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Vail Mountain ended its ski season Sunday with substantial crowds and sufficient snow.

The season ran 164 days this year, starting Nov. 10, which was the earliest opening since 1998.

The snow was slow to come — on Jan. 11, for example, Vail Mountain was at 74% of it’s 30-year median — but a massive snow cycle hit the area in mid January, snowing every day from Jan. 5 to Jan. 19. By Jan. 16, the mountain was up to 115% of its 30-year median, and it remained above average throughout the remainder of the season.

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At Closing Day on Sunday, Vail Mountain was at 104% of the 30-year median. The snowpack reached its peak on April 17 with 20.4 inches of snow-water equivalent. Vail’s record snow-water equivalent came 40 years ago on May 10, 1984, at 39.1 inches.

Vail Mountain recorded 306 cumulative inches of snow during the 2023-24 season (according to Vail’s mid-mountain snowstake) one of only four years over the last nine, which have eclipsed the 300 mark. Vail claims 354 inches as average.

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Locals, visitors, families and friends gathered to celebrate the Closing Day, with the annual “4 at 4” party attracting thousands to the top of Chair 4 as the mountain was readying to shut down at 4 p.m.

Bear Mead, who was visiting from Keystone, said he was at the 4 at 4 party for a bit but left prior to 4 p.m. to beat the crowds.

“It was wild up there,” he said.

While there was no pond skimming party this year, Mead found a small pond that had begun to form at the base of Gondola One and skimmed it to end his season at Vail. He said the slushy conditions were fun to ride in.

Visiting from Florida, 8-year-old Lucas Geraldes said he liked the slush much better than that other snow he has skied.

“It’s better than the normal snow,” he said.

His father, Pedro Geraldes, said he wanted his son to get a couple more days on snow as the Colorado ski season was ending.

“We came to participate in the last day,” he said. “We went yesterday to Aspen, and today to Vail.”

John Stumpff also came to participate in Closing Day. A sergeant at the U.S. Army post at Fort Carson, Stumpff was able to get up to Vail nearly every weekend, earning a 25-day commemorative pin.

Stumpff wore a mock lederhosen cycling kit, not realizing at the time how well it fit in with Vail’s faux Bavaria styling.

“I knew (Vail) was modeled after the European scene, but I got here and was like ‘oh that’s right, this is hilarious,'” he said.

Stumpff was one of many guests who wore costumes to celebrate Closing Day.

West Vail resident Reece Adams got together with several of his friends to form a pack of tyrannosauruses on skis using inflatable T-Rex costumes.

“I wanted to find a hockey helmet with a mask but I’ll have to save that for next year,” he said.

And while many new locals like Adams were able to enjoy Closing Day, some of Vail’s original locals were there, as well.

Hotel Gasthof Gramshammer proprietor Sheika Gramshammer took Gondola One to MidVail and donned a neon western one-piece for the occasion.

“This is now my 62nd year of closing Vail’s Mountain,” she said. “How lucky we all are to enjoy and love our Vail Mountain, which is in our backyard.”