Industry News
Snowmaking officially began yesterday at Keystone Resort, CO, thanks to a hardworking snowmaking team and state-of-the-art automated snowmaking. Keystone joins Copper Mountain, Loveland, and Arapahoe Basin, all snowmaking in Colorado, and Killington Resort in Vermont, which began on Saturday.
The race to open is well and truly on. Last season Keystone opened on October 22nd, less than two weeks away.
There are mountains of fun to look forward to this winter at Keystone Resort. They’re serving up fun for the whole family, with not one but TWO on-mountain Snow Forts. Plus, familiar favorites are back this winter like weekend and holiday night skiing operations, The Last Lift Bar, cat shuttles from The Outpost, and (of course) its unbeatable Kids Ski Free program. For further information, check out its tip sheet.
Typically, it’s a brawl between Colorado’s A-Basin and Loveland to see who starts the ski season off for North America, both resorts battling for bragging rights.
From 1982 through 2001, Loveland was the first to open ten times, and Keystone was the first ten times. However, three of Keystone’s wins were photo finishes when both areas opened on the same day, and Keystone used its lights to open before sunrise, getting a jump on Loveland by two or three hours in the quest for bragging rights, according to the Denver Post. Then in 2002, Arapahoe Basin installed snowmaking equipment. From 2003 through 2018, Arapahoe Basin was the first Front Range area to open nine times, Loveland was first five times, and they tied twice. Wolf Creek, a small area 250 miles from Denver in southern Colorado, actually beat both of them four times since 2011, thanks to ample early natural snowfall.
Here is a list of the first resorts to open over the last ten years or so:
- 21/22: Wolf Creek, Colorado – October 16th
- 20/21: Wild Mountain, Minnesota – October 19th
- 19/20: Arapahoe Basin, Colorado – October 11th
- 18/19: Wolf Creek, Colorado – October 13th
- 17/18: Arapahoe Basin, Colorado – October 13th
- 16/17: Arapahoe Basin, Colorado – October 21st
- 15/16: Killington, Vermont – October 18th
- 14/15: Arapahoe Basin, Colorado – October 17th
- 13/14: Arapahoe Basin, Colorado – October 13th
- 12/13: Wild Mountain, Minnesota – October 18th
- 11/12: Wolf Creek, Colorado – October 11th
- 10/11: Sunday River, Maine – October 23rd
- 09/10: Loveland, Colorado – October 6th
- 08/09: Loveland, Colorado – October 7th
See you on the slopes very shortly.
