Colorado ski towns brace for big spring break crowds

As COVID numbers fall, reservations for ski trips increase to pre-pandemic levels

John Meyer
The Denver Post

Cars line Vail’s Frontage Road on Thursday. The Frontage Road has been busy in recent days, with cars spilling out of the structures and onto the street nearly every day over the last week. Vail’s busiest day of the year, according to car counts, was Saturday.
*John LaConte/Vail Daily*

For the first time in three years, Colorado ski towns are anticipating a nearly normal spring break with a big influx of skiers and snowboarders set to boost tourism economies.

Mask mandates have been ending, COVID numbers have been falling, and advance lodging reservations in ski country have been running strong.

“March is tracking above 2019 levels,” said Catherine Ross, executive director of the Winter Park & Fraser Chamber, “and 2019 was a record-setting year.”

When spring break arrived in March 2020, every day brought increasingly ominous news about COVID-19, and Gov. Jared Polis shut down the ski industry on March 14, thus ending the ski season more than a month early. COVID continued to impact travel habits during spring break last year.

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