While Rocky Mountain National Park is an outdoor recreation lover’s dream when it comes to most winter activities, sledding isn’t one of them.

For starters, sledding is only allowed at one spot in the park – a designated slope in Hidden Valley. While a dedicated sledding hill sounds great, whether or not sledding can take place on the hill is highly dependent on winter conditions.

Those looking to sled at the destination in upcoming days will be disappointed to know that conditions are quite poor at this time. Saying snowpack is low would be an understatement, with large patches of dirt found in the area where sledding is allowed to take place.

While mid-January was fairly snowy in Colorado, recent days have been warmer, melting a lot of the snow found below treeline. The Hidden Valley sledding hill sits at about 9,240 feet of elevation, making it subject to the snowmelt amid toasty temps as of late, plus, being a mostly tree-free slope, the area gets plenty of sunlight, thus snow can be prone to disappearing quickly.

The best chance for sledding opportunities at the Hidden Valley sledding hill is after a snowstorm. While not much snow is expected in the area this week, snow will likely fall next week. While the snowpack won’t be too deep, a few inches is enough to get a sled sliding down the mountainside.

Learn more about sledding at Rocky Mountain National Park here.