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Courtesy Loveland Ski Area
Headline RSS FeedLoveland, A-Basin tie for ski season's first-to-open honors in 2008
October 15, 2008 —
Arapahoe Basin looked like a lock to be the first ski area in the nation to open this year, but Loveland came in just under the wire for a photo-finish (or is it photo-start?) to this year’s ski and snowboard season.
Both ski areas cranked up their lifts today as the 2008-2009 season officially got under way.
We’ll call it a tie.
Groomed, man-made snow awaits skiers who head up to the high country this week, and although it won’t be the best snow we see this year, it’s certainly the only snow which can be skied at all in Colorado right now. The white ribbons which adorn each resort are surrounded by the natural brown of October in the Rockies – although the higher elevations have slight dustings more often than not as we head toward November.
Vail is planning on an opening day of November 21, and Beaver Creek will open Nov. 26.
The 2007-2008 season saw delayed openings at some resorts due to lack of early-season snow, but it fell like gangbusters beginning on the first of December. By season’s end, Vail had recorded 463 inches of snow (the average is 350).
In the first of many predictions I’ll call for better early season snow in 2008 … although based on last year’s November snow totals, that’s not saying much.
1 Comment on "Loveland, A-Basin tie for ski season's first-to-open honors in 2008"
Powder Predictor — October 15, 2008
Tom, you may be right about early season snow this November. The Farmers Almanac lists our region as normal this year for temps, and an increase in precip. in the northern mountains and drier to the south. With the exception of Wolf Creek, which seems to have its very own weather system, the south could be a bit drier for the first month of the ski season. The Northern and Central mountains ( including Vail, B.C., and Aspen) should see seasonal snowfall early on as weather systems begin to plow into our state by Christmas time. Which means we should see our first significant snowfall around Halloween, just in time for the B.M.H.S.-V.M.S. egg fight (do kids even do that anymore?) For those of you who can't wait to ski, (I'm looking at you Dave!) please remember that you will be skiing the white ribbon of death for some time, so be aware of snow-riders around you. Nothing is worse than ruining your ski season on groomed man-made snow. For all of you daily readers, I will soon have a weather station set up in my back yard which will be linked to the internet. Hopefully we will have a link from this site so all interested can see what the weather is doing in real time. Happy Snow-riding, I'll have my first blog up some time in the next few weeks.
Reid
