David Krause/The Aspen Times
What’s been dubbed one of the fiercest storms of the winter so far in the Colorado mountains set its sights mostly north of Aspen and Snowmass Village on Thursday night.
While the Aspen Snowmass ski areas scored between 3 and 7 inches by early Friday morning, ski areas along the I-70 corridor and Front Range reaped more than a foot of powder.
Aspen Mountain and Aspen Highlands reported 7 inches of snow. Snowmass reported 6 inches while Buttermilk came in at 3 inches.
Aspen Skiing Co.’s snow report said heavy winds Thursday night created variable conditions. “Some slopes are heavily loaded while others will have little new snow,” the report said.
Colorado Ski Country USA reported 17 inches of Copper Mountain in the last 24 hours as of early Friday. Loveland tallied 15 inches while Arapahoe Basin collected 14 inches.
Further off the beaten track, Winter Park reported 11 inches while Steamboat received 15 inches.
The website Open Snow reported 17 inches of snow at Vail Mountain, 19 inches at Breckenridge, 11 at Keystone but only 6 inches at Beaver Creek on Friday morning.
The big winner in the state was Silverton with 22 inches of glorious powder.
Sunlight Mountain Resort outside of Glenwood Springs reported 7 inches fresh snow — the same as Aspen Mountain and Aspen Highlands. Snowmass reported 6 inches early Friday while Buttermilk came in with 3 inches.
Informal reports from around the midvalley placed snowfall totals closer to 11 inches as of 9 a.m. Friday with snow still falling.
The valley’s school districts anticipated a big dump, perhaps bigger than materialized, and canceled classes for Friday. All Roaring Fork School District and Aspen School District classes were canceled.
Ground and air transportation were hampered throughout the mountains. The commute to Aspen on Highway 82 was slow due to a single-vehicle accident at mile marker 30. Interstate 70 was closed in multiple locations due to avalanche control work throughout the morning, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation.
Commercial flights arriving and departing at Aspen-Pitkin County Airport were canceled throughout Thursday and Friday morning.