early season snow? (Denver, Vail, Breckenridge: ski resorts, live, moving)

[tonymont]

how's the snow in southwest colorado towards the beginning/middle of december? (crested butte, telluride, durango) am i taking a risk of them not having much snow if booking a trip to one of these places during the early season? which resorts usually have plenty of snow by then?

[ColoWeb]

It is really hard to tell as itis diffrent each year.

[POhdNcrzy]

Traditionally by mid-December all of Colorado's ski resorts would have at least a 50 inch base (minimum needed for not hitting rocks, stumps, etc) and usually more by mid-December, in fact Thanksgiving holiday usually signaled the time when the "picky" Front Range skiers decided it was worth it to drive up to the slopes.

After about 1998 when the "global warming weather" really starting kicking in hard in Colorado it has been less consistent. In the 2006-2007 season only one or two Colorado resorts could hold on to a base over 80 inches for more than a couple of weeks before the base would melt back down. That is totally unheard of for Colorado really. Traditionally most all resorts would hold at least a 70 inch base for 80% of the ski season. Amazing how you NEVER even ONCE saw a story about that in any Colorado or national news media !!

In a nutshell, by mid-December the SW CO resorts you mentioned are very likely to have a base of at least 70 inches and it might not be a powder day when you are there but the skiing and scenery should be great.

[steveco.]

Its hard to imagine that but if I recall, most of the major snow storms in the Denver area never actually touched the major ski resorts because of the upslope storms. These came in from the east and didn't actually make it over the divide. So eventhough us in the city got slammed I think they had a very average or below average year up there

[wankel7]

Copper opened today Only 18" base but it was still a lot of fun !

[suzco]

Some more info on this season''s opening dates:

Keystone- Now Open
Breckenridge- November 9
Vail- November 16
Beaver Creek- November 21

The Denver Post - Keystone Delivers a Halloween Treat for Skiers by Opening a Week Earlier Than Expected on Nov. 2

Thanks to a series of October snowstorms that have delivered up to 3 feet of snow on the summits of the Colorado Rockies, as well as cold temperatures for snowmaking, Keystone Resort announced it'll open Friday, Nov. 2 -- a week earlier than the initially scheduled opening date of Nov. 9. Breckenridge will open a week later on Friday, Nov. 9 followed by the Nov. 16 openings of Vail and Heavenly and Beaver Creek's opening on Nov. 21.

[POhdNcrzy]

Wow, this looks to be one of the worst ever years for Colorado ski resorts in terms of snowfall if things keep going like they are.

This could all change though with just a handful of serious storms moving through. But right now it's totally pathetic. Tonymont, if I were you I'd hold off or try booking in late January or later. Jeez, sure hope it snows in the Rockies soon !

[chilaili]

I think Eldora is resorting to spraying fake snow already

[Charles]

Next week there's decent chance of another pretty big snowstorm

National Weather Service Text Product Display

[Brill]

I went to Breck last Saturday, was nice, but the slope was crowded, not a lot of breathing room. I sure hope some decent snow storms move in to. Figures, my first winter in Colorado is shaping up to be a warm one