The 2025/2026 ski season has officially kicked off in Colorado, with two ski areas spinning their lifts for the public this past weekend. Both Arapahoe Basin and Keystone Resort are now open 7 days a week until the season is over. So who was first? In a fairly sneaky move, Keystone managed grabbed the title.
On Saturday, Arapahoe Basin announced their plans to open up on Sunday, October 26th. Black Mountain Express was set to spin from 8:30am to 4pm, with skiing and snowboarding on High Noon. The lift actually wound up opening a little earlier than 8:30am to the joy of the many skiers and snowboarders waiting in line (including me, woohoo). High Noon had solid coverage with a few scratchy spots, but overall the conditions were just about as good as you could hope for an opening day and the energy on the mountain was high.
A few hours after Arapahoe Basin announced their opening, Keystone Resort swooped in to claim the title of the first open ski area for the 2025-2026 season across the United States. They planned to open just 89 minutes after posting the announcement for 3 hours of skiing and snowboarding between 3pm and 6pm on Saturday, October 25th. It’s a sneaky move and might seem somewhat questionable, but Arapahoe Basin did the same thing to Keystone back in 2019, so it certainly counts and turnabout is fair play.
Keystone is now open 7 days a week, offering skiing and snowboarding from 9am-4pm every day. The River Run Gondola and Montezuma Express are currently providing access to two trails, Endeavor and Schoolmarm. Arapahoe Basin is also now open 7 days a week, with skiing and snowboarding from 9am-4pm Monday-Friday and 8:30am-4pm on weekends and select holidays. Currently Black Mountain Express is the only lift spinning and high noon is the only open trail.
As a note, Ski Ward in Massachusetts technically opened before both Keystone and Arapahoe Basin, spinning their carpet for one day back on October 18th. But they aren’t open for daily skiing and snowboarding on snow and it’s unclear when they’ll be open again, so the title of “first to open”, at least in our mind, still goes to Keystone.
