Significant new snow returns to Vail, Beaver Creek, with more in the forecast

That’s more like it. Vail snow totals the last three days: 13, 3, 13 for a 72-hour pasting of 29 inches — 40 new in the last week. Beaver Creek has seen 30 new in the last week.

After an excruciatingly slow start to the season, Vail and Beaver Creek are finally playing catchup in early February, with seasonal snow totals now surging close to or past 150 inches.

Still we need another 150-plus in the next couple of months just to get close to seasonal averages. The snow machine may oblige, with more in the forecast through mid-February.

“Saturday and Saturday night will bring more snow (and wind) to most northern mountains,” meteorologist Joel Gratz of Opensnow.com wrote Saturday morning. “Sunday and Monday will offer a break in the snow. Then flakes will return starting around February 9th and could continue through at least February 15th.”

All of which means travel in Colorado’s backcountry is quite dangerous right now. As of Saturday morning, the Colorado Avalanche Information Center had issued an avalanche warning for the Vail-Summit County area through Sunday.

The week saw four locals killed in backcountry avalanches — three Eagle men in the San Juan Mountains and a Vail man in the East Vail Chutes.