Unseasonably dry and warm weather in Colorado impacts popular winter attraction Hoedown Hill

Businesses in Colorado tailored to the winter season continue to struggle this winter as the state continues to experience many days in the upper 60s and low 70s and very limited precipitation. Businesses, such as Hoedown Hill in Northern Colorado, are working to drive sales while also navigating the reality of a warmer climate.

"It is an endless bucket of problems that starts with the weather," said Tyler Lind, CEO of Pelican Lakes in Windsor.

Pelican Lakes and The Water Valley Company own and operate Hoedown Hill, located in Windsor. The business has been open for three years and was designed to give Front Range residents access to skiing, snowboarding and tubing near their home and at an affordable rate.

The hill has offered daily lift tickets for around $30, compared to around $300 a day at resorts in the mountains. The tubing hill is also known as one of the fastest and longest in North America.

"The whole winter, my kids have been asking to go to the snow and sled. So, I was like, 'Alright, we got to find this.' We either go all the way up into the mountains or we come here," said Trevor Trout, a Fort Collins resident who visited the hill with his family and friends.

However, even Trout can't help but notice that the surrounding terrain doesn't match that of Hoedown Hill.

"It feels like summer time all the time, it is crazy," Trout said.

Hoedown Hill uses state-of-the-art snow guns to help create snow. However, with Colorado temperatures struggling to dip and stay below freezing, creating the snow is often counterintuitive. Melting during the day not only wastes the snow they create but can also create a dangerous situation for guests if not handled correctly.

"With the colder night temperatures, it turns to ice, so then it is too dangerous," Lind said. "We started this hill and we had the warmest winter, the first year, in recorded history. Last year was the warmest winter in recorded history, a new record, and this winter's been twice as warm as both of them. And it's an impossibility that we never imagined having to overcome."

This year, the business's third year operating Hoedown Hill, they decided to scale back their tubing hill. Unlike in previous years, with multiple steep, fast lanes of tubing, a much smaller, more family-friendly hill is being offered for only $10 per person.

Lind admitted that if the company could have properly forecasted how the weather would be this winter, they would have been financially inclined not to open their businesses for this season.

"In all honesty, we probably shouldn't have opened. But more important than making money was to get it to the public," Lind said.

The Water Valley Company has helped develop more than 6,000 homes in the region. They are also behind the ownership of the Colorado Eagles hockey team, Pelican Lakes and Raindance golf courses and more. Lind said the diversity of their investments has allowed them to stay in business at Hoedown Hill, even if it is currently a financial loss.

Lind noted that a majority of the money they look to make should come in between mid-December and January 5. However, due to warm weather and a lack of precipitation, they missed that opportunity this year.

Lind said the team at Hoedown Hill will aim to reopen Hoedown Hill to its full extent next winter while still trying to offer skiing, snowboarding and some tubing through what remains of this winter.