Another snowy week on tap from Aspen to Vail

By Real Vail
Real AspenFebruary 26, 2012
After a windy but mostly dry weekend in the central and northern mountains of Colorado, forecasters are calling for yet another snowy week from Aspen to Vail to Summit County.

High winds whipping up to 80 mph shut down chairlifts across the high country Saturday afternoon, including lifts on the normally more protected front side of Vail Mountain. The winds were the result of a storm that swept north of the state, nailing resorts in Wyoming with snow but mostly missing Colorado. Sunday was a calmer but much colder day under sunny skies.

That will start to change as another storm sweep in from the southwest starting Monday night. Opensnow.com predicts 1-2 inches of new snow overnight Monday for all of the Aspen-area mountains, Summit County resorts and Vail Valley ski areas, and then another 6-10 inches during the day on Tuesday. Totals at Beaver Creek may be a little lower (in the 5-8 range).

Nick Williams, 11, sails off a rock at Crested Butte last week.
David O. Williams

After a clear day on Wednesday, another snowmaker rolls in Thursday, favoring resorts in the northern and central mountains.

A decent period of snow last week continued the gradual catch-up most of Colorado has seen since mid-January after a very slow start to the season. December saw record low snowfall across much of the western United States.

Vail, for instance, is only a little over halfway to its average annual snowfall of 350 inches. Last week's storms brought Vail's total seasonal snowfall to 188 inches, or just under 16 feet. Last season, a record 525 inches fell at Vail -- or just under 44 feet.

Decent snowfall the last half of January and most of February has allowed resorts to open nearly 100 percent of their terrain – even steeper runs where it's harder to hold snow. Crested Butte recently opened its daunting North Face terrain, and Arapahoe Basin last week was finally able to open its backside Montezuma Bowl terrain.

However, high winds last week and over the weekend have wreaked havoc on the backcountry snowpack, creating large and highly unstable snow slabs.

The Colorado Avalanche Information Center (CAIC) rated the avalanche danger as “Considerable” in both the Aspen area and the Vail/Summit County zone on Sunday. That means “dangerous avalanche conditions exist” and “careful snowpack evaluation, cautious route finding and conservative decision-making are essential.”

There have been six avalanche deaths so far this season in Colorado -- the seasonal average – and nearly two months of peak avalanche season remain on the calendar.


comments: 4 Comments on "Another snowy week on tap from Aspen to Vail"

albinamuro2 – May 17, 2023, at 5:19 a.m.

Thanks for every other informative site. The place else may just I get that kind of information written in such an ideal means? I have a venture that I’m just now operating on, and I have been on the look out for such information. HIPAA Compliance Solution

lepetiw688 – May 24, 2023, at 4:09 a.m.

Wow! Such an amazing and helpful post this is. I really really love it. It's so good and so awesome. I am just amazed. I hope that you continue to do your work like this in the future also selling payment processing services

seoseo – Sept. 26, 2023, at 12:15 p.m.

We are really grateful for your blog post. You will find a lot of approaches after visiting your post. I was exactly searching for. Thanks for such post and please keep it up. Great work.I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post.This is such a great resource that you are providing and you give it away for free. I love seeing blog that understand the value of providing a quality resource for free. https://www.posterprintcenter.com/backlit-film.html

emmascarlett – Sept. 28, 2023, at 3:55 a.m.

As someone deeply familiar with the dynamic weather patterns in the Colorado mountains, it's evident that Mother Nature is keeping things interesting. After a challenging weekend with high winds, we're gearing up for another best seo packages snowy week, with resorts from Aspen to Vail set to receive a much-needed fresh coat of snow. While the ski conditions are improving, it's crucial to stay vigilant in the backcountry due to the heightened avalanche risk. As we move deeper into the season, safety remains paramount.

COMMENT
Comment Form Info  Comment Information
Real Aspen encourages you to post comments on our articles and blogs. Logged in email is required for monitoring purposes. Your email will not be published and will not be distributed to any third-party. Abusive, obscene, profane, threatening, libelous or defamatory comments are prohibited. By posting a comment, you agree to this policy and our terms of use. To report an abusive posting, please contact us.

To make a comment, please log in or create an account. This helps us prevent spam and other malicious attacks.

Please log in to comment

 

Create a user account to comment

Snow Report

  24hr snow mid dpth snow cond.
A-Basin n/a n/a
Aspen n/a n/a closed
BC n/a n/a closed
Breckenridge n/a n/a closed
Buttermilk n/a n/a closed
Copper n/a n/a closed
Crest. Butte n/a n/a closed
Eldora n/a n/a closed
Heavenly n/a n/a closed
Highlands n/a n/a
Howelsen n/a n/a closed
Keystone n/a n/a closed
Kirkwood n/a n/a closed
Loveland n/a n/a
Monarch n/a n/a closed
Northstar n/a n/a closed
Powderhorn n/a n/a closed
Purgatory n/a n/a closed
Silverton n/a n/a closed
Ski Cooper n/a n/a closed
Ski Granby n/a n/a closed
Snowmass n/a n/a closed
Steamboat n/a n/a closed
Sunlight n/a n/a closed
Telluride n/a n/a closed
Vail n/a n/a closed
WinterPark n/a n/a closed
Wolf Creek n/a n/a closed
More Weather Reports
VIDEO GALLERY
Vail powder day snow snake
Airing it out at Crested Butte
Feb. 17, 2011 Surprise 14 inches of Fresh Powder