As spring has officially sprung and the brutal winter is no longer upon us, it’s time to take a look back on the colder months. It was an anomaly here in Colorado as we had an extreme, five month long winter. It seemed to snow almost weekly, as the ground was covered in white from nearly November through March. While it may have seemed annoying on the front range, local skiers and snowboarders were ecstatic. 

Many ski areas had record totals, pushing nearly 500 inches. Vail tallied over 320 inches, the most they’ve seen in the last ten years. Steamboat saw over 420 inches, more than any other total available through research. Many students at Erie High School look forward to ski season year in and year out, so they took advantage of this year’s opportunity. Local skier and snowboarder Sam Esposito says, “The snow has been really good this year, especially compared to the last few years.” 

Not only were locals eager to enjoy the great snow, but many still remember what happened just over two years ago, when ski areas shut down early for the Covid-19 pandemic. This was just another reason as to why the ski season felt superb and gave riders a sense of normalcy. Coloradans have been taking every opportunity they possibly can to get up on the slopes, Esposito explains, “I’ve gone up every weekend, and it’s so much fun every time I go…”

For example, looking at Steamboat, with a total of 428 inches to date, they’ve greatly topped totals in recent history. The last time they surpassed 300 inches was the 2018-19 season. Dating back to the 2012-13 season, when On The Snow began tallying full season accumulation, the highest total they’d tallied was 380 inches, and it was exactly ten years ago. This paints a clear picture as to how massive this winter has been, as it’s impossible to find a recent year that has even come close to matching these numbers.

The wide variety of resorts that are relatively close to the front range make it easy for students, especially those with their license, to get up to the mountains whenever they so choose. Within a two hour drive skiers can choose from Vail, Breckinridge, Keystone, Copper, Eldora, Winter Park and more. The majority of these tallied over 350 inches of total snow, meaning each of them were a solid pick for some great skiing. Esposito shows how he’s utilized the variety of options, “when I want to go somewhere close I’ll typically go to Eldora, but some weekends I’ll make the slightly further drive to some of the larger resorts, but the snow has been great no matter where I’ve gone.”

As ski season is coming to a close, with some major areas already done for the season, riders are thankful for the luck they’ve had to be able to enjoy the slopes so often. They’ll only hope such luck continues in the upcoming winters.