Editor’s note: Stories in this list received the most page views on SummitDaily.com from May 28 to June 3.

1. Snow expected for closing day at last open ski resort in Colorado, Arapahoe Basin Ski Area

All but one Summit County ski resort has closed for the season, yet winter conditions could last into June for some of Colorado’s highest elevation peaks.

As wet conditions continue and temperatures drop, areas over 11,000 feet were expected receive several inches of snow over the weekend, according to National Weather Service forecaster Russell Danielson.

Arapahoe Basin, the last open ski resort in Colorado, is scheduled to close for the season Sunday. But the ski area could receive between 2 and 5 inches at its highest elevations over closing weekend, Danielson said, with 1 inch or less near the base. Still, the ski area is not expecting a powder day, per se.

“With all things A-Basin, skiers can expect unpredictable conditions this weekend full of mostly slush,” Arapahoe Basin spokesperson Whitney Henceroth said.

— Ryan Spencer

2. Owner of Copper Mountain’s Double Diamond restaurant seeks to close business

The owner of the Double Diamond restaurant in Copper’s East Village is seeking to convert his commercial space into residential use, citing the restaurant’s dwindling financial viability. 

During a May 23 Summit Board of County Commissioners, restaurant owner David Luthi said the landscape of Copper has changed dramatically in the roughly three decades since he opened Double Diamond. That includes less parking access and a decline in business activity in the area. 

Commissioners voted to approve a request from Luthi to amend the site’s land-use guidelines to allow for a slight increase in residential density. 

The restaurant is currently housed inside the Fox Pine Inn building, which encapsulates 31 condos. The change allows for the restaurant’s owner to pursue a conversion of roughly 3,000-square-feet of restaurant space into three additional residencies, bringing the number of housing units up to 34. The site will also have 44 parking spaces. 

— Robert Tann

3. A Breckenridge man’s dog ran off after his wife died. It survived 5 weeks in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains before being rescued by a hiker.

New to Breckenridge, Zach Hackett was exploring on the trails on Peak 4 behind his new apartment last month when he heard a single, “Yip.”

If not for that small cry, Hackett probably never would have spotted Riley, a 9-year-old sheltie that somehow survived five weeks through Colorado’s wintry conditions. But there, off trail where Hackett had just happened to wander, the small black-and-white dog sat among the downed trees, emaciated and hardly able to move.

“He had no energy when I found him. He knew he was in trouble. He knew he needed to be rescued,” Hackett said. “So that little ‘yip’ was the only exertion of energy he had that night. It was a, ‘Hey, save me.'”

When Riley was eventually reunited with her owner, Mike Krugman, several days later, Krugman had only one word that he felt could adequately describe how the dog had lived for so long alone in the cold: “a miracle.”

— Ryan Spencer

4. Millions of birds migrate to Colorado’s Rocky Mountains every spring. Here’s 5 to keep an eye out for in Summit County this Memorial Day Weekend.

Just as tourists are making their return to Summit County to kick off the summer this Memorial Day Weekend, millions of birds are also making an annual migration to nest and breed in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains.

For those hoping to find some peace in nature amid busy barbecues and family get-togethers this holiday weekend, birding can be a reflective and solitary experience that is accessible to all Summit County residents and visitors.

“With north of 350 species of bird in the state, you could never leave Colorado and still see birds from around the world,” Audubon Rockies Community Science Coordinator Zach Hutchinson said.

Every spring, more than a hundred million birds migrate to and through the Rocky Mountains, Hutchinson said, though migration tends to slow toward the end of May. Still, about 1.5 million migrating birds were expected to cross Colorado airspace each night over Memorial Day weekend, he said.

— Ryan Spencer

5. ‘Just a bunch of homies trying to pull it off’: Breckenridge business hopes to make snowskates the next trend in winter sports

It was not that long ago when the only way to get down a mountain was on a pair of skis. Skiers used to dominate snowsports with no other competition and could have a ski day without having to worry about another “strange form” of getting down the slopes.

However, in the late ’80s, slopes started seeing rapid change with the rise of the snowboard. Turf wars ensued at ski areas across the country.

The snowboard craze eventually leveled out at the end of the 20th century, and it is now common to see skis and snowboards in almost equal numbers on a chairlift. Nearly 40 years after snowboards emerged onto the snowsports scene, a new method of cruising down the mountain has arrived, and a Breckenridge-based company— Aloud Snowskates — is trying to make snowskates the next biggest trend on the mountain.

Much as snowboards were first met with confusion and opposition from skiers, snowskates currently have both skiers and snowboarders not quite knowing what to think of a skateboard-type deck — with no bindings — fastened to the top of a ski.

Former professional skateboarder and Summit resident Eddie Sixberry was inspired to start Aloud Snowskates after riding several other companies’ snowskates. Sixberry, 60, enjoyed the concept of hauling down a piece of wood while only being attached by a leash fastened around his waist, but did not enjoy the feel of the snowskates currently on the market.

— Cody Jones