New Year's Eve Celebration

New Years Eve CelebrationEach New Year's Eve Crested Butte Mountain Resort celebrates the end of the year with a torchlight parade, the Bat Signal, and fireworks.

It's New Year's Eve again! 

I was hoping to update this older photo of our base village with the torchlight parade and fireworks tonight, but it's not going to happen.

So many things have to come together at the same time for this scene to work. We have to have good snow cover, which is the big problem this year. We have lots of patches of brown grass and a dirt parking lot that need to be covered with snow. The temperatures have to be warm enough to endure a 30-minute exposure standing in the elements. Speaking of the elements, it can't be snowing. The only consistent great thing about creating this image is that they don't wait until midnight to celebrate. The whole thing happens before 6:30 pm. 

So, this year, with our warm temps but little snow, I'll be enjoying my living room fire and a movie. I'm not complaining. I have gotten to photograph this celebration about 6-8 times with perfect conditions during my tenure here. The image above, however, is my most recent and favorite. If it were to happen tonight, the only real difference would be that the illumination of the peak does not happen anymore. We called it "The Bat Signal".  So, not much would be different if we had great conditions. We're praying for snow! 

I hope you all have a very Happy New Year and enjoy my "New Year's Eve Celebration" photo until it can be updated.