Trail and Timberline (Denver), Jan. 1, 1927:
Due to an inconsiderate spirit as far as Father Winter has been concerned, we are all lamenting a lack of snow up to the present time.
In the late 1800s, Norwegian immigrants introduced America to snowshoeing, or skiing as we call it today. Ever since, annual snowfall has been a topic of discussion for winter sports enthusiasts living in the Rocky Mountains.
Now, 2025 is one of those years when everyone is remarking on the unusually dry weather. How unusual is it? In the first 25 years of this century, we’ve already experienced several lean winters, notably 2007 and 2015. Newspaper archives reveal drought years occurred several times in the first part of the 20th century as well.
Seemingly, every time a winter starts off dry, stories appear comparing previous dry years. The infamous winter drought of 1976/77 was no exception.
The Roaring Fork Valley Journal, Dec. 16, 1976:
The dry weather is putting an emotional damper on the hopes of many a nostalgia buff who is looking for a white Christmas. Old timers, however, are more likely to reflect on what some of them call “the summer Christmases” of years past.
The late snow, according to the veteran valley farmers, seems to be a cyclic event that is neither new nor unique to the area. In particular, the winters of 1927, 1931 and 1945 are frequently mentioned for their dryness.
Several older residents were certain that the snows of the earlier days in the mountains hereabouts started sooner, lasted longer, and were ever so much deeper than what we’ve been getting the past 10 years.
Below that article is an ad for Buffalo Valley restaurant on Highway 82 between Carbondale and Glenwood Springs. The ad beckons:
Snow Dance, Come see ULLR the Norse Ski God, who will give Sunlight his Blessing for Snow.
Aspen residents also performed a snow dance in December 1976. However, the dancing did not induce Ullr’s benevolence, and the snow didn’t fall until March of 1977.
Recreational skiing came to the Roaring Fork Valley in 1947, and by the 1970s, as coal mining and ranching were waning, the area had become dependent on winter tourist revenue. Lack of snowfall had a devastating impact on the local economy.
The Aspen Times, Dec. 16, 1976:
The 1976 year of no snow has already caused about a $1 million loss of revenue to the Aspen Skiing Corp. The loss was estimated from lift-ticket sales and ski-school revenues the previous season over the same period. The drought also caused record unemployment in modern Aspen. Ski Corp. officials said they would normally have 900 workers on payroll by mid-December. There were only 100 in 1976.
In a column published in The Aspen Times in January 2012, Paul Andersen cited the following journal entry by former Snowmass Ski Area manager Jim Snobble:
Thursday, Dec. 30, 1976: 2nd opening day – still partial and limited – only #2 lift for free skiing – had about 950 skiers & conditions still terrible – now have orders from board to stay open no matter how bad conditions get, as long as anyone shows up to ski – most unbelievable winter ever – no winter, in fact.
The Summit Daily (Vail) published on Jan. 29, 2007, also recalled the 1976 winter:
There was no snow, there was no economy, there were no paychecks. Among ski areas in the West, Winter Park had been one of the few investors in snowmaking equipment. It survived the winter almost nicely. But few ski areas had snowmaking. After that drought winter, many ski areas invested in snowmaking. Skiing was becoming too big of a business to abide the infidelities of weather.
Snowmaking equipment first appeared in Connecticut in 1950, and quickly spread to other eastern U.S. resorts, where snowfall was sporadic and unreliable. But the Rocky Mountains were assumed to be immune to lack of snow, until that winter of 76/77.
Keystone, which opened in 1970, had already invested in snowmaking by 1972, and the ability of Winter Park and Keystone to weather the drought of 76/77 encouraged other Rocky Mountain resorts to follow suit. Buttermilk installed snowmaking equipment in the summer of 1977, followed shortly by Aspen Mountain and Snowmass. But snowmaking couldn’t solve all of our problems.
The Valley Journal, Feb. 1, 1990:
For the first time in its seven-year history, the Redstone sled dog races have been cancelled due to lack of snow. “We need about 12 inches of snow but only got 5 or 6,” said race organizer Bob Morrison. “Twice [before] we’ve hauled in snow, but this year there isn’t any to haul.”
And of course, winter snow provides water in the rivers and streams for summer irrigation and year-round municipal use. Therefore, “Summer Christmases” have an impact far beyond disappointed skiers and economic shortfall.
So let’s all do our best snow dance and hope that Ullr blesses us with a white Christmas.