Five more Colorado ski areas will open this week with limited terrain, but one is postponing its opening by a week or two “due to recent and forecasted warm weather.”
Telluride Ski Resort, which had been scheduled to open on Thanksgiving, is now looking at Dec. 2 or Dec. 8, according to a post on its Instagram page.
Steamboat, Beaver Creek and Crested Butte are slated to open Wednesday. Aspen Mountain and Snowmass will open on Thursday. That will bring the number of open areas in Colorado to 15.
Most of the areas currently operating have had meager natural snowfall that is 20% to 50% below normal, and less than 6% of the trails are open at those areas. Steamboat officials said the resort will open Wednesday with 25 acres, which would amount to about 3% of its skiable terrain when fully open. Steamboat is at 52% below normal for snowfall.
“We’re eager to kick off another incredible season at Steamboat and applaud our operations teams in their efforts to get the resort open,” said Dave Hunter, vice president of resort operations, in a news release. “This preseason has been dryer than usual, but we’ve maximized snowmaking opportunities and will continue to take advantage of cold temperatures and natural snow to open more terrain. We can’t wait to see what this winter has in store for us.”
Other areas opening this week are expected to announce later in the week how much terrain they will have to offer. Telluride said an update on its opening day can be expected on next Monday.
“We pride ourselves on opening with a quality product and wall-to-wall coverage that provides a fun and safe skiing experience,” said Patrick Latcham, vice president of sales and marketing.
Asked about refunds at Telluride for this week because of the postponed opening, resort spokesman Sabastian Wee said skiers affected should contact the resort at 970-728-7517 or [email protected].
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