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Southern Utes perform snow dance at Vail |
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Saturday, January 07, 2012 21:53 |
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Photo by Dominique Taylor, Vail Daily
By LAUREN GLENDENNING, VAIL DAILY
VAIL — As the Southern Utes did their snow ritual in front of a few hundred people near the base of the Vista Bahn chairlift, the falling snow got heavier and heavier.
“It appears to be working,” Vail Mountain Marketing Director Adam Sutner said with a large grin.
Eddie Box Jr. and his wife, Betty, of the Southern Ute Indian tribe, came to Vail Mountain to do a traditional prayer ritual for snow for the third time in the resort's 49-year history. Box was first there in 1962, the resort's inaugural year, as a teenager joining his father, Eddie Box Sr.
They came to Vail in 1962 because the Ute tribe once lived in the area and are the oldest continuous residents of Colorado — and because Vail founders needed a little help from the snow gods as the first season of the resort was looking dry, Sutner said. Box Sr. started the tradition of the snow dance, and on Saturday his son continued it.
Once the Utes came in 1962, the snow kept falling throughout the season, Sutner said. Vail Mountain officials figured it wouldn't hurt to try it this season, which has gotten off to an unusually dry start with some of the least snowfall in more than 30 years.
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