Echo Faithful,
After a long and unexpected 6 day closure, we are officially re-opening tomorrow, Wednesday 3/20!
First off, I have to say a huge Thank You for the MASSIVE effort so many of our team members have put in over the last 6 days to get us ready to re-open. I'm so grateful for their hard work, support, perseverance and dedication to this place. It really is astonishing, and Echo really wouldn't be what it is without all of them. AND, another huge Thank You to all our fans, locals, customers, pass holders, and more that have been so danged supportive and understanding this last week. You all have really made it easier for us to get through this incredibly frustrating post-storm period. So stoked to be a part of this little mountain community and to welcome you back to the mountain. A few important things to note:
Road Conditions: CDOT is still working on fully clearing CO-103 up from Little Bear Creek Rd. on the east side of the pass. That means you may encounter some snowy, chunky, and messy conditions on the road, in addition to some very tight lane spacing. Please please please drive extra carefully on the pass. Drive slowly and hang to the outside of the cleared pavement as best you can (without ending up in a snow bank). Traffic may not be able to follow the painted lines for each lane on your way up and down the pass so please be cautious.
Mountain Conditions: Expectedly, our base is in great shape and the groomers are ready to RIP. We have left a number of places ungroomed on the sides of our runs to enjoy the fresh snow, as well as (of course) all our treed areas. It is a bit sun baked after a couple days of warm temps and gorgeous bluebird skies, but it's still quite soft in a lot of places. Having a couple days to settle actually helps a bit because our slopes are typically not steep enough to ski or ride a full 50" of bottomless snow. The glades and other treed areas of the mountain should be in great shape, but we want to caution and remind everyone that skiing in deep powder snow can be very dangerous. Snow suffocation and tree well deaths are a risk so please always ski or ride with a friend and exercise caution when entering ungroomed areas.
Impact on the rest of the Season: As of right now, we plan to close on Sunday, April 14th and that looks entirely doable snow-wise. That said, we usually set our closing date based more on demand- i.e. the number of people showing up to hangout with us each day. As many of you know, Spring is a blast and conditions are incredible usually oscillating between bluebird spring days and nuking snowy pow days. But it's also when bikes, golf clubs, hiking and running shoes, and more start competing for our time. We get it. We'll keep an eye on things, particularly visits, as we get through the next few weeks and assess accordingly. In the meantime, come shred and get your hot laps in!
Cheers,
Fred Klaas
General Manager