Christmas Blizzard 1982

[BladesNBarrels]

We were spending Christmas with my sister in Arizona and my wife had to get back to Colorado for an important business meeting.
We landed at Stapleton and nothing was operating.
My brother-in-law had one of those VW diesel pick-ups and came and got us, driving to Golden.
We could not get our car out of Stapleton off-site parking for a week, and they charged us for parking days.
And, to top it off, my wife's meeting was postponed for 2 weeks because no one could get into Denver.
I could have stayed in Arizona and enjoyed the balmy days.

[SideShow Bob]

Well,
This Christmas reminds me of the one I had as a kid in the 60’s & 70’s down in Yuma, AZ.

[earplug]

November 1982 I was driving my Labrador from Columbus GA. To Fort Collins to give to a lady vet student who was recently widowed. Wind and cold was killing cars on the highway. I had orders to Germany. Driving a 1976 Toyota Corolla with about 130K on the meter. Timing chain ate a hole through the timing cover and oil was making a one way trip. Ended up buying cheapest bulk oil possible for the rest of the trip. Made it Home OK. Dog was a special treat for students as she had some common parasites from GA. that were unique in CO. at the time.

[ray1970]

Well,
This Christmas reminds me of the one I had as a kid in the 60?s & 70?s down in Yuma, AZ.

Yep. The weather reminds me of Christmas in southeast Texas.

[Eric P]

Did the 82 blizzard hit Colorado Springs? I was living in Ft. Carson on in the early 80s. 4-7 years old. I do recall a snowstorm around Christmas that buried our front door and parent's cars. We built tunnels between the units.

Mom was a nurse on base and dad was shuttling nurses and docs in his Toyota after a tank plow went through the neighborhood.

[TFOGGER]

I was 16 at the time. spent hours walking around Lakewood, digging out people's cars, shoveling driveways, and generally having a blast(all at no charge to the neighbors, we were just having fun ). The next day, I had to chain up my Datsun station wagon so I could get out to Golden.

[buckshotbarlow]

Best time of my life was that snowstorm. My grandpa, mom and dad all went in on a 3 wheeler for me on the farm after turkey day. Cut some amazing trails in the pasture out back after the snow!

[8Ring]

I lived in Northglenn at the time and my girlfriend (now my wife), an ICU nurse, didn't have to work at Denver General Hospital for a few days. She drove up from Denver on Christmas Eve morning to stay at my place. It started snowing like crazy and we were unable to go to the grocery store to get food for a Christmas dinner. When we got up on Christmas morning, our cars were buried in the condo parking lot. We dug out our cars and realized there was nowhere to go. So we put on our cross-country skis and skied through vacant lots over to the Ranch Country Club about 1/2 miles away. After an hour or two of cross country skiing we went back to my place. opening a bottle of wine, and cobbled together a dinner from whatever was in the fridge. After dinner we listed to Dylan Thomas on the radio narrating his story "A Child's Christmas in Wales". That was our second Christmas together and there have been 39 more since then.

[Martinjmpr]

Yep, my brother and I lived in a duplex near Adams and Colfax. Now it's a super-wealthy neighborhood but back then it was nearly a slum. The Bluebird Theater was just around the corner - now it's a music venue but back then it was a porno theater (really!)

I had an old Travelall with nearly bald tires but it had 4wd and did great in the snow. I made a few bucks ferrying people around from the Airport.

[Martinjmpr]

Thanksgiving 1979 was another big one I remember. We lived in Columbine at the time (about 3 miles from where I live now, in fact.)