El Niño good for Eldora's opening day

A few fierce early-season snowstorms in Colorado helped fill in the slopes at Eldora Mountain Resort this fall, making Friday's season opening one of the best in years.

“We had a lot of happy people, a lot of core skiers who were champing at the bit to get out and get skiing,” Rob Linde, spokesman for Eldora, said of the resort's kickoff. “We had early snow, which really helped.”

Wet fall storms are characteristic of El Niño years like this one, when weather across Colorado is affected by warming ocean temperatures in the tropical regions of the Pacific.

But despite the help with opening day, El Niño may mean fewer snowy days during the winter for most of Colorado's resorts, according to Klaus Wolter, an atmospheric scientist who works with the University of Colorado and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“You get fewer storms, and once in awhile we'll get hit and those storms can be healthy storms,” Wolter said. “But you shouldn't expect a lot of powder skiing.”

In El Niño years, most of Colorado is apt to have less wind, more sun and fewer stormy days than normal during December, January and February. But that doesn't necessarily mean that snowpacks will be slimmer at the end of the season.

“The storms you do get tend to be bigger and can sometimes more than compensate for the lack of snowy days,” Wolter said.

Eldora's Linde is a chronic weather watcher — as most folks in the ski industry are — and he says that El Niño doesn't necessarily spell a bad ski season.

“We're like farmers. We watch the weather all the time and weather is the lifeblood of our business,” Linde said. “And when I hear El Niño, I get excited. El Niño years means upslope storms.”

Wolter agrees that in El Niño years, upslope storms can pound Boulder County, especially in March and April.

“The Front Range and ski resorts just west of the divide — Winter Park, Keystone, Arapahoe Basin — all these places have a tendency to have a wet spring,” he said.

Resorts in the southwest tip of the state, including Telluride, Silverton, Wolf Creek and Purgatory, tend to do well all winter during an El Niño cycle, continuing to see frequent storms when the northern part of the state dries out.

“Wolf Creek is 100 percent open already and they opened on Halloween with two feet of fresh snow,” said Jennifer Rudolph, spokeswoman for Colorado Ski Country USA. “That part of the state is perfectly positioned for El Niño.”