Three Ski Areas in Colorado Remain Open

6th May 2022

Last modified on May 9th, 2022

More snow is falling in Colorado and one resort claims it now has the best conditions of the season. Snow is also falling across the globe in Australia as resorts prepare to open next month. UPDATED

Most ski areas in the USA have now shut but some are holding out.

In the US ski state of Colorado Winter Park is hoping to remain open until the middle of May and has 4 lifts open in the Mary Jane area.

Breckenridge has just under half its terrain still open and is scheduled to close on Memorial Day, May 30th.

Arapahoe Basin is also open, and it often has skiing and snowboarding into June.

“I think we have the best snow coverage of the season,” said the Arapahoe Basin chief operating officer, Al Henceroth.

“Definitely certain areas like the East Wall, including the hiking (terrain), have the best coverage of the season. Snow seems to clinging to almost everything.”

All the resorts are forecast some snow with A-Basin expecting up to 15cm and Winter Park 20cm.

On Sunday 8th May Loveland in Colorado closed.

Things are drawing to a conclusion at Mt Hood in Oregon too.

In California Palisades Tahoe has seen a recent 2m dump of snow and says it hopes to be open until Monday, May 30th.

It means the ski resort will have Lake Tahoe’s longest winter season.

“There’s no significant precipitation or weather in the forecast (though there may be a few windy days), so we are doing our best to preserve the snow we have,” the resort said in a statement.

“We’ll have our grooming teams out midweek next week even when the resort is not open, and they’ll be harvesting snow from closed areas to prolong the life of other lifts.”

It has not been a bumper season for snow in the USA.

In Utah snow levels were down in many resorts.

Snowbasin averages 7.6m per season, but this winter it was 7m.

Deer Valley usually receives 7.6m, it saw 5.5m this season.

In Snowbird the average snowfall is 12.7m.

Last winter it was 10.3m.

The corresponding figures in neighbouring Alta are 13.7m and 11.3m.

Meanwhile snow is falling Down Under, and some Australian resorts have turned on their snow cannons to start a base for the season ahead.

After two seasons damaged by Covid-19 Australia is hoping for a bumper season with international travellers now allowed in.

Resorts open in June.

New Zealand too has eased the rules on skiers and snowboarders from overseas as we reported earlier on PlanetSKI.