Snowpack And Weather Reality

Colorado’s 2025–26 season has been marked by a slower start and persistent concern about snowpack. In late January, statewide snowpack was reported around 58% of the median in coverage that referenced the NRCS Colorado snowpack map and basin summaries, alongside National Weather Service commentary.

Seasonal outlooks have also reflected uncertainty, with the NOAA Climate Prediction Center long-range outlooks showing parts of Colorado in “equal chances” categories for temperature or precipitation, while other areas can be favored for warmer or drier conditions depending on the period.

Low snow does not always mean “no skiing,” but it does change what the season feels like. Thin cover tends to show up as narrower groomed corridors, more closed terrain, and a higher likelihood of exposed hazards after wind events, warm spells, or high-traffic days.

Operational And Community Impacts

Resort Openings, Terrain, And Snowmaking

Colorado resorts still opened, but conditions have influenced how much terrain could be offered and how quickly mountains could expand operations. Some reporting noted that early season snowfall across parts of the West was running well below typical values, which has a downstream effect on how soon expert terrain and off-piste areas become reliably skiable.

On the operations side, lower natural snowfall generally increases reliance on snowmaking. Snowmaking can help build a base on key runs and connect major pods, but it cannot replace natural coverage everywhere, especially on steep or complex terrain and in areas without snowmaking infrastructure. A helpful explanation of how snowmaking capacity varies across resorts and what that means for opening patterns is included in this CBS Colorado explainer on snowpack and resort operations.

Resorts also publish daily operating statuses that reflect these realities, including lift and trail counts, terrain expansion notes, and weather holds. When summarizing how open a mountain is, it helps to cross-check official resort reports with third-party aggregators that compile trail and lift counts, such as the Colorado snow reports on OnTheSnow.

Economic And Community Effects

Low snow can ripple beyond the slopes. Colorado’s winter economy relies on visitation, lodging, restaurants, retail, transportation, and seasonal employment. When snowfall is delayed or inconsistent, booking patterns can shift, and mountain communities can see uneven demand.

There has also been discussion tying low snowpack to broader concerns about drought and wildfire risk later in the year, since a large portion of Colorado’s water supply is stored as mountain snowpack. A season update that summarizes those concerns and outdoor-industry impacts is covered in this Colorado Politics report on low snowpack and statewide implications.

Safety Concerns And Injury Risk Factors

Hazards Of Thin Coverage And Variable Conditions

Low snow conditions can increase injury risk in a few predictable ways, even for competent skiers and riders.

First, thin cover increases the probability of contacting hard objects. Rocks, stumps, and shallowly buried features can catch edges or cause sudden stops. That risk can persist well past opening weeks if storms are spaced out, wind scours exposed faces, or warm periods consolidate the base.

Second, surface conditions can vary more abruptly. A run can shift from soft groomer to scraped hardpack in short stretches, especially during dry spells or after heavy traffic. That variability can contribute to falls and collisions, particularly when people ski faster than conditions allow.

Third, limited open terrain can create congestion. When only a subset of runs are open, skier density increases on those corridors, and the mix of ability levels becomes more concentrated. That elevates the likelihood of close calls and collisions.

If you want a broader overview of how ski and snowboard crashes happen, what factors often matter most, and what steps people commonly take after an incident, start here: ski accident information.

Lift Line Congestion And Lift-Related Risk

When terrain is limited, it is common to see longer lift lines and more frequent choke points at loading areas, merge zones, and narrow cat tracks. While most lift rides are uneventful, busy days can increase the chance of misloads, falls at the unload ramp, and collisions in high-traffic zones near the terminals.

For an overview of lift incident types and what to do if something goes wrong, see: lift accident guidance.

Avalanche Conditions And Backcountry Context

It is important to separate resort skiing from backcountry travel. In-bounds terrain is managed by professional ski patrol teams with mitigation work, closures, and controlled access. Backcountry travel is different, and risk depends on current conditions, terrain selection, and decision-making.

Early season and low snowpack patterns can produce complex avalanche problems. A thin base can create persistent weak layers, and new snow on top of old hard surfaces can bond poorly, especially with wind loading. A clear example of early season avalanche concern was discussed in a Denver7 report referencing CAIC on the first skier-triggered avalanche of the season, highlighting how early setups can still produce human-triggered slides.

For daily danger ratings, advisories, incident reports, and education resources in Colorado, use the CAIC forecast and reports.

Notable Events So Far

December: Lift-Related News And Evacuation Procedures

Lift incidents draw attention because they are highly visible and disruptive, even when they do not result in injuries. During the season, there has been local reporting on lift malfunctions that required evacuation procedures at Colorado resorts. One example reported in late December 2025 involved guests being evacuated after a malfunction, reinforcing the importance of following patrol and operations staff directions in real time, as described in this KKCO report on a lift malfunction and evacuation.

January: Low Snowpack Persistence And Late-Month Shifts

By late January, multiple Colorado outlets were describing persistent low snowpack and its visible effects on terrain, crowding, and surface conditions. The Colorado Politics season update referenced statewide snowpack levels and summarized how conditions were influencing both skier experience and broader water concerns.

Late-month storms can help, but they can also increase avalanche danger quickly if wind loading and rapid accumulation occur on top of weaker layers. During these periods, it is normal for backcountry messaging to shift rapidly as new snow arrives and conditions change. Checking the CAIC forecast before backcountry travel remains one of the simplest and most effective safety steps.

