When Colorado resorts compete for the title of First to Open, they are typically very tight-lipped. After A-Basin’s devastating blow to Keystone in the final hours of the 2019 season opening announcement, resorts are usually hesitant to give any indication to how close they are to opening. Resorts will even change camera angles or even take them offline altogether to keep any secrets from escaping. In an interesting turn of events, three contenders have provided updates to their snowmaking operations. Here’s what they had to say:
Arapahoe Basin
A-Basin has been quiet on social media, but you can find updates if you know where to look. Specifically, COO Alan Henceroth provides regular updates on his operations blog: Al’s Blog. Here’s the status update he gave us on Saturday (10/14):
“The last two days of snowmaking were incredible. We made snow for just over 48 continuous hours before emptying the reservoir. The snowmakers will take a couple days off while the stream recharges the pond. After that we will be closely following the weather looking for that next opportunity to fire up again. If I had to qualify/quantify the snowmaking journey to getting the ski area open, I would say we are slightly more than halfway-ish there.”
Loveland
Loveland hasn’t secured a win in over a decade, but they still push to open first every year. Based on their recent report, they are seriously in the running this year. Here’s the snowmaking update from Loveland on Monday (10/16):
“It’s a bluebird Monday at the mountain. The Loveland Snowmaking Team had a very productive weekend of snowmaking. The guns were fired up on Thursday at 8pm and stayed on until Sunday morning. Loveland Ski Area is about 1/3 away from completing the Opening Day run.”
Keystone
Keystone shared some tasty pictures to social media, but they are still keeping their cards close to their chest. While they haven’t given a percentage to their completion, the snow certainly looks plentiful. Here’s their Monday update with photos from Sunday (10/15):
“We’re still in the process of snowmaking down to Montezuma to give you over two miles of skiable terrain for opening day! With warmer temps this week, our snow cats won’t make their way up the hill for a few more days. But rest assured our teams are working hard to get us open as soon as conditions allow.”
Other potential October openers have remained quiet. Wolf Creek relies almost exclusively on natural snow, and with none in the forecast, they look to be out of the running. Winter Park had their first ever October opening last year, so they remain a wild card. They appear to have started snowmaking after the Summit County resorts, so a win for them also seems unlikely. Will skiing be open in Colorado this weekend? I hope so…..