Whiteout: Denver Public School kids ski day at Loveland, looks like snow until May
Host Jonathan Ingraham fills you in on Colorado resort closings, snow forecast and the latest happenings for Colorado's high country.
Going skiing with a former ski racer like Chris Anthony is always a treat.
Twenty-five fifth graders from the Center for Talent Development at Greenlee Elementary skied with Chris Anthony at Loveland Ski Area last Thursday; a field trip sponsored by the Chris Anthony Youth Initiative Project. The Colorado Snowsports Hall of Famer spent the day making turns, showing the kids the science of skiing, and a good day playing in the spring snow.
But the story doesn’t stop there.
Setting up Thursday’s event all started four to five years ago when CTD at Greenlee’s English Language Development (ELD) teacher Dori Eikenbary met Anthony at one of his events.
“I met Chris because of my daughter’s choir in fourth grade,” she said. “He had youth acts at his live auction, all of the acts were kids, so I met him and asked him about whether I could get in on the ski option.”
Snow Sports Hall of Fame Inductee Chris Anthony helps Center for Talent Development-Greenlee fifth-grader Joseph Anderson,12, keep his skis wedged after leading him further up the slope on Thursday, April 13, 2023, at Loveland Valley in Clear Creek County, Colo. A few of the students that showed proficiency on the lower hill were taken further up the slope. (Timothy Hurst/Denver Gazette)
Eikenbary, a life-long skier, brought the idea to principal Sheldon Reynolds and other fifth grade teachers, and they all absolutely jumped onboard the idea.
Twenty-five years ago Eikenbary had an experience similar to the one the fifth graders had this season — a paid trip to ski. One of her parents’ family friends wanted to send Eikenbary’s kids skiing, so Eikenbary took the family friends up on the offer and did a trip up to the mountains, paid at no expense.
Center for Talent Development-Greenlee fifth grader Aubrina Boswell-Smith finds her balance while standing up in ski boots for the first time while Loveland Ski Area ski instructor Kiley Lynch helps her strap the boots on, on Thursday, April 13, 2023, at Loveland Valley in Clear Creek County, Colo. (Timothy Hurst/Denver Gazette)
“Most of our kids haven’t been west of Federal Boulevard, let alone up into the mountains, at the continental divide, so I wanted them to check it out and try skiing, so he started sponsoring our groups four or five years ago to go up,” Eikenbary said.
Back down from the slopes and in the classroom Monday, students began reflecting on their time with Anthony and the instructors at Loveland.
A thank you card to Chris Anthony and Loveland Ski Area instructors, created by one of CTD at Greenlee’s fifth-graders.
Fifth-grade student Aliana from CTD at Greenlee Elementary made a reflection card for Chris Anthony after skiing at Loveland Ski Area Thursday, April 13, 2023.
CTD at Greenlee is a Denver elementary school, an innovation school, that uses a talent model to educate its students. The art and science of teaching is a belief principal Reynolds promotes. Along with gifted and talented strategies that “teach to the high and bring the kids along,” Eikenbary said the school focuses on individual and small group instruction.
Similar methods are used to teach skiing on the slopes, making this field trip not only a great challenge for the students, but an experience reflective of what they are receiving in the classroom.
“His (principal Reynolds) quote is ‘talent can’t be taught, but it can be awakened’,” she said.
Center for Talent Development-Greenlee fifth grader Fatuma Hussein, 11, smiles as she makes her way down the Loveland Valley slope on Thursday, April 13, 2023, at Loveland Ski Area in Clear Creek County, Colo. (Timothy Hurst/Denver Gazette)
Skiing is another way the school and Eikenbary can provide a new opportunity for the students to check out.
“Traditionally (skiing and snowboarding) is a white-dominated, higher economic status sport, it’s super expensive to buy tickets, but it is an opportunity for them to explore and have an adventure and maybe say ‘hey, mom and dad I want to do this’,” she said.
One of my Muslim students who wore her hijab on the mountain, she was terrified, then after her first run she got to the bottom and I got a video of her just giggling, with an ear-to-ear grin saying, ‘it’s so FUN’,” Eikenbary said.
Fifth-grader Giovanni from CTD at Greenlee Elementary made a reflection card for Chris Anthony after skiing at Loveland Ski Area Thursday, April 13, 2023.
Fifth-grader Kalvin from CTD at Greenlee Elementary made a reflection card for Chris Anthony after skiing at Loveland Ski Area Thursday, April 13, 2023.
Ekinebary also said one of the little girls wanted to have her birthday party at Loveland, she loved it so much. Over the years other students have returned to the hill with their families because of their initial journey up to Loveland as well.
“I think there are kids who see something they want to do and think and feel this is something new and different and I’m going to challenge myself and try it out,” she said.
Chris Anthony poses with several kids from CTD at Greenlee Elementary during one of his presentations at the school.
