We’re expecting our first big snowfall of the season this week. Since my family and I love snow, the coming storm is a good excuse to describe how the first snows of the season arrive in Aspen and also here in the mid Roaring Fork Valley, a few miles from Aspen.
This season, the first flakes fell on the high peaks of the famous Maroon Bells, Snowmass and Mt. Sopris in late September, while failing even to nip the gardens lower down. Then, while the valley remained warm through most of October, occasional snow squalls brushed the greater and even the lesser peaks every week or two, eventually spitting a few flurries at Aspen and Basalt, and turning Independence Pass at the head of the valley into an impressive, Alpine wall of snow, ice and rock.
This week the first real dump of the season, the kind that should coat lawns from Carbondale to Aspen, will arrive, and begin laying down a decent base on the slopes and get us all ready to ski. Let it snow!
Posted by lrcraft 
