With cooler temperatures dropping into the lower 70s next week, Vail Resorts has announced tentative opening dates for its five Colorado ski resorts.
Keystone’s snowmakers are targeting “mid-October, pending early season conditions,” according to a news release. Breckenridge is scheduled for Nov. 7 and Vail for Nov. 14. Beaver Creek and Crested Butte are set for Nov. 26. Thanksgiving this year falls on Nov. 27.
Like Keystone, officials at Arapahoe Basin, Loveland and Winter Park say they will open as soon as conditions allow. Last year, Arapahoe Basin and Keystone opened Nov. 2 with Breckenridge and Winter Park following on Nov. 8. Loveland opened on Nov. 9. Arapahoe Basin and Keystone typically open in October.
Copper Mountain will focus early-season snowmaking operations on preparing a race course that will welcome the world’s best alpine racers — including Colorado’s Mikaela Shiffrin, the winningest ski racer in history — for World Cup races Nov. 27-30. That’s only 71 days before the Winter Olympics begin in Italy on Feb. 6. The women will race slalom and giant slalom at Copper, while the men will race giant slalom and super-G.
The following week, Beaver Creek will host four days of men’s World Cup races, including two downhills, a super-G and a GS.
