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Ski Cooper Still Waiting For Enough Snow To Open

LEADVILLE, Colo. (CBS4) - Several Colorado ski resorts are wishing for more snow this Christmas.

After a November and December full of snow in 2010, precipitation for resorts in the state's central mountains for those two months in 2011 has not packed the same punch.

Ski Cooper near Leadville was open before Thanksgiving last year but so far this year it remains closed. The small ski area doesn't have any snowmaking guns and relies completely on natural snow. They have seen some snowfall, but not enough to fire up their lifts.

"I've been here for about 15 years and, you know, this is the first time I remember not opening at the middle of December at the latest," ski area president Clinton Yant said.

Yant says they only need a few more inches to open up.

"If we could just get 4 inches -- something we can push with a (snowcat) -- we would go for it," he said.

There is a group of employees of the resort who are working part time to make sure everything is ready for the ski season but dozens of others had to be told not to come to work until opening day.

"Finally we just had to send everybody home and say as soon as we get snow you'll all be back," Yant said.

RELATED: Colorado Snowpack Map On December 19

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