Shouldering the shoulder season in a small mountain town

The Estes Edit by Patti Brown

Last week we celebrated the community’s women, and this week, figuratively, we will wake the dead.

Over the past week Estes Park began waking up from its annual post-holiday winter hibernation.

The season between New Year’s and March is often referred to as the shoulder season, a time when businesses see a contraction in the number of tourists to the Estes Valley.

Many restaurants and lodges use January and February to take a siesta of sorts, closing for days or even weeks. Some take advantage of the time for a deep dive into cleaning and remodeling work. Notchtop Café got new floors. Newspapers covered the windows at the Rocky Mountain Deli for two months as renovations took place. Hunter’s Chop House took time off in January.

Winter breaks allow owners a chance to travel, something they cannot do during the high tourist season, and cutting back on days and hours of operation also provides a bit of a respite.

As March rolls around, while it is still winter in the mountains for weeks and weeks to come, there are some sneak peaks into Spring. Temperatures rise one day only to fall the next. It is not all that unusual to have a 50-degree swing in temperatures during a 24-hour period.

One day it can be bright and sunny, showcasing the Front Range against a brilliant blue sky. The next day, the mountains can be shrouded in a milky white fog that makes it impossible to see across the road.

We can have six inches of snow in a matter of hours. The next day it melts away, then the cycle repeats itself.

Last year in mid-March, more than three feet of snow fell, bringing the community to a standstill for several days while providing an apropos backdrop to Frozen Dead Guy Days.

For the record, March and April are our snowiest months. But snow in early Spring doesn’t mean we will not have a wildfire risk in the summer and fall. In fact, moisture in the Spring can create grassy more fuels when things dry out later in the year.

And the wind, oh my.

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