Hundreds of University of Colorado students transform Chautauqua Park into snowy winter playground

Mother Nature showed Boulder lots of love Thursday, covering everything in a blanket of snow -- a wet, heavy blanket of white that University of Colorado students turned into a silver lining. 

With classes canceled, they decided not to let all the powder go to waste. Unable to get to ski areas in Colorado's high country, they created a ski area in Boulder.

"It's not really a ski mountain perchance, but it gets the job done on days like today," said Max Stein.

Co-eds flocked to Chautauqua Park by the hundreds, hiked up the hill and carved out their own ski runs complete with moguls.

"Some guy almost broke his collarbone, but it's a good time," said Matthew Bradford, who came dressed in a Captain America snowsuit. Another student came in a Santa suit.

Students brought sleds, skis, snowboards and tubes for an only-in-Boulder kind of experience.

"When you get up there and you feel the energy, it's absolutely electric, I gotta tell ya," said Jake Lewis. "It's a little scary sometimes being up on the jump but people are yelling at you, telling you to hit it. Seeing other people hit it, falling, everybody's comfortable. 

"We're just having a good time."

But not everyone was celebrating winter's parting shot. Digging out was a workout for those like Kevin Ries and his Boulder crew of shovelers.

"We've been going pretty hard all day. Since about 3 o'clock in the morning," Ries said.

Layer upon layer of snow clung to walkways, driveways, and roadways. Trees sagged, branches broke, and while Reis and his crew tried to get rid of it, CU students reveled in it.