Anthony shows videos and photos to the kids from all over the world to help keep them inspired about the event and skiing, showing that this happens all over the world not just locally.
Talking with Anthony after the ski day, he said “it was different, I have done so many of these programs now over 29 years, but there was something about this one that really was special.”
One fifth-grader from CTD at Greenlee Elementary made a reflection card for Chris Anthony after skiing at Loveland Ski Area Thursday, April 13, 2023.
The reflection cards are heading to Anthony later this month when all the kids finish their work.
SNOW REPORT
Forecast:
Here comes the next storm. Friday will be chilly, but expect some snow at the remaining resorts open.
A Weather.us forecast model shows the potential accumulation levels of water-equivalent precipitation as of 8 a.m. Friday, April 21, for Colorado. Depending on the density of the snow, one inch of water is equivalent to 10 inches of snow based on a common rule of thumb ratio of 10:1.
For Friday’s first chair, the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts’ model run from Wednesday show between 4-10 inches of snow for some spots in the central and northern mountains, with Eagle County (Vail) seeing close to 10 inches and 4-6 near Berthoud Pass (Winter Park).
After a short lull Sunday, next week’s storminess appears to begin sometime Monday and lasting for 36-48 hours before tapering off the last few days of April. Don’t be surprised if convection in any of the cells pops more snow onto the slopes during this cycle.
May snowstorms will most likely occur this season too. Plenty of historical graphs show pops in snow accumulation during the first three weeks of May, and the skiing and riding is still great when these storms roll through.
Recap:
Saturday’s powder day didn’t disappoint, even for fresh snow on hard crust. Of the resorts still open, 3-8 inches of snow fell on the slopes giving skiers and riders a mid-April treat. Vail, Aspen Mountain, Snowmass and Eldora (8″) were the biggest winners. Vail and the Aspen resorts are close enough to each other that the equal snow totals aren’t too surprising, however, Eldora received a line of snow showers earlier in the day Friday as the storm ramped up.
Aspen Highlands and Silverton (7″), Breckenridge, Winter Park, Copper and Beaver Creek (6″), and Steamboat, A-Basin (5″) rounded out the higher totals, with lesser amounts falling at Loveland, Cooper, Monarch and Purgatory.
The rest of the weekend and week was rather sunny and warm, making for prime spring skiing and riding after the mass-closing weekend.
Weekend recommendations:
Northern Mountains: Winter Park, Copper Mountain, Arapahoe Basin, Vail
Central Mountains: Aspen Mountain (closing weekend)
Southern Mountains: Purgatory (closing weekend)
SNOEWS
• TIME magazine announced earlier this week Mikaela Shiffrin is one of the magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of 2023. Former ski racer Lindsey Vonn, who penned the letter about Shiffrin for TIME said, “I started hearing about Mikaela Shiffrin when she was about 13 years old. She was a wunderkind on the mountain. Mikaela’s skiing more than lived up to expectations.”
Vonn also went on to say she thinks Shiffrin has taken the place of Serena Williams as the global female superstar athlete now that Williams is stepping away from tennis.
Shiffrin is a nominee for a Laureus World Sport Award in the Sportswoman of the Year category and overtook Swedish skier Ingemar Stenmark’s World Cup victories record of 86 wins in March, a record thought never to be broken. Along with countless others, Vonn thinks Shiffrin can reach 100 wins before she’s done skiing, and says, “she’s really stepped into the spotlight and done a great job moving the needle for our sport.”
On Monday, May 8, Laureus will announce the winners of the 2023 Laureus World Sports Awards from Paris, France in an in-person event after hosting virtual award ceremonies due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Shiffrin is up against a tennis great in Polish star Iga Swiatek, American swimmer Katie Ledecky, Jamaican sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and American runner Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, and Spanish footballer Alexia Putellas.
• Colorado’s resorts received above average snow accumulations in winter 2022-23.
Some resorts do not have season totals posted on their site. Estimated totals used from resort’s snow reports and SNOTEL sites in the area were compared to approximate the grand totals for those resorts.
• Seven resorts remain open heading into the fourth weekend of April. Putting away the skis or board doesn’t need to happen just yet.
Upcoming festivals:
- Spring Splash + Bash at Winter Park (April 1-23)
- Sunsation at Copper Mountain (April 22-23)
- Splash into Spring pond skim at Breckenridge (April 29)
- Corn Harvest Ski Party at Loveland (April 29)
- Slush N’ Spokes at Arapahoe Basin (May 13)
- Festival of the Brew Pubs at Arapahoe Basin (May 21)
Editor’s note: The Colorado skiing and riding season is winding down. Whiteout will return in October 2023 with fresh stories, powder forecasts and more Colorado high country talk as winter makes its annual return.
Whiteout is your weekly one-stop resource for powder predictions, winter sports promotions and particulars in the Colorado high country. Pray for SNOW!
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