By Katie Coakley
Update: Keystone announced on October 11 that they will open Saturday, October 12!
Update 2.0: Arapahoe Basin refused to give up their crown as first-to-open. They will open Friday October 11 from 3:30 to 5:30 and then run lifts Saturday.
Skiers, start your engines. Opening Day is here.
Gear up for opening day with our First Tracks Sale
Waking up to several inches of snow on my deck wasn’t too surprising—after all, the forecasts were calling for overnight snow and a drastic temperature dip. However, it’s one thing to expect the white stuff and another thing to tromp through it to your car (is it always this cold?). But for Colorado’s ski resorts, this early-season snow is just the icing on the snowmaking cake. The race is on to see who opens first.
The Science
While the recent snowfall is effective for sending skiers and snowboarders into a frenzy for opening day, it doesn’t actually make much impact on how soon the resorts will open.
“We love the natural fresh snow because it gets everyone excited, but what we’re really looking for this time of year is those cold sustained temperatures,” said Loryn Roberson, communications manager at Keystone Resort. “So from this storm, the real star of the show for us is those cold temperatures that we’re seeing.”
To utilize the snow guns, snowmakers rely on something called “wet bulb temperature,” which takes into consideration now only how cold it is, but also the humidity in the air. When the wet bulb temps are in the desired zone, snowmaking can take place consistently.
“The snow is great,” said John Sellers, marketing & communications director at Loveland Ski Resort. “It certainly helps, but the biggest thing for us in terms of productivity is having the cold temperatures that the storm brought with it. If we’re able to make snow not just at night but around the clock, that really sort of jumpstarts everything and allows us to make progress obviously a lot more quickly than we normally would.”
Keystone’s Earliest Opening in Decades
Arapahoe Basin and Loveland always duke it out this time of year. But new to this year’s opening race is Keystone Resort. With a new, state of the art, automated, energy-efficient system, snowmakers have been able to utilize smaller windows of low temperatures more efficiently, Roberson explained. The guns now kick on automatically as soon as the wet bulb temperature reaches the sweet spot for snowmaking and shuts off when it gets too warm.
“It (the new system) is positioning us to be one of the first resorts to open,” Roberson said.
“We’re very excited.”
With Keystone in the mix, skiers and snowboarders will have three different options for early season tracks. But it’s not just early season that Roberson is considering–it’s the entire season.
“Really what it comes down to for us is Keystone is going to have the earliest opening possible and Breck is going to stay open through Memorial Day,” she said. “So with that, we’re going to be able to offer our Epic Pass holders one of the longest ski seasons in the country. And so really it’s just to provide more value to our guests.”
Super-secret Snowmaking Rituals
Everyone knows that though there is nothing that can guarantee snow, there are tricks that can be utilized to help conditions: beseeching the snow gods, donning lucky ski socks and performing snow dances are all recognized tactics. However, these trade secrets are usually kept on the down-low at the resorts.
“Snow dances? No,” Sellars said, a bit unconvincingly. “You know, I’m not sure what the guys are doing when they’re making snow at night. Maybe they’re dancing. Maybe it helps. I’m not sure.”
Leigh Hierholzer, marketing and communications director at Arapahoe Basin Ski Area, was a little more forthcoming about their rituals.
“You never know (about snow dances),” she said. “We’ve been doing this for a long time, so we’ll see. We’re really fortunate to have the snowmaking crew that we have… and they may create some magic.”
So When, Exactly, Will the Resorts Open?
“We’re really excited about opening,” said John Sellers, marketing & communications director at Loveland Ski Resort. “We’ve been thinking about it since we closed in the spring. You know, every flake that falls and every minute of snowmaking gets us that much closer to opening day, but we’re not quite ready to make an announcement yet.”
But it’s soon, right?
“We’re working hard just to open as quickly as we can.” Sellers said. “If everything goes well this weekend, next week is certainly a possibility, but we’ll have a little more information for everybody, hopefully early next week.”
Roberson wasn’t ready to give a date, either, but she did share some data that savvy snow-enthusiasts can interpret any way they’d like.
“If we open before October 22, it’ll be the earliest opening in more than 20 years based on the data I have collected,” Roberson said.
And Arapahoe Basin? Well, keep an ear out for an announcement.
“Snowmaking is going really good,” Hierholzer said. “The natural snow that we got today will help lay a thicker base, which is always helpful. It’s nice to see the trees nice and white as well.”
Yeah, yeah. But when will skiers and riders be able to admire those pristine trees?
“It’ll be any day now that we’re going to be able to open,” Hierholzer said.
So start making your plans for the 2019-20 ski season. It’ll be here before you know it.
See estimated opening dates for notable resorts around the country.
