A man holding a carved cane walking on a snowy street

Explore Winter Cities

Leadville, CO

As the highest incorporated city in North America, Leadville’s winter season begins in October and ends in May, providing plenty of opportunity for winter public life.

Winter in Leadville

Due to its high altitude, Leadville and Lake County have developed innovative winter initiatives that make the most out of the season. Wintermission Leadville built on that innovative foundation and sought to address winter challenges by building an inclusive winter culture creating community-lead programs and public space activations. Read all about it in our Wintermission Leadville Winter City Strategy.

Resources

Leadville Winter City Strategy (Executive Summary)

Leadville Winter City Strategy

Community Engagement Report

Winter in Leadville

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Bringing Leadville Together

Across an engagement process that connected with more than 600 people over a dozen events, Wintermission Leadville identified four key winter priority areas.

Winter Mobility

We envision a future where all Leadville residents can move around safely and easily in the winter to access basic services and recreational opportunities such as visiting the grocery store or going for a winter walk. We recognize that when there is a barrier of access there is a disparity in quality of and enjoyment of winter life. We are committed to working together as a community to allocate budget and resources to programs that promote mobility equity in the winter, centering the needs of our most vulnerable community members who face heightened challenges getting around in winter. Residents frequently expressed the need for better plowing on streets, sidewalks, and trails. Inconsistent upkeep of private property and sidewalks compounds this problem and makes it difficult to navigate walking routes.

Winter Warmth and Comfort

Recognizing the very real challenges that winter can bring as well as people’s varying levels of tolerances for low temperatures, we will take steps to make the cold and snow more manageable. We will identify public and private as well as indoor and outdoor places that have the potential to provide residents with a reprieve from the cold. With some design and infrastructure changes, such spaces can become warmer and more welcoming for people to enjoy year-round. We have seen and heard from the community about the many ways in which we can create warmth (both literally and figuratively) and comfort throughout the season. Leadville has many spaces that are currently underutilized that can help provide this warmth and comfort in the winter.

Winter Culture and Connection

Leadville will become a leader in developing intercultural and intergenerational approaches to improving winter life. We will find creative ways to expand opportunities for our diverse resident population to feel connected to and reflected in Leadville’s winter culture. To help everyone enjoy the season, we need to ensure that all residents have access to the necessary information and resources. In providing a wide variety of programs and services there will be ample opportunities for people of all backgrounds and interests to celebrate winter and feel connected to one another.

Winter Activation

The Winter Activation pillar is about enlivening our shared public spaces throughout winter with exciting programming and opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds, beyond the larger marquee events. While ensuring that our popular signature winter events have something for everyone in the Leadville and Lake County community, we will also create new opportunities at the neighborhood level so that residents can take part in winter festivities all season long. We will activate our public spaces—both indoor and outdoor—in ways that will reach new audiences, particularly residents who are less accustomed to participating in winter activities.