The statue of Max Marolt looks better in snow than in the dry January air...

...but I doubt Max would have been complaining about sunshine, or the relative lack of snow this season. No, he probably just would have gone skiing and made the best of it. One of the last times I saw Max he was making steady, stylish turns down the center of Highland Bowl, making the best of a average day, a big smile on his face. So, yes, it is always better to go than not to go, even if it is not an epic pow day brah. And besides, who doesn't like sunshine? That being said, let's take a gander at the relatively thin snowpack statistics we're working with here. The top of mountain depths and percent of advanced/expert terrain open are now as follows, according to SkiCo's online report: Aspen (26 inches/88 percent), AH (54 inches/97 percent), BM (24 inches/0 percent) SM (44 inches/69 percent). Note that the measuring station for Highlands is in the North Woods in Highland Bowl, which is why it tends to be a bigger number than Aspen Mountain or Snowmass. Some bright spots: according to SkiCo's report, every run in Highland Bowl was open Monday. That's not always the case. And the Hanging Valley Wall is open in Snowmass. Again, not always the case. Also the Snowmass half-pipe, all 22-feet-high of it, is now open, as crews are giving the Buttermilk a good going over in anticipation of X Games. Here's another way to take our measure. The Colorado Ski Country USA report, which no longer includes the Vail Resorts areas, reports snowpack by mid-mountain depths. If we put our biggest mid-mountain base depth into the ring - the 33 inches at Highlands - how do we compare? Well, Copper has a 37-inch base mid-mountain, Crested Butte is at 37, Steamboat is at 36 and Telluride is at 37. Hmmm..