Colorado
Dozens of trails remain closed at major Colorado ski mountains as spring break kicks off amid hot, dry winter
Kit Geary/Summit Daily News
As the spring break holiday kicks into high gear, most of Colorado’s major ski resorts have yet to open all of their terrain.
With week-long vacations at schools around the country and Colorado’s snowpack nearing its peak, March is usually one of the busiest times of year for the state’s ski resorts. But this year, the state is headed into the busy season with a record-low snowpack and dozens of trails closed at its ski resorts.
Vail Mountain, Beaver Creek Resort, Breckenridge Ski Resort, Arapahoe Basin Ski Area and Winter Park Resort all had 25 or more trails listed as closed on their websites as of Friday. None of the major ski resorts in Colorado that are accessible on the Epic or Ikon passes have opened 100% of their terrain this season.
At Steamboat Resort, only 77% of the skiable terrain was open on Friday, according to the ski resorts website. Steamboat director of communications Maren Franciosi said that while the Mahogany Ridge and Pony Express lifts typically open around or just after the New Year, those lifts have yet to open this season.
Winter Park, meanwhile, had about 69% of its skiable terrain open on Friday, according to its website. The website showed 146 of 171 trails open, with mostly black diamond and double-black diamond trails closed.
At Vail, the Back Bowls opened later this year than they ever have and, at Breckenridge, the Imperial Express also had its latest opening since the lift was installed in 2005, Vail Resorts Chief Executive Officer Robert Katz told investors earlier this week. Katz reported that skier visits to the ski giant’s North American resorts were down 13% due to the poor winter for snow in the West.
Vail Resorts spokesperson Emily Kowalenko noted that Breckenridge is “really rocky up high, and our high-Alpine terrain at Breck has been some of the slower and more challenging terrain to open.”
Still, Breckenridge has opened all five of its peaks, including high-Alpine areas like Imperial Bowl, the Lake Chutes and hike-to terrain at Peak 6, Kowalenko said. The main zone that remains closed at Breckenridge is the upper part of Peak 7, she said.
Thanks to the ski resorts’ snowmaking and grooming teams, Kowalenko noted that Keystone was the first ski resort in Colorado to open this year. She said Keystone has opened all of its beginner and intermediate trails and about 75% of its expert terrain. At Keystone Resort, 122 of 142 trails were open on Friday.
Copper Mountain communications manager Olivia Butrymovich noted that last year the ski resorts saw major winter storms early in the season that brought record-breaking amounts of snow, including more than 100 inches by the end of November.
“Winters in Colorado are naturally variable,” Butrymovich said. “We experienced a nearly record-breaking early season last winter, while this season has unfolded differently. As a ski resort, we understand that variability is part of the business, and we do not expect every winter to look the same.”
While this winter has not been on par with others, Copper has been able to open the vast majority of its terrain. Only seven runs remain closed on Friday. Butrymovich said those runs rely entirely on natural snowfall.
Most winters, Arapahoe Basin Ski Area communications manager Shayna Silverman said the entire mountain would usually open by this point in the season.
After opening the Montezuma Bowl on the first weekend of March, A-Basin now has all its lifts running. Silverman noted that what remains closed is A-Basin’s “most extreme terrain,” like the East Wall and the Steep Gullies. She said the ski area isn’t ruling out that those zones could still open.
“There’s no denying that our snowpack has affected our terrain offerings this season and it’s been a difficult winter to get more of our mountain open,” she said. “But that being said, we never give up on skiing and riding here.”
The Steep Gullies have opened every winter since they were incorporated into the bounds of the ski resort starting in the 2017-18 season, according to A-Basin. Meanwhile, the East Wall has only remained closed all season once in its more than 50 year history, during the 2011-12 winter, when Colorado also experienced abysmal snowpack conditions.
With about 120 inches of snow so far this season, Silverman said this year is tracking ahead of the 2011-12 season at A-Basin. To start looking at opening the East Wall, the ski area typically needs a base of 50 inches or more, she said. Right now, the base is at 43 inches.
