Guest Blog
Paul Hooge

Crested Butte February 9, 208

Finally sunny days and 20º as February lives up to expectation. The slopes were relatively crowded for this particular weekend with mostly locals riding the Paradise Lift up to the North Face T-bar to access the extreme terrain. The skiing is perfect with a base at the top now measuring over 100”. The high lift terrain is as close to rock free as I have ever seen it. Coring your base out takes a deliberate act of negligence given that you have to look for even a small rock (which in fact is really a three-ton
boulder).
To date, the 2008 season is barely half over and has proven, as every season generally is – unpredictable.

November was dreadful; doubly dreadful given that by Thanksgiving there was only a white man-made “snow snake” winding down our brown mountain under the Red Lady Lift. Looking out our back window at the mountain there was only a little white stuff in the weeds, a grand total of 3.5” for November. To make matters worse, the US weather service had just delivered the most devastating forecast for the winter for the West- “drier and warmer than normal” thanks to the La Niña effect in the tropical eastern Pacific.
Bummer- dismal etc!
Late in November a local in his 80’s was riding my bus and described some well-remembered past season in the 70’s when he said it didn’t snow. “What, no snow?” I asked. “Yea”, he replied, “A whole winter in the donut hole with no snow”. He admitted that it snowed a little, but back then there was no snow making in Crested Butte. My spirits sank, in fact the whole valley was in a state of depression by the end of November. My passenger then continued to describe the 1979 /1980 season (before my time in CB).
“When it started snowing in November, it didn’t quit until May depositing over 440” of snow”. Perhaps there was still hope then, but what if?

There was, by this time great concern for all important holiday season and a vision that the high terrain might not open and for Crested Butte that would be depressing. The last night of November brought snow. It was only a few inches, but it made everyone feel good, then over that first weekend of December, two more feet and it didn’t stop and by December 10th there was over 90” of snow. Snow is magic; it changes the landscape and the mood of everyone living on it. Snow is nature’s most poetic form, its most aesthetic. Then in order to completely torment the Us Weather Service, winter became very, very cold, all the way into the first week of February. On our deck, to date, we have shoveled about 200” of snow over the railing; now some people are complaining about too much snow. More snow will come as most of our snow usually falls between February and April. I say “Don’t complain about a good thing”. After all, this is snow country and that is why we live here!

Paul