Early Season Snow Falls in North America with Resorts Opening

27th October 2022

Last modified on November 2nd, 2022

Loveland opens on Thursday. It joins Winter Park, Keystone & Arapahoe Basin. UPDATED

Locals have been hiking up in Utah, but there are warnings of avalanche danger.

In Canada the first dustings are down.

In Colorado three resorts have already opened and Loveland has announced it is opening this Thursday.

Loveland said last Thursday that it was “very optimistic that we’ll open sometime next week”.

Winter Park fired up its lifts on Monday 31st October.

Here’s what it looked like on Opening Day of the 2022/23 season.

Keystone opened for skiing and snowboarding on Friday 28th October.

“We are beyond excited to kick off the winter season here at Keystone,” said Chris Sorensen, Vice President and General Manager at Keystone Resort.

“Thanks to our team’s hard work throughout the summer and over the past few months, winter is here, and with plenty to look forward to this season.”

Keystone Ski Resort has opened two more runs since Friday and now has top to bottom skiing for experienced skiers and snowboarders.

From Wednesday morning, Keystone Ski Resort will open Decrum’s Dash and River Run.

Intermediates will now be able to ski directly to the River Run Village instead of downloading from the River Run gondola.

Keystone stresses that there will be no beginner top to bottom terrain.

The first main resort in the USA able to offer some skiing and snowboarding was Arapahoe Basin in Colorado.

We reported on it at the time.

First ski resort in USA opens

Opening Day. Image © Arapahoe Basin

More terrain has now opened in A-Basin.

Mini park is now open at the top of the lift! #abasin #LegendaryForAReason pic.twitter.com/5eJLSoiHxA
— Arapahoe Basin (@Arapahoe_Basin) October 27, 2022

Today’s #Halloween party brought lots of shredders throwing down in the Tricks For Treats rail jam, candy galore, bluebird skies, and tons of great costumes. Today was another Halloween for the books at The Legend. Thanks to everyone for coming out!#ABasin #LegendaryForAReason pic.twitter.com/kjPdv1JhuQ
— Arapahoe Basin (@Arapahoe_Basin) October 30, 2022

Elsewhere in Colorado Aspen has seen some snow.

Image © Aspen Snowmass

“Winter showed up in late October with a series of cold storms dropping more than two feet of snow at higher elevations over the last several days,” said a statement from Aspen.

“In the last 24 hours, Aspen Snowmass has seen up to 13 inches on some of our mountains, marking the ramp up to the winter ski season.”

Snowmaking starts on 1st November with Aspen Mountain and Snowmass scheduled to open on Thanksgiving Day, 24th November.

Image © Aspen Snowmass

Over in Utah snow has been falling too.

No resorts are officially open, but people have been walking up and making some powder turns.

Others have been pushing the envelope.

Here’s Miles Clark Drone Video of Skiing Suicide Chute on Mt. Superior, Utah on 28th October 2022.

There have already been some avalanches.

Three human-triggered avalanches were reported:

Mt. Baldy (Near Alta Ski Area’s famous ‘Main Chute’): 8″ deep, 25″ wide.
High Greeley (Inside the Alta Ski Area boundary): skier caught and briefly carried.
Cardiac Ridge: 150′ wide, ran 250′.

All three of these avalanches were triggered on high-elevation North-Northeast aspects.

No one was reported injured or hurt.

The Utah Avalanche Centre is stressing that people heading into the backcountry should follow key points when it comes to early-season conditions:

“It doesn’t matter what you’re doing in the mountains-going for a hike, hunting, trying to ski, board, snowshoe, or firing up the snowmachine: be prepared for avalanches,” said a statement from UAC.

Triggering any avalanche regardless of its size can produce serious trauma because of a thin snowpack.
Hitting rocks and stumps is a real danger.
Don’t end your season early by hitting one of these obstacles

Back in Colorado, Steamboat Ski Resort says “recent mountain snow coupled with prime snow-making conditions has ski areas optimistic for the upcoming winter season”.

Breckenridge Ski Resort and Vail Ski Resort have announced they will open on November 12th.

Steamboat Ski resort plans to open November 23rd.

And lets not forget news from one of our regular readers in North America – the former No 1 GB ski racer, Martin Bell.

Rocky Mountain Winter, welcome back!#Octsnowber pic.twitter.com/vJy8gqcY8Q
— Martin Bell (@skimartinbell) October 27, 2022

Further north in Canada it has snowed in the Alberta resorts of Sunshine, Lake Louise and Mt. Norquay.

All received their first significant snowfall of the season, with up to 24 cm (9.5″) recorded at Sunshine.

This was the first major storm to hit the West, with two more storms expected to hit the Northwest, British Columbia, and Canadian Rockies later this week.

Tentative opening dates for SkiBig3 resorts (weather permitting):