Last Saturday, November 19th, we traveled to visit one of our favorite places -- the town of Aspen including the John Denver Sanctuary where we could all proudly sing 'Rocky Mountain High.' We heard the road to Maroon Bells  closes every year on November 15th. So we walked over to the Hotel Jerome for a tour of the beautiful European style hotel built during the silver rush in 1889. The concierge said the road to the Maroon Bells is still open even after the half foot of snow that fell two days before! We found the road to be dry all the way up until the Forest Service parking lot at an elevation of about 9,500 feet with only a few inches of wet melting snow in the afternoon sunshine. The 14,000 foot peaks only showed a dusting of snow. The lack of snow is of great concern to the ski industry which must open later than planned and for water managers to forecast adequate supplies.