Colorado opens for skiing

16th October 2012

Last modified on August 30th, 2021

Arapahoe Basin in Colorado fired up its lifts on Wednesday. A couple of other resorts in the USA have opened small patches of snow to claim bragging rights but this is the first decent amount on offer.

The resort has been making now for the past couple of weeks and had a mid-mountain lift open with a claimed a base of 18 inches.

Parts of the snowpark were open on Wednesday as the Black Mountain Express took skiers and snowboarders to the High Noon trail.

“We’re extremely excited to be the first ski area to open in Colorado,” said Alan Henceroth, Arapahoe Basin chief operating officer just before the lift opened. “The staff and I can’t wait to see skiers and riders out on the hill having fun. That’s what we live for.”

The resort has a friendly rivalry to open first with the nearby resort of Loveland.

We have reported on its snowmaking efforts earlier this month on PlanetSKI.

“We want to say congrats to the whole A-Basin team. They’ve been working really hard just like we have been,” a spokesman fro Loveland said. “They edged us out just a little bit this year, but I’m sure it’s going to be a great season for both ski areas.”

Open for business

“There has been an infectious optimism about the ski season ahead,” said Colorado Ski Country USA President and CEO, Melanie Mills.

“Strong pass sales over Labor Day weekend were a pre-cursor to the recent chatter we’ve seen on social media, and the buzz has gathered momentum with snowfall in the mountains. The combination of cooperative weather, diligent work from Arapahoe Basin’s snowmakers and pent up excitement from loyal skiers and riders has culminated in today’s spectacle: hundreds queuing up to ski their first runs of the season. It’s official, Colorado is open for ski business.”

The first US resort that claimed to open was Wild Mountain in Minnesota, we reported on it here, and Woodbury in Connecticut opened last weekend.

It didn’t have much snow though.