Snow day in Flagstaff: Many hit the slopes

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. - Flagstaff received about 24 inches of snow over the weekend and several more on Monday. The Flagstaff Unified School District cancelled classes for students and teachers, bringing a lot of them to get ready to hit the slopes.

"We're going to go to Snowbowl and do all of the runs and mess around with everything," said Jon Ritchie. With all the snow coming down, he hopes the slopes won't be packed.

"Figured we'd get some nice powder today and tomorrow. It will be a little bit sunnier, hopefully, so we will get the best of both worlds," he said.

Ritchie was one of many who stopped by Ski Haus, a ski and snowboard shop to rent gear to prepare him for the blizzardy conditions.

"It's rough.. you get goggles if you get the right gear and we rent some stuff from their guys here so we should be fine," he said.

Ski Haus general manager Tommy Sims seems to be a bit envious.

"I wish I was up there right now," he said.

For now, Sims has to regulate all of the customers.

"I get stoked just to see this, honestly," he said. "On Mondays normally, it's hit or miss completely, but with the snow that we have going on right now, it's ended up bringing in a pretty decent amount of people, which makes me happy to see."

Last year, the rental shop actually ran out of ski rentals. Now he says that's not a concern, and talks about why hitting the slopes is so popular.

"The community, the lifestyle, everyone I come up here with, either my best friends or whether I know them or not, everyone is on the same page and that's to be on the mountain and have fun," he said.

Ski Haus
801 N Humphreys St.
Flagstaff, AZ 86001
(928) 774-7671
www.skihausflagstaff.com