LaConte: The Novembers to remember in Vail
When Vail recorded 37 inches of snow in four days this week, locals were overjoyed, calling this November one of the resort’s best openings in recent memory. Indeed, the mountain has received a cumulative 84 inches of snow this season and it’s not even December yet, a good start to the season to be sure.
Vail is boasting a 46-inch mid-mountain base as of Friday, which is one of the biggest November bases the mountain has ever seen, tracking with some of the snowiest years in the mountain’s history.
The mountain had a 36-inch base on Dec. 2, 1977, and by the end of that year, the mountain had accumulated a total of 504 inches of snow. That was Vail’s record for the next 34 years. Vail also had a 36-inch base on Nov. 30, 1983, and that season, the resort had recorded 488 inches total by the end of the season, a close second.
The biggest November base in Vail’s history (that I’ve been able to find) occurred on Nov. 29, 1979, when the mountain measured a 52-inch base at mid mountain, and a whopping 72-inch base at the summit. On Nov. 29, 1996, Vail Mountain had a 43-inch mid mountain base, and a 46-inch base at the summit. A year earlier on Dec. 1, 1995, the mountain had a 48-inch base at the summit.
But snowfall aside, there is another metric by which we can evaluate how good of an opening we’re seeing — the amount of terrain available to skiers and snowboarders. And this year, while Vail’s impressive 84-inch cumulative snow total on Nov. 29 puts it well on its way to being in the record books for a great season, in terms of terrain openings, it really can’t compare to years past. Vail just opened Chairs 11 and 14 on Thursday, and we’re still waiting on Game Creek Bowl, the Back Bowls and, of course, Blue Sky Basin.
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Vail had pretty much the entire mountain open by Nov. 29, 2018, after receiving 71 inches of cumulative snowfall. The Back Bowls opened on Nov. 25 that year, and by the end of November, Blue Sky Basin was open as well, with 4,200 acres in total available.
On Nov. 26, 2014 — the day before Thanksgiving — Vail opened Sun Up and Sun Down Bowl, and China Bowl and Teacup Bowl opened a few days later on Nov. 29, bringing the resort’s total acreage to 3,600.
The earliest date I’ve been able to find the Back Bowls opening was on Nov. 16, 2002.
In 2010, portions of the Back Bowls opened on Nov. 24. That would go on to be Vail’s biggest snow year in its history, upsetting that 1977-78 record with an end-of-season total of 511 inches.
But what I find to be more impressive is those years when there’s a lot of terrain open and there hasn’t been as much snow.
On Dec. 8 of 2000, Vail only had a 23-inch base at the Summit, yet there was 19 lifts running on the mountain. On Nov. 25, 1988, Vail’s base was only 22 inches at the summit, yet lifts 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 11, 14, 16 and 20 were all open.
A similar year to this year would be 40 years ago during the 1984-85 season when snow fell continuously Sunday through Thursday ahead of Thanksgiving (more on that in this week’s Time Machine, our “this week in local history” column, publishing on Monday). The mountain had a 47-inch base at the summit by the end of November, which is almost identical to this year’s stats.
The Back Bowls opened on Nov. 30 that year, which will be well ahead of this year. But the resort may have been motivated to open more terrain by an influx of crowds that came with the kind of publicity boost that money can’t buy — snow dumping on Mile High Stadium during a Broncos game on “Monday Night Football.”
Denver7 Meteorologist Danielle Grant recently recounted the events of that day, a little more than four decades ago.
“Over 62,000 people braved blizzard conditions at Mile High Stadium,” she said. “Fans struggled to see, players had trouble holding the ball as a massive storm closed schools and roads, dumping up to 3 feet in the Denver Metro. But it did not stop the Broncos, who navigated 4 inches of snow on the field to edge out the Packers, 17 to 14.”
The event took place on Oct. 15, just enough time for people to start planning Thanksgiving holiday vacations to Vail.
Jan Pilcher with Ski Country USA said the Broncos’ national publicity made “the phones ring off the hook” at ski resorts.
“Combine a blizzard on a Broncos’ “Monday Night Football” game with excellent weather and the result can be record or near-record breaking starts for Colorado’s ski resorts,” the Vail Trail reported.
The Trail quoted Dave Dowell, restaurant manager at Cyranos, who said business was awesome.
“I’m sure Monday Night with Frank Gifford pointing out the fact that the ski slopes were getting a lot of snow had a lot to do with it,” Dowell said.
John LaConte is a reporter at the Vail Daily who authors the weekly Time Machine feature that runs on Mondays. Email him at jlaconte@vaildaily.com
