Many Colorado ski resorts received welcome infusions of fresh snow Tuesday, and more is forecast for Wednesday night through Friday morning as areas work to open additional terrain, but it’s still a struggle.
Arapahoe Basin, which received nine inches, opened the Chisholm loop and initiated “limited and directed skiing” on Lenawee Parks, West Wall and Slalom Slope. According to spokeswoman Shayna Silverman, “limited” skiing means terrain may be open for a few hours or an entire day, but ski patrol may re-close it at any time to avoid runs getting too skied-out.
“We will not officially claim that as open terrain until the ropes are dropped for the season,” Silverman said. “Additionally, these limited openings may have ‘directed skiing’ where (ski) patrol guides small groups down while we continue to manage the terrain.”
A-Basin currently has only 8% of its trails open, but Silverman said they are getting “real close” to being able to open the famed steeps of Pallavicini.
The OpenSnow reporting and forecasting service is predicting four to eight additional inches at many resorts between Wednesday evening and Friday morning, although founding meteorologist Joel Gratz acknowledged that the weather models for this system have been a bit confounding.
“The incoming storm is giving me and all the models headaches,” Gratz wrote in his Wednesday morning forecast. “The system will be strengthening near or just south of Colorado, and the exact placement of this strengthening will determine where the most snow falls. The latest models are just coming in as I write this … favoring intense snow along and just east of the Divide, over the Front Range, and also a few other areas like I-70 and over to Aspen.”
Here’s the bad news: Gratz sees dry conditions for most mountains over the next week or two.
Loveland ski area reported eight inches of new snow Tuesday. The area currently has 20% of its trails open, but a spokeswoman said the Ptarmigan chair will open on Friday. (Casey Day/Provided by Loveland ski area)Over at Loveland, which received eight inches, there are plans to open the Ptarmigan lift on Friday. Loveland currently has 20% of its trails in operation.
Copper Mountain, which received seven inches, is expected to open the Sierra chair on Friday, providing access to Timber Ridge and Lower Revenge. Copper’s Rendezvous lift is expected to open Saturday, providing access to Union Park. Currently Copper has 32% of its trails in operation.
“Patrol will evaluate additional terrain opportunities off these two lifts, including the potential for directed skiing on Sierra,” said spokeswoman Olivia Butrymovich.
Keystone plans to open six trails on the Dercum face, four at North Peak and two at the Outback — an increase of 228 acres.
“Over at Breck on Peak 8’s front side Callies, High Anxiety and Little Johnny are now open,” said spokeswoman Lee Nielsen. “Our snowmaking team is working hard to get a solid base down on Peak 10 and Peak 6 while also ensuring our current trails stay well maintained. While we don’t have any certain terrain updates for the weekend, Peak 7 recently opened, and our patrol team continues to assess trails without snowmaking. Uphill Access is also now open on approved routes on Peak 7, Peak 8, and Peak 9.”
Aspen Snowmass reported up to 12 inches and has more than 60% of its terrain open across all four mountains. Hero’s trail opened this week on Aspen Mountain while Snowmass added new terrain off the Elk Camp lift and Sam’s Knob. Aspen Snowmass will host the Toyota Grand Prix this week at Buttermilk and Snowmass as half-pipe and slopestyle athletes vie to qualify for the Milan Cortina Olympics, now just 30 days away.
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