CENTRAL CITY - When you're like Rick Cordova and work in a gambling town like Central City, some might think you're unlucky when you always get shoveling duty.
"When we get it, it comes heavy and you have to get the snow shovel out," Cordova said.
That's especially true when you have just one shovel to throw against 16 inches of snow.
"Looks like one and a half to two feet" Cordova said.
To add to that luck, next door in Black Hawk, Bill Diamond has two shovels for each foot of snow that's come down there.
"Just trying to keep up with the 3 inches an hour we were getting," Diamond said.
As employees with plows and ATVs worked to keep sidewalks clear for gamblers on Friday, Central City Public Works Director Kent Kisselman says they are focusing on the roads.
"Everything down from I-70 and all the way into town should be clear," Kisselman said.
Even if store owners like Tom Miller say few people bothered to gamble on the roads, leaving town a little empty.
"We usually have more activity than this," Miller said.
The only real playing to be found in the gambling town was on the streets with family snowball fights. By night, the hope was that more people would start coming to the mountains.
Sure enough, with snow in the Front Range front yards of skiers like Chris Skagen, the pull of powder was too much.
"It's the first instinct to come up and ski," Skagen said.
Even with most resorts getting only 2 or 3 inches, skiers like Jonathan Williams still headed up hoping what was good for Denver will be good for resorts.
"All the runs should be open fresh snow for the first time this winter it will be nice," Williams said.
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