Loveland Ski Area Opening Day

Snow Reports:

Arapahoe Basin open H 68° L 37° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open 4 of 8 Base Lower/Upper 51/51

Ashcroft Ski Touring closed H 70° L 38° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of Base Lower/Upper /

Aspen Highlands closed H 70° L 38° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 5 Base Lower/Upper /

Aspen Mountain closed H 70° L 38° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 8 Base Lower/Upper /

Aspen/Snowmass Nordic Trail System closed H 70° L 38° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of Base Lower/Upper /

Beaver Creek closed H 69° L 39° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 25 Base Lower/Upper /

Breckenridge closed H 66° L 41° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 31 Base Lower/Upper /

Buttermilk closed H 70° L 38° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 8 Base Lower/Upper /

Copper Mountain Resort closed H 67° L 40° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 22 Base Lower/Upper /

Crested Butte Mountain Resort closed H 69° L 39° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 16 Base Lower/Upper /

Crested Butte Nordic Center closed H 69° L 39° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of Base Lower/Upper /

Devil's Thumb Ranch closed H 69° L 37° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of Base Lower/Upper /

Durango closed H 64° L 34° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open 9 of 10 Base Lower/Upper 47/51

Eldora Mountain Resort closed H 71° L 40° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 11 Base Lower/Upper /

Gold Run Nordic Center closed H 66° L 41° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of Base Lower/Upper /

Grand Lake Touring Center closed H 68° L 40° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of Base Lower/Upper /

Irwin closed H 69° L 39° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 1 Base Lower/Upper 80/80

Kendall Mountain Ski Area closed H 60° L 38° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 1 Base Lower/Upper /

Keystone closed H 65° L 38° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 20 Base Lower/Upper /

Loveland Ski Area closed H 68° L 39° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 9 Base Lower/Upper /

Monarch Mountain closed H 75° L 45° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 6 Base Lower/Upper /

Powderhorn Resort closed H 79° L 47° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 4 Base Lower/Upper /

Purgatory at Durango Mountain Resort closed H 80° L 39° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 10 Base Lower/Upper /

Silverton Mountain closed H 60° L 38° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 1 Base Lower/Upper /

Ski Cooper closed H 59° L 32° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 5 Base Lower/Upper /

Ski Granby Ranch closed H 69° L 38° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 5 Base Lower/Upper /

Ski Hesperus closed H 77° L 44° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 1 Base Lower/Upper /

Snow Mountain Ranch closed H 69° L 38° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of Base Lower/Upper /

Snowmass closed H 67° L 38° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 21 Base Lower/Upper /

SolVista Basin closed H 50° L 28° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open 0 of 5 Base Lower/Upper 24/25

Steamboat closed H 76° L 49° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 18 Base Lower/Upper /

Steamboat Ski Touring Center closed H 73° L 50° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of Base Lower/Upper /

Sunlight Mountain Resort closed H 74° L 42° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 3 Base Lower/Upper /

Telluride Ski Resort closed H 60° L 38° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 18 Base Lower/Upper /

Tennessee Pass Nordic Center closed H 59° L 32° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of Base Lower/Upper /

Vail closed H 67° L 40° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 31 Base Lower/Upper /

Vail Resorts Nordic School closed H 68° L 40° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of Base Lower/Upper /

Vista Verde Ranch closed H 69° L 38° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of Base Lower/Upper /

Winter Park closed H 68° L 39° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 26 Base Lower/Upper /

Wolf Creek Ski Area closed H 79° L 38° 24 hour snow " 48 hours snow " Lifts Open of 7 Base Lower/Upper /

Loveland Ski Area Opening Day

[ October 7, 2009 - 6:36pm ]

A reminder that it's still October.

Enlarge Photo

Photo by: Margaret Page

The Bullwheel

Dek:

Loveland Ski Area is the first resort to open this season. And we were there.

Skiing in America officially started today when, at 9:07 a.m., the first riders loaded the chair at Loveland. Didn’t know that it was going to open? Neither did most people, including the folks at Loveland. “I didn’t find out until 2 p.m. yesterday,” said ski patroller Nick Regester.

Check out pictures here

We interns at Skiing magazine found out about the same time yesterday that we would be skiing today. Shortly after, we collectively began the over-excited jumping and a general wetting of the pants typically reserved for 13-year-old girls at a Taylor Swift concert.

Favorable weather and an experienced snow-making crew from New Zealand helped make the early opening possible. “Mother nature has been treating us really well,” said Duncan Maxwell, events coordinator at Loveland. “It’s really weather dependent. If we have enough snow, we’ll open.” This marked one of Loveland’s earliest openings since they started making snow in 1969.

When we showed up at Loveland this morning, everyone else was just as pumped as we were. “The first day of skiing is like the first day of school,” said avalanche forecaster Halsted Morris, who we found high-fiving in the lift line. Skiers and riders alike were sporting their new steeze, even busting out rockered skis for the occasion.

As the first chair loaded, the 40 or so people waiting to make their first turns of the season let up a collective cheer. Folks from Colorado Ski Country handed out powdered doughnuts as people soaked up the bright morning sun and a general sense of revelry prevailed. “I love it here, this is probably my 10th or 11th opening day,” said Carl Parks, a Golden native on his 49th consecutive month of skiing.

Up on the mountain, one run was open, complete with a two-feature terrain park. “I got some rad turns up there,” said Pioter Teterwak who skipped school in Colorado Springs to make turns.

Sure, we were technically ‘working’ to cover the opening day, but skiing a bluebird day on October 7th made us feel just as sneaky as our bro Pioter.

Up ahead, we’re looking forward to A-Basin’s opening this Friday. Bring doughnuts.

-Jake Davis & Heather Hansman

Photos: Margaret Page

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