With 10 inches of fresh snow to report Monday morning, Copper Mountain broke its record for February snowfall. Its neighbor on the other side of the Tenmile Range, Breckenridge, broke its February record last week.
With six days left in the month, Copper has received 88 inches of snow. The previous record was 83 inches in 1986. Breckenridge has received 110 inches this month.
Sunday's snowfall pushed Breckenridge over the 300-inch mark for the season, a benchmark it normally doesn't reach until March. Over the past two decades, Breck's average by the end of February was about 225 inches.
Winter Park has had its third-snowiest February, with 86 inches. The record for Winter Park is 122.3 inches in 1993, when it snowed every day of the month except Valentine's Day. Winter Park probably won't get enough snow this week to break its record, but it's less than 2 inches behind its second-snowiest month (1989).
I knew I could stop, drink my beers, and casually ski down, OR, I risk it all, try to make the base, by doing an unmarked Super G. downhill and try to get to the base lift before the line was shut off. I probably averaged over 45 mph, and as I got to the top of base, I could see the lift attendant walking to and closing up the lanes. I floored it & skied by him as he was closing the second to last lane, straight onto the lift, then spent about an hour, sitting in the snow, drinking my beers, THEN had the last run of the year. (After the ski patrol.) (If I had made the base 10 seconds later, my beers would have been lost for all time! Happy ending!