After Colorado's worst snowpack year on record, one of the state's most popular high-country roads is opening weeks ahead of schedule — and it's the first visible signal of a 2026 mountain season that won't look like the ones before it.
CLEAR CREEK COUNTY, COLORADO — The 24-mile Guanella Pass Scenic Byway reopens to vehicles at 9 a.m. on Thursday, April 16 — roughly six weeks ahead of its typical Memorial Day weekend opening. Clear Creek County said crews from both sides of the pass, working with the U.S. Forest Service, were able to clear the route early thanks to unseasonably low snow levels.
It's a quietly historic moment, and it's not happening in isolation. The road opening is the first clearly visible, trailhead-level consequence of what Colorado's state climatologist has called the worst year for snowpack in the state's recorded history — and it previews a 2026 outdoor season that is going to behave nothing like the seasons Coloradans are calibrated for.
A Pass That Usually Opens Memorial Day
Guanella Pass tops out at 11,669 feet, connecting Georgetown on the north side to Grant on the south, and is one of the more heavily used recreational corridors on the Front Range. Its summit lot is the primary access point for Mount Bierstadt — one of Colorado's most-climbed 14ers — and during fall leaf-peeping season, the road can see upwards of 25,000 vehicles per day, per the Clear Creek County sheriff's office.
The pass typically opens on Memorial Day weekend and closes the week of Thanksgiving. Clear Creek County Public Works Director Stoy Streepey credited the early opening to a partnership between Clear Creek County, Park County, and the Forest Service that made rare early access possible.
Clear Creek County is hosting an opening ceremony at 10 a.m. at Strousse Park in Georgetown on April 16. The county has also reminded early-season visitors that parking rules remain in full effect — vehicles must park fully off the paved surface of the road — and that the pass remains subject to temporary closures if spring storms create hazardous conditions.
Why the Pass Opened Early
The short answer is that there wasn't much snow to clear.
Colorado's statewide snow water equivalent — the standard metric for how much liquid water is stored in the snowpack — sat at just 20% of the long-term median as of April 16, and has been declining steadily since peaking nearly a month earlier than usual. The April 1 reading represented the lowest statewide value since SNOTEL monitoring began in the 1980s — and the number has continued to drop since.
State climatologist Russ Schumacher, in his early-April blog post for the Colorado Climate Center, put it bluntly: it is now safe to conclude this was the worst snowpack year in Colorado's recorded history. The Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory estimated that some locations in the state experienced what amounts to a once-in-500 to once-in-1,000-year low in snow terms.
The numbers from individual basins are just as stark. In Denver Water's collection area, the South Platte basin snowpack sat at 4% of normal on April 13 — the worst on record. The Colorado River basin within that same collection area was at 35% of normal, also the worst on record. The Arkansas Basin has hovered in the low 20s. Statewide peak snowpack arrived around March 8, nearly a month earlier than the typical April 1 peak, and the "snow-eater" heat wave that followed — with the Colorado River Basin recording its warmest March ever at 13.7 degrees above normal — melted out what little remained.
Colorado is not alone. Seven Western states set new record-low April 1 SWE values this year, per the federal Drought.gov snow drought assessment.
On March 25, Denver Water declared a Stage 1 drought, asking customers for a 20% reduction in use. Governor Jared Polis activated the state's drought task force. And crews in multiple counties began clearing mountain passes on a schedule no one had planned for.
Guanella Isn't the Only Pass Opening Early
A week before Guanella, on April 9, Cottonwood Pass Road in Eagle and Garfield counties — the one that runs from Gypsum to the Roaring Fork Valley, not to be confused with the higher-elevation Chaffee/Gunnison Cottonwood Pass — opened for the summer season a full month earlier than it had in 2025.
Two passes, one week, both opening weeks ahead of schedule. Independence Pass, Trail Ridge Road, and Mount Blue Sky Road (which was closed for all of 2025 for construction and is set to reopen this year) haven't announced their 2026 dates yet, but if the snowpack patterns hold, they are likely to follow the same compressed timeline.
This is the shape of the 2026 season now coming into view: the high country already looking like June in mid-April.
What It Means for the Rest of the Year
Early access is not the same as safe access, and an early pass opening is not an invitation to treat April like summer. Several shifts are worth thinking about before planning any trip over the next few months.
Early trail access, deceptive conditions. Lower overall snow doesn't mean no snow. North-facing slopes, drainages, and aspects above treeline often hold snow into June even in normal years. Freeze-thaw cycles loosen rockfall. Fast-melting snowfields create slick, variable traction. Summit routes that feel July-easy from the trailhead can turn treacherous above 12,000 feet.
An earlier, harsher fire season. Colorado fire officials have already described 2026 conditions as "a magnitude worse" than the years leading up to the 2012 Waldo Canyon and Black Forest fires. Fire restrictions are already in place across multiple counties. Red Flag Warnings have been issued dozens of times in the first months of the year. Anyone planning a backcountry trip this spring or summer should assume fire bans will arrive earlier and apply more broadly than in a normal year, and should check the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control restrictions map before heading out.
Lower flows and shifted water. Streamflows will be lower, earlier. Alpine lake levels will be lower. Fishing windows, river recreation, and even some drinking-water sources along common backcountry routes will be affected. Backpackers should expect to filter from smaller, slower, and possibly more concentrated water sources.
Earlier wildlife activity. Bears have already begun emerging from dens across southern Colorado. Ungulate migration timing is shifting. Anyone hiking or camping in April and May should plan food storage and wildlife safety the way they would in mid-summer, not the way spring typically demands.
Concentrated recreation pressure. Trails open weeks earlier than usual will see concentrated visitation from hikers who would normally be waiting on closures to lift. Expect crowded parking at popular trailheads — including Guanella's summit lot — weeks before the traditional peak season.
How TNS Is Covering This
The Next Summit published a full breakdown of the 2026 snowpack crisis in late March, and we'll continue tracking what a historically dry year means for hikers, climbers, and backcountry users through the summer. Guanella is the visible, dated start of that reporting. More is coming — on fire restrictions as they roll out, on 14er access as trailheads open, and on the shifts in conditions we'll see as summer approaches.
Whatever you had planned for the 2026 mountain season, it's worth taking a second look. The baseline has changed.
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