Aspen-Snowmass communications manager Janelle Sohner noted that while other ski resorts struggled to open terrain, the four Aspen peaks bucked the trend and were able to open significant amounts of the terrain for much of the season.
“Despite broader coverage about warm and dry conditions across the West, Aspen-Snowmass has delivered an excellent season for our guests,” Sohner said. “Across our four mountains, we’ve consistently had more than 98% of terrain open.”
Colorado
Kids escape unscathed after van slips off Colorado mountain road and down Blue River embankment
A van carrying campers from a hike near Blue River rolled down an embankment Thursday afternoon, but everyone inside escaped without major injuries. According to the Keystone Science School, the 15-passenger van was transporting 13 campers and two adults back from Mohawk Lakes when it slid off a wet road and rolled over.
Emergency crews responded to Spruce Creek Road after receiving reports of a single-vehicle rollover.
“We’re fortunate that it was low speed, and there was no intrusion into the passenger cabin,” Matt Benedict, division chief of wildfire and community preparedness for Red, White and Blue Fire said.
Investigators believe muddy conditions created by recent rainfall contributed to the crash. The van rolled down a steep embankment before coming to rest against a tree. Two people suffered minor injuries, but neither required transportation to a hospital, according to fire officials.
Keystone Science School confirmed emergency responders arrived quickly and that no major injuries were reported.
“The safety and well-being of our campers and staff is our highest priority,” Executive Director Eric Rightor said in a statement. “We are grateful that there were no major injuries, and we are committed to fully supporting all those involved and their families.”
Fire officials also credited seatbelt use for helping protect those inside the vehicle. “We always encourage everyone to wear their seatbelts… and they did. And everybody left,” Benedict said.
The Keystone Science School is located in Summit County.
Colorado
Colorado Springs officials provide details of recent closure, repair work on Uintah Street
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) — Two weeks have passed since officials closed four blocks of Uintah Street to repair damage under a bridge over Shooks Run Creek, and we’re now learning specifics about the response.
Officials said that the city was the lead entity in the repair response, with Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) providing a supporting role.
The closure began late in the afternoon of June 10 for what officials described as emergency bridge and utility repairs between Prospect and Institute streets, east of the Colorado College campus.
Officials said that on the previous day, a routine bridge inspection by the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) discovered a large “void,” or sinkhole, under the bridge that compromised a utility line.
But officials didn’t explain how the void developed or how they repaired it until earlier this week, when Richard Mulledy, the city’s public works director, elaborated on the situation.
“It was about a six-foot by eight-foot void,” he explained. “That void was really caused by an abandoned storm sewer line and then a leaking manhole. It’s something that we see from time to time, but really doesn’t happen often.”
Crews approached the problem from under and above the bridge, with workers excavating into the street to access the utility lines.
“The utility line being compromised was an active storm sewer line,” Mulledy said. “It was sort of hanging out in the open and was unsecured. The old storm sewer line had been abandoned for decades and was starting to fail.”
Crews removed the old stormwater pipe, repaired the manhole, and backfilled the void with a material called “flow.”
“Flow fills almost like a kind of liquid concrete,” Mulledy detailed. “And that’s a really great structural solution. So, we filled that entire thing up, made sure the void is closed, and made sure it’s structurally sound.”
He added that the bridge is around a century old, the same age as most bridges across the creek.
“This was identified and got fixed in 48 hours, rather than let something structural fail, and then we’d be in a big, giant construction project,” Mulledy said. “The structure itself, I don’t think, was ever really threatened.”
The closure ended on Saturday, June 13.
Colorado
Colorado man dies after dislodging rocks, getting crushed by 1,000 pound boulder
A Colorado man died on Tuesday when a boulder fell on him and crushed him. That’s according to the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Office, who identified the man as 59-year-old Paul Frasch.
Frasch is a resident of Silverthorne. The sheriff’s office says he was walking in an area along the Arkansas River in Buena Vista in the middle of the day with his coworker when rocks fell and hit him.
According to investigators, the boulder that landed on Frasch weighed at least 1,000 pounds.
The coworker received injuries to his arms after trying to help Frasch.
When first responders got to the scene, the boulder was still on top of Frasch. He was declared dead at the scene.
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