Mother Nature must be slow to wax her skis this year.
Unseasonably warm and dry conditions this fall have stalled or muted the start of ski season across Colorado, including Southwest Colorado, where Telluride and Wolf Creek ski areas have postponed their opening days.
Purgatory Resort, which plans to open Saturday, is banking on a cold front this week to help with snowmaking operations, said spokeswoman Kim Oyler.
“Our snowmakers are going to be blowing more snow,” she said. “We believe they should be very productive during that time period. ... We should know more later this week and will be releasing details at that time.”
Pricing will be based on the amount of terrain that can be opened, Oyler said.
Only two ski resorts are open across the state: Arapahoe Basin and Loveland, according to Colorado Ski Country USA, a trade group that represents 21 ski areas across the state.
“It’s been a warm fall here, but there is really little correlation between the snowfall in November and end-of-season snowpack, so it’s still early,” said Chris Linsmayer, spokesman for the group. “Winter is coming. We’re expecting the end of this week to see a shift in the weather pattern to more cold weather and some actual storms.”
He’s referring to a Northwest storm expected to arrive early Thursday in Southwest Colorado and bring up to 10 inches of snow to the upper peaks of the San Juan Mountains, 4-6 inches to the mountain passes, 2-4 inches at Purgatory Resort, and rain or trace amounts of snow in the lower valleys, according to the National Weather Service in Grand Junction.
Temperatures are expected to dip into the low teens Thursday and Friday nights in Durango – the coldest of the season so far.
But the one-day storm is expected to make way for warming temperatures and more dry weather through the weekend, said Michael Charnick, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction.
The next chance for snow arrives Monday evening or early Tuesday, he said.
Telluride Ski Resort, which planned to open Thanksgiving Day, announced Tuesday it is pushing its opening day to Nov. 28.
Wolf Creek Ski Area, which typically receives more than 400 inches of snow per year and is usually the first to open in Southwest Colorado, has pushed its opening day to Nov. 23, said owner Davy Pitcher.
The ski area has received 10 inches of snow year-to-date, he said, including 8 inches last week that contained an inch of water – a fairly wet storm that helps make a good base.
“I think every ski area is kind of in the same boat,” Pitcher said. “The years that we do get early snow, we’re always rooting for all the ski areas to get snow. It tends to benefit our business when we’re not the only place that has snow.”
shane@durangoherald.com
