This story was published in Volume 1, Issue 2
By: Peighton Lemp
Taylor Bowman has never seen so little snow. The junior at the University of Colorado Boulder and native of the state has been skiing since age six. This season has been the worst in her lifetime.
“I was in the trees a couple weeks ago, and I caught a random branch because there was so little snow,” she said. “So, I just tripped on it on my ski and it hurt.”
Bowman has an Ikon Pass, which gives her access to some of Colorado’s most iconic ski areas, including Eldora, Copper and Winter Park. Record-low snowpack has led to trail closures in ski areas and a decline in tourism for mountain towns.
“Normally, if you go on a Saturday to any mountain, it’s going to be packed. But this year it’s less busy,” Bowman said.
She still remembers one of her best powder days last year at Winter Park on the Mary Jane side of the mountain. It was dumping snow all night, and powder was plentiful. Bowman has not seen a day like that yet this season.
She and her friends consistently had bad experiences this season. It left her increasingly skipping out on the slopes.
“Last year I was going up like three days a week, and this year I don’t even want to go because it’s not worth driving just to have a mediocre day,” Bowman said.
The poor winter that Coloradans like Bowman have seen this season is not just a fluke. Average temperatures around the world are on the rise, and winters are becoming shorter and shorter. Now, the state’s most popular outdoor industry is being pushed to the brink.
Rising temps, shorter seasons
Climate scientists track seasonal climate change in two primary ways. Meteorological seasons divide the year into four quarters of equal length, with winter spanning December, January and February. They also examine temperature-based seasons, which measure when sustained temperature thresholds signal the functional beginning and end of winter.
The latter typically reveals what Coloradans are already sensing: Winter is shrinking. Data from Climate Central, a climate science nonprofit, shows that all four seasons are warming across the United States, but not evenly.
Out of 245 major US cities stretching from coast to coast, 195 of them have shorter winters now than winters prior to 1997. In western states like Colorado, however, fall and spring are warming most rapidly, a shift that effectively squeezes winter from both ends.
The source of these effects is well-documented. Since the 1960s, greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels have accelerated rising global temperatures. The result, according to Climate Central, is that winters nationwide are now about nine days shorter on average than they were in the 1970s. They are also less consistent. Colorado is no exception to this trend.
Shel Winkley is a weather and climate engagement specialist and meteorologist for Climate Central. He said the most pressing issue isn’t the disappearance of winter altogether, but its declining reliability.
“We still have cold air, and we still have a winter season, but we know that those temperatures are staying warmer into the beginning of the season,” Winkley said. “And we’re also seeing those springtime temperatures eat into the end of the season as well.”
That creeping warmth carries consequences beyond a few lost calendar days. Rising temperatures during peak winter months are altering how precipitation falls. Storms that once reliably delivered snow are increasingly flirting with the 32-degree freezing point, sometimes surpassing it. A small temperature shift can mean the difference between snow and rain.
Keith Musselman, a geography professor at CU, has been researching this phenomenon via hydrologic observation, where ground-based remote sensors are used to study snow, water and energy dynamics. He came to similar conclusions as Winkley.
“Temperature increases are causing more frequent winter melts, and that melt means wetter conditions on those warm days and icier conditions on those cold days,” Musselman said.
More frequent melts will not only affect the quality of the snow, but also erode it faster. As winters grow shorter and warmer, the margin for good powder is becoming more consequential for skiers. In Colorado, that margin often comes down to one critical factor.
The elevation game
Monarch Mountain ski area general manager Chris Haggerty has been a longtime employee of the ski industry. He started working frontline jobs as a high schooler at Mountain Creek in New Jersey. During college, he worked two winters in Vail with lift maintenance, where he fell in love with Colorado.
When a job at Monarch Mountain came up, he jumped at the opportunity. He currently serves as a board member of Colorado Ski Country USA as it faces the obstacles of climate change.
With temperatures on the rise, one key ingredient comes into play for resorts: elevation. It can heavily affect the amount of snow that a resort sees in a winter, especially a warm one. The higher a resort, the colder the atmosphere. So, while lower-elevation resorts may see rain, those at higher elevation would see snow.
Haggerty said his resort is experiencing the benefits of elevation. Monarch is higher than most big resorts in Colorado, sitting at a base elevation of nearly 11,000 feet. So, when precipitation is in the forecast, Monarch more consistently gets snow instead of rain compared to big resorts.
“We are better insulated for years like this because we are getting enough snow,” Haggerty said.
The looming threat
Haggerty said a reputation of a bad winter is what is really hurting the ski industry. Monarch’s visitors fall into three sections: season passholders, destination visitors and Front Range multi-visit guests. The resort is down 15% in overall revenue in the multi-visit category.
“All we hear is the messaging of it’s 60 degrees, and it’s the worst winter,” Haggerty said. “It’s hard to convince yourself to go skiing when the message has been that there is no snow.”
He explained that Front Range Coloradans will not visit the mountains unless they know the ski conditions will be good. Once word gets out the slopes have no snow and the winter conditions are poor, those guests are less inclined to visit.
The overall decline in visits that resorts are seeing has a ripple effect on other areas of revenue, including retail, food, beverages and rentals.
“Makes sense because there are lower visits and when it’s warmer, people are not running in to buy another layer or hand warmers,” Haggarety said.
Mussellman said Colorado will continue to be a ski Mecca for at least 50 years thanks to its high elevation. However, other areas such as Utah, California and Montana may be highly impacted in the years to come. He insisted that the discussion has to start now to protect beloved ski areas.
Monarch’s closing day in 2025 was April 13. This year, it came two weeks earlier with lifts shutting down on March 29.
“We need to save our winters, we need to save our snow. Because we eventually want to be able to gift that to future generations, to maybe our kids and our grandkids,” Winkley said.
