Lyra Parker powers up a hill while skate skiing at The Nordic Center at Purgatory Resort in 2011. The center offers 21 kilometers of groomed trails for classic skiing and skate skiing and separate trails for snowshoeing. It closed Wednesday for the season.
Lyra Parker powers up a hill while skate skiing at The Nordic Center at Purgatory Resort in 2011. The center offers 21 kilometers of groomed trails for classic skiing and skate skiing and separate trails for snowshoeing. It closed Wednesday for the season.Steve Lewis/Durango Herald file photo

There are no snowmaking machines at the center, and it is totally reliant on Mother Nature, said Helen Low, the Nordic Center manager.

A mid-March closure is normal, and last year, it closed a few days earlier, she said. This year, Christmas was the most successful part of a season that suffered from a dry February.

In February, the center ran out of snow, forcing the center to cancel a race and close for a week.

The major snowstorms around Feb. 23 allowed the center to reopen.

“It was a refresh; we thought we were done,” she said.

The center is looking forward to opening before Christmas next winter, depending, of course, on our fickle weather conditions.

“We desperately hope we get enough snow,” Low said.

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