Industry News
The race to open for the 2023/24 ski season is already over and a small Massachusetts ski area has technically won. Every year ski areas across the country have an informal ‘race’ to see who can get their snowguns running the fastest and their ski lifts running first. In years past, Arapahoe Basin in Colorado has often snagged the title of first to open with a late October or early November opening while other resorts like Keystone, Breckenridge, and Wolf Creek fight to make enough snow to beat them. Even this year Mammoth Mountain in California announced a November 10 opening with hopes of being one of the first ski areas to open this season. But they were mistaken to think that they would grab the unspoken title of “First Open.”
Yesterday Ski Ward in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, opened its magic carpet for skiing and riding, making it the first outdoor ski area to open lift-accessed terrain in North America for the season. The resort offered $5 lift tickets, limiting the number sold due to the minimal amount of terrain that was open (one thin, groomed slope and magic carpet). Ski Ward opened the run as an offering of its Fall Festival that was taking place, among other festivities such as a petting zoo, children’s games, pumpkin paintings, tubing, and a bouncy house.
Ski Ward’s ability to open one of its smaller slopes for skiing this early in the season is thanks in part to its strong snowmaking capabilities. The resort shared on social media that it will shut down lift operations this week but will reopen for its Halloween Rail Jam on October 27th, with yet another possible opening on October 28th, conditions permitting. Come November 1st, Ski Ward will begin hosting private lessons as the resort prepares to fully open to the public for the 2023/24 ski season later in the month.
Ski season has effectively made it to the East Coast.
