adult lift tickets will be only $2, children can ski for a buck, and kids under 5 are free.  

Kendall Mountain now boasts a double chair lift, a far cry from the original T-bar that hauled skiers up in the ’60s. Beyond alpine skiing, Kendall also offers free sledding, ice skating and Nordic skiing. Saturday’s ribbon cutting will take place when the lift begins running at 11 a.m.