Skiers rejoice, drivers lament as Vail hit with nearly 40 inches of snow since Friday

Heavy snow Sunday atop Blue Sky Basin in Vail (Vail Mountain Facebook photo).

Editor’s note 1: Another six inches of snow fell at Vail overnight into Tuesday, Feb. 18, bringing its seasonal total to 235 inches, which is about average. Five inches fell at Beaver Creek, which has yet to surpass 200 inches on the season. It was still snowing at of 7:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Five feet of new snow has fallen on Vail since Saturday, Feb. 8 — a staggering storm cycle following a warm and relatively dry second half of January. Fully 39 inches of that snow has fallen since early Friday morning of the busy Presidents Day weekend.

Snow was still falling as of 10 a.m. Monday morning.

“We had dry weather on Sunday morning, but that break quickly ended as snow returned on Sunday afternoon and Sunday night,” Opensnow.com meteorologist Joel Gratz wrote this morning.

“Now on Monday morning, there is powder in the northern mountains, and snow will continue to fall through Tuesday night,” Gratz added. “This snow will mostly favor the northern mountains, though there will also be powder in the central and southern mountains on Tuesday.”

Vail and Beaver Creek are considered to be in Colorado’s northern mountains. Vail has surged to nearly 20 feet of snow (229 inches and counting) so far this season, and Beaver Creek reports nearly 185 inches on the season.

The avalanche danger in and around the Vail area was rated as high near and above tree line and considerable below tree line as of Monday morning.

Throughout the holiday weekend road crews battled to keep local highways open for travelers looking to enjoy all the powder snow or just trying to get through the state. Vail Pass and different parts of Interstate 70 were closed periodically.

Monday afternoon CDOT announced I-70 will be closed for avalanche mitigation in both directions on Vail Pass starting at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 18.

Vail Mayor Travis Coggin made an appearance on 9News on Saturday calling for stiffer chain-law penalties for truckers who fail to chain up and then shut down the highway by getting stuck or crashing on I-70 in inclement weather — a fairly regular occurrence.

The Eagle County Sheriff’s Office on Monday morning reported on Facebook that search and rescue crews are still trying to find a missing Denver-area snowboarder last seen at Vail on Friday:

“Teams continue to search for the missing person today [Monday], this is still an active and ongoing effort,” the sheriff’s office reported Monday morning. Here’s the rest of the ECSO post:

02.16.25 Missing Person

On Friday, February 14th at approximately 4:30 pm the Vail Communication Center was alerted of a missing snowboarder. The 26 year old male was overdue to return when reported missing to Vail Ski Patrol.

The team from Vail Mountain Rescue and Vail Ski Patrol initiated their response based on the parties last known location and knowing the area commonly rode by the missing individual. The missing individual was last seen wearing an orange ski suit that has blue accents on the top part and a grey helmet, riding on a Salomon snowboard.

This is an active ongoing search for a missing person. More information will be released as it becomes available. If you have any information please call Vail Dispatch at 970-479-2201

Resources were provided by the Vail Mountain Rescue Group, Eagle County Sheriff’s Office, Vail Police Department, Vail Mountain Ski Patrol and Vail Communication Center.

Editor’s note 2: This post has been updated with a planned CDOT avalanche mitigation closure both directions on Vail Pass starting at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 18.