By John Meyer The Denver Post
Denver—Front Range temperatures remain in the 80s and 90s and there’s no fresh snow on mountain ski slopes, but Vail Resorts announced projected opening dates for its Colorado resorts on Wednesday.
Keystone is listed as “mid-October, pending early season conditions,” but Breckenridge and Vail are scheduled to open on Nov. 10, with Beaver Creek and Crested Butte to open the day before Thanksgiving, which is Nov. 22. Conditions permitting, of course.
Actual opening dates depend on having sufficiently cold temperatures for snowmaking, sometimes augmented by natural snowfall. Last year Keystone opened on Oct. 28, Breckenridge on Nov. 9, Vail on Nov. 11, Beaver Creek on Nov. 21 and Crested Butte on Nov. 23.
A few other resorts have quietly set projected dates for this year as well: Copper Mountain, Nov. 13; Steamboat, Nov. 22; Aspen, Snowmass and Telluride, Nov. 23; Granby Ranch, Dec. 8; Aspen Highlands and Buttermilk, Dec. 9.
Arapahoe Basin marketing vice president Jesse True said his area will open “as soon as possible, as usual,” noting that the five-year average there is Oct. 19. Last year A-Basin was the first area to open, on Oct. 23, followed by Keystone on Oct. 28, Winter Park on Oct. 31 and Loveland on Nov. 3. According to records kept by the Denver Post, Arapahoe Basin has been the first Front Range area to open in 10 of the last 12 years, usually with Loveland or Keystone close behind.
Loveland marketing director John Sellers says he expects that area to open in mid to late October, as usual.
According to the 90-day outlook by the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center, Colorado temperatures are forecast to be above normal.
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