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CLEAR CREEK COUNTY, Colo. — Spring snow is bringing a much-needed boost to local businesses along the Interstate 70 mountain corridor after a slow start to the ski season.
A fresh round of powder fell across the region Thursday night and Friday morning ahead of what is expected to be a busy weekend in the high country.
“Definitely exciting for everyone coming up for spring break, and all of us who live up here are like, yay, more snow,” Zac Baker said.
Baker owns and operates Clear Creek Ski Bikes in Empire. He rents ski bikes and teaches people how to use them.
“Instead of having wheels and tires, they have skis on them. You can take them to Winter Park, Breckenridge, Keystone,” he said.
According to Baker, this season was one of the slowest starts since he has been in business.
“I’m right at about 30 or so rentals. On average, I see between 70 and 90 per year,” he said.
Colorado’s historically snowiest month is here
He now hopes that changes as Colorado heads into its historically snowiest month.
“Now that March has finally settled in and our spring snow is showing up, I think you can notice on I-70 and Highway 40 here where I’m just located off of, you see an uptick in traffic. People stopping at Dairy King to grab burgers, ice cream, stuff like that. And then phone calls coming in for people just either looking for regular equipment, bikes. It’s starting to definitely pick up for spring break, which we’re excited about,” he said.
One town over in Idaho Springs, the owners of Exit 240 Ski & Ride say they already have a large number of rentals scheduled for pickup Friday night and Saturday morning.
“This is starting to speed up more of our busy season. Especially since we’re getting a lot more snow now,” Millie Gothman said. “It was a little rough at the beginning of the season.”
Gothman’s parents opened the gear rental shop about 25 years ago.
“It’s happened before. We usually don’t get too worried when there’s a slow start. That just means the season is gonna go longer,” she said.
She said March and April are some of their busiest months because of spring break.
“We don’t get many people from Colorado. We get a lot of people from mainly California and Texas. Those are our big two, and we also get a lot of people from out of the country,” she said. “A lot of college kids come in. A lot of bachelor’s parties come in too, which is like a weird kind of season.”
With this week’s wintry weather, she said a little bit of snow goes a long way for small businesses.
“Oh yeah, for sure. It just means that business is either going to be great today or tomorrow,” she said.
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