Tuesday might be the best day of the season to take a mental health day to hit the slopes.
With the biggest snowstorm of the season expected to depart Southwest Colorado late afternoon, ski resorts across the region are reporting powder and packed powder conditions.
Purgatory Resort received 19 inches of snow from the storm with 13 inches falling in the last 24 hours and the tail end of the storm should bring a bit more snow to the mountain. The resort is reporting a base depth of 36 inches with eight of 11 lifts open and 51 of 105 trails open.
“This storm is going to help us quite a bit up on the upper mountain, said Purgatory General Manager Dave Rathbun. “We’ll have crews out on the backside all day today. We had the grooming fleet out packing during the storm.”
The storm has left more snow at the top of the mountain than the bottom, and the resort is still evaluating what that means as far as the ability to open more terrain, Rathbun said.
“But you know this was great to finally get some natural snow. We’ve been quite dry as you know. So hopefully this is the beginning of a new pattern,” he said.
Rathbun said he expected today through Jan. 31 to be the busiest days of the season at Purgatory.
Telluride Ski Area reported 9 new inches from the storm, 7 inches in the last 24 hours and a base depth of 34 inches. It has 94 of 148 trails open and 12 of 17 lifts in operation.
Wolf Creek Ski Area reported 25 inches from the storm, 19 inches in the last 24 hours with a midway base depth of 77 inches. The entire ski area is open and eight lifts are in operation.
The Colorado Avalanche Information Center has issued an avalanche warning from 5 a.m. Tuesday to 8 a.m. Wednesday for most of the Western Slope, including the San Juan and La Plata mountains.
The avalanche danger in the backcountry is high because of the large load of new snow that fell on a weak snowpack, creating “very dangerous” avalanche conditions, CAIC said in its warning.
Kris Sanders, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Grand Junction, said the final piece of the storm was over Grand Junction early Tuesday morning and was expected to move over Southwest Colorado by late morning or early afternoon.
“There could be some lingering snow showers, but essentially, today, a lot of it’s going to be up in the mountains,” Sanders said
Durango and lower elevations are expected to get only a dusting on Tuesday before the storm in the evening, but high-elevation passes could still get 2 to 3 inches from the storm, with Wolf Creek Pass favored as the storm lingers in the eastern San Juan Mountains, Sanders said.
The Colorado Department of Transportation reported U.S. Highway 550 from mile marker 59 to mile marker 81 was closed at 8 a.m. Tuesday for avalanche mitigation.
Also Tuesday morning, CDOT was scheduled to conduct winter maintenance operations on the west side of Wolf Creek Pass.
Motorists could encounter lengthy delays of up to two hours and are urged to allow for extra travel time Tuesday morning, said CDOT spokeswoman Lisa Schwantes.
Westbound traffic will be stopped at the chain-up station at Treasure Falls, at milepost 157. Eastbound traffic will be stopped at the top of Wolf Creek Pass near the ski area, milepost 167.
Tony Vicari, aviation director at the Durango-La Plata Airport, said flights were on schedule Tuesday morning and the airport was operating normally.
“All of our morning departures are either already en route or scheduled for an on-time departure. So thankfully, conditions are comparatively good at the airport,” he said.
The next chance of snow looks like Thursday, although Sanders said the system looks like it is getting weaker.
“You might get some snow, but it’s definitely going to favor the northern mountains,” he said.
parmijo@durangoherald.com