What This Means For You

1. Expect Thin Cover In More Places Than Usual
   Even when groomers look solid, off-trail areas and margins can hold rocks and shallow hazards. Ski within visibility and slow down in unfamiliar zones.
2. Adjust Speed For Surface Variability
   Hardpack and scraped areas can appear suddenly, especially later in the day. Keep turns controlled and give others space.
3. Treat Crowding Like A Safety Issue
   When terrain is limited, collision risk rises. Choose lower-traffic runs when possible and be extra cautious near merge zones and lift terminals.
4. Backcountry Requires Current Avalanche Decision-Making
   If you leave the resort boundary, check the current CAIC avalanche forecast, carry appropriate rescue gear, and travel with partners who know how to use it.
5. Know When Resort Conditions Cross The Line
   If you are injured and it appears another skier acted recklessly, or a hazard was not reasonably marked or managed, it can help to understand how responsibility and safety expectations are evaluated. A starting point for that topic is ski resort negligence.

Final Thoughts

If you or a family member was hurt skiing or snowboarding in Colorado this season, the most important first step is getting safe and documenting what happened. When you are ready, you can learn more about common accident scenarios and next steps on our ski accidents page, review lift-related incidents on lift accidents, and explore how resort conditions can factor into an injury on ski resort negligence.

The pages of fine print that skiers and snowboarders must agree to when hitting the slopes in Colorado — waivers of liability — do not protect ski resorts when resorts violate state laws or regulations, the Colorado Supreme Court ruled Monday.

The ruling, handed down in the case of a 16-year-old girl who fell from a ski lift at Crested Butte Mountain Resort and was paralyzed two years ago, likely ends a years-long push by the ski industry to use waivers to shield resorts against almost all lawsuits, even in cases where ski areas violated state law, experts said.

“It’s a sea change, in terms of ski areas’ responsibilities and consumers’ ability to be protected from ski areas’ negligence,” said Evan Banker, a personal injury attorney at Denver firm Chalat Hatten & Banker. “…From a consumer protection standpoint, it’s huge. Because liability breeds responsibility.”

In their 5-2 decision, the Colorado Supreme Court justices considered a lawsuit brought by Annie Miller and her father, Michael Miller, over Annie’s 30-foot fall from a lift at Crested Butte, which is owned by Vail Resorts. The father and daughter from Oklahoma boarded the Paradise Express chairlift, a four-seat, high-speed lift at the resort, on March 16, 2022.

Annie couldn’t get properly seated, and grabbed the chairlift to keep from falling. Her father and others began to yell for the lift to be stopped as she was dragged forward, but the lift continued with Annie hanging from the chair and her father trying to pull her back to safety.

Eventually, Annie fell and landed on her back. Even then, the lift did not stop, and Michael Miller was forced to ride to the top and ski down to his daughter, who suffered severe injuries and was paralyzed after the fall.

Michael Miller brought a negligence lawsuit against Crested Butte, arguing that the resort employees should have stopped the lift well before Annie fell and that failing to do so violated Colorado’s Ski Safety Act and the Passenger Tramway Safety Act. A lower court ruled much of Miller’s claim was invalid, and he appealed to the Colorado Supreme Court.

Monday’s ruling partially reversed the lower-court decision and allows Miller to continue to pursue the negligence lawsuit against the resort.

Sara Huey, a spokeswoman for Vail Resorts, declined to comment on the ruling because the Millers’ lawsuit is ongoing. In court filings, attorneys for Vail Resorts argued that the lawsuit misstated the precedent in Colorado around private liability waivers, which skiers and snowboarders must agree to when buying lift tickets and passes.

“Colorado courts have upheld private recreational waiver agreements, even where the plaintiff could have (or did) point to a statute regulating the activity,” attorney Michael Hofmann wrote. “The existence of recreational safety regulation has never been enough to prohibit private parties from agreeing that a waiver defense will be available.”

“Big victory for ski safety”

More broadly, the state high court’s decision likely ends efforts by the ski industry to expand the protections that waivers of liability give ski areas.

“This was a big victory for ski safety in Colorado,” said Bruce Braley, who represented the Millers. “It says unequivocally that ski areas cannot force skiers and snowboarders to sign away their rights to protection under the statutes and regulations that govern the ski industry in Colorado.”

The ruling turns back the clock on liability in some Colorado ski accident cases, Banker said.

“For many, many years… everyone sort of agreed that when you sign that waiver you are waiving claims of negligence, but you can always still make claims if the ski area fails to do the things it is required to by law, like maintaining the lift properly,” Banker said.

But since about 2017, the ski industry has been successfully challenging that understanding through targeted litigation, winning key court cases that strengthened the protection afforded by waivers and pushing to essentially provide complete immunity for anything that could happen at a ski resort unless there was gross negligence, Banker and Braley said.

“So what this has done is change that,” Banker said. “It brings us back to the landscape everyone understood it to be many years ago. Which is, you can waive claims of negligence, but the ski area doesn’t get to avoid its legal responsibility, its responsibility in statute and regulations, by having you sign a waiver.”

Adrienne Saia Isaac, a spokeswoman for the National Ski Areas Association, a Lakewood nonprofit that represents more than 300 sk- area members, said it is “too early to tell how the ruling will affect the Colorado ski industry.”

The association argued in court filings both that the lift operator at Crested Butte was not required to stop the lift in response to Annie Miller’s mishap, and that liability waivers do not allow ski areas to get around statutory regulations.

“While chairlift accidents within the reasonable control of ski area operators will never be eliminated, they are rare,” wrote Brian Birenbach, an attorney in Breckenridge representing the National Ski Areas Association. “This will not change by the continued enforcement of liability waivers in the courts.”

Source:  SHELLY BRADBURY | sbradbury@denverpost.com | The Denver Post

Article: Liability waivers don’t shield Colorado ski resorts that violate law (denverpost.com)