Twelve Feet
The town of Grand Lake, which sits at 8,390 feet, averages 144 inches of snow-that's 12 feet-every winter. Gain some elevation and that number just goes up and up. It's not unheard of for the mountains surrounding Grand Lake to get up to 250 inches of snow during the long winter season.
Okay, we should probably come clean. In mid March last year, the snow wasn't up to it usual self. It had been warm in Grand Lake (which in and of itself is very strange considering the town's elevation), just like most everywhere else in the West last season. So while there was snow, it was like spring riding, say like in late April or May, not March. But our experience last March was just a blip on the screen. We've sledded in Grand Lake enough to know there are powder days where the white gold flows over your hood.
The sweet thing about that powder is that you don't have to ride miles from town to get to the good stuff . it's minutes from town.
We've explored lots of territory around Grand Lake but have by no means seen it all. We've climbed the popular Chicken Hill (near Porphyry Peak) and Super Chicken Hill (near Gravel and Little Gravel mountains). We've played in and tracked up feet-deep powder in a number of parks (big, wide open meadows), picked our way through the trees, ridden miles of groomed and ungroomed trails, done some hardcore boondocking, stood on ridges where you can see miles in every direction and gazed at some of the most amazing mountain vistas you can imagine.
We've got a carefully guarded list of favorite spots we like to ride in Grand Lake-places that rarely see a snowmobile track. No, we're not divulging those spots. But they are out of your mind good.