Snow Synopsis: People are dusting off their bikes — but there’s hope

In the ski shop where I work, you can determine the snow quality based on the skis brought in for tuning. I’ve never seen more core shots, blown edges, and general carnage than in the last two weeks. It looks like folks have been bringing their skis to a knife fight, and the skis are losing. 

There’s no way to sugarcoat it: The conditions across the four mountains are bleak, and the forward outlook doesn’t inspire confidence. With the Upper Colorado River Basin Snowpack hovering at 91% of normal, according to USDA data, our winter has been anticlimactic, and a week of unseasonable warmth has damaged what little snow we had left. 

Conditions have been so uninspired that many locals have turned their eyes away from the mountains. As downvalley temperatures pushed toward the 60s this week, people dusted off their bikes, and some of the more eager folks headed for the desert and a taste of spring.

On a midweek day at Snowmass, the ratio of locals to tourists seemed to be at an all-time low — even by Snowmass standards. Having decided skiing ice and rocks was not worth their time, the locals left behind an eclectic mix of visitors to slide down bullet-hard groomers and work their way through sparse coverage. However, in the proverbial ignorance-is-bliss scenario, one visitor remarked that it was the best day of the year for her — far eclipsing her local ski hills outside of Boston. I guess that just goes to show that we’re still fortunate to be here.

It’s not all bad; there’s plenty of fun if you’re willing to put in the effort. Of course, the classic, “Well, the Bowl was actually skiing alright,” has been said by many this season, and it continues to be true. A combination of wind-drifted snow onto a cold, chalky surface created several fun runs. Further, the warmth has given us a taste of spring skiing. As lower elevations and southern aspects have baked in the sun, slushy groomers and bumps are in play. Although I usually prefer to leave this type of skiing for the closing weekend, skiing slush is always fun. On Sunday, I was gifted a few hundred feet of elusive “hot pow.” Skiing fast, wet, and supportive powder is something we rarely experience here, and I enjoyed it immensely. 

All this is to say, the conditions are rough out there, but it’s not time to hang up the skis yet. There is plenty of winter left, and the long-term weather forecasts suggest we are moving into a stormier and colder pattern.

For now, all we can do is cross our fingers, be light on our feet, and hunt out the few remaining bits of good snow we can find.

Nick Penzel manages Carbondale’s ski and bike shop, Cripple Creek Backcountry, and Basalt Bikes.