Courtesy Keystone Resort
FRISCO — The first storm on Friday was a bit of a teaser with mostly rain and sleet, but a much more powerful storm rolled in on Sunday to bring several inches of snow in town and to all of the Summit County ski resorts. With the snow forecast to continue overnight and into Monday, the shift into winter seems to be in full effect.
The natural snow and snow machine-friendly cold temperatures are adding to the runs open at Arapahoe Basin Ski Area and Keystone Resort, in addition to helping Loveland Ski Area, Copper Mountain Resort and Breckenridge Ski Resort get open.
A-Basin had four inches of fresh snow Sunday morning and the ski area plans to open their second intermediate run, Ramrod, on Monday.
Alan Henceroth, COO of A-Basin, wrote in his blog that the snow guns will be moved to the upper mountain, which will help get the higher runs open soon if the cold weather continues.
Keystone got four inches of their own by Sunday morning and now has four Dercum Mountain runs open: Last Chance, Upper Schoolmarm, Silverspoon and the top of Endeavor. Along with the two opening day lifts, River Run Gondola and Montezuma Express, Keystone has also opened up the beginner Kokomo Carpet.
Loryn Roberson, spokeswoman for Keystone, said the snow guns are now positioned at North Peak to get the intermediate Prospector run open soon.
Over at Loveland, which was originally in the running for the race to open, things are moving a bit slower and they did not open this weekend. John Sellers, spokesman for Loveland, said they weren’t planning to open going into the weekend because more snow needs to be made at the base area and on the beginner Home Run, although he said the front-side beginner runs Catwalk and Mambo are fully covered in snow.
Loveland also got a fair bit of snow Sunday with around 5 inches on the snow stake. The ski area announced on their social media channels that they will have more information on Monday regarding their opening.
Both Copper and Breckenridge announced a tentative opening day of Nov. 8 at the September COO Breakfast. Based on the snow they got on Sunday, it’s looking good for both ski resorts to meet their opening day goals. Breckenridge’s snow stake showed around 8 inches of snow in the morning.
Breckenridge also announced that they fired up the snow guns on Saturday. Copper started making snow on Oct. 3.