Arapahoe Basin, CO Snowmaking UPDATE: “Could Open In A Week”

“If everything went perfectly, cold temps and plenty of water, we can get the mountain open in less than a week.” – Arapahoe Basin CEO Al Henceroth, today

Arapahoe Basin ski area, CO is generally the first or second ski resort to open in North America.  This year shouldn’t be any different.

They’re currently making snow like crazy.  

They could potentially open for the 2016/17 season in less than a week – if all goes well…

Right now, it looks like it may all go very well.

Snow is forecast for A-Basin this week and temps are forecast to be in the teens and twenties all week.

NOAA has even issued a Hazardous Weather Outlook for Arapahoe Basin that says this:

A WEATHER SYSTEM WILL BRING SNOW TO THE HIGH COUNTRY STARTING ON
WEDNESDAY, THEN SPREADING RAIN SHOWERS OVER THE NORTHERN PLAINS
WEDNESDAY NIGHT AS A COLD FRONT PUSHES IN. A STRONGER COLD FRONT
WILL PUSH IN THURSDAY FOR SNOW LEVELS DOWN TO NEAR 6500 FEET
POTENTIALLY. THE MOUNTAINS WILL SEE ACCUMULATING SNOW, AND THERE
IS A SLIGHT CHANCE OF SOME SNOW MIXING IN OVER THE PALMER DIVIDE
AND OVER THE NORTHERN PLAINS. - NOAA Denver, CO today

“We have had a phenomenal first day of snowmaking. The snowmakers fired up the system and ran at full capacity for most of the evening. The temps stayed cool enough to keep going through the day. The evening forecast for tonight looks very good. In fact, the forecast for several days looks very good. Whenever we can make snow through the day, we are happy.

If everything went perfectly, cold temps and plenty of water, we can get the mountain open in less than a week. Typically, it does not go perfectly. We mix in some warm, non-snowmaking weather and it takes a little longer. We will see how it plays out the next week or two.

Great start.” – Arapahoe Basin CEO Al Henceroth

“We fired up the snowguns at 11:00 p.m. last night and are still going strong nearly 14 hours later! The temps and humidity are still working in our favor; if the sun stays hidden and the temps stay cold, we’re prepared to go 24-hours a day. When’s opening day? Time will tell…” – Arapahoe Basin, CO today