COLORADO (KDVR) —If you’re itching to hit the slopes, you don’t have to wait much longer: Multiple ski resorts along the Interstate 70 corridor fired up their snow guns for the first time this year early Monday morning to prepare for opening day.
“It’s an incredible day,” said Loryn Roberson, Loveland Ski Area’s director of Marketing. “This is, like, my second favorite day of the year besides opening.”
Roberson’s two favorite days are likely coming sooner than last year, with snow guns launching on Oct. 18 a year ago and opening day on Nov. 9.
“We’re really excited and hopeful we can get open a little bit earlier than we did last year,” Roberson said.
Loveland doesn’t have the only snow guns in operation overnight. Down the road, Arapahoe Basin has a fresh layer of snow visible from the road and Keystone Resort also got in on the fun.
“It’s a little dry right here, but guns just like this off to my shoulder here way up high on Dercum Mountain have been making snow all night long,” said Max Winter, Keystone’s communications manager.
Winter says they hope to get people walking through the River Run entrance as early as possible as well, with their snow guns equipped with weather tracking tech.
“They can sense the humidity and the temperature in the air in real time,” Winter said.
They’re able to take advantage of the windows where conditions are right for building their snow base.
Skiers at both ski areas have some new things to look forward to as well, like the Kindred Resort at Keystone.
“This is a brand new luxury hotel and lodging offering with ski-in, ski-out residences, three new restaurants and our brand new ski and ride school location,” Winter said.
Over at Loveland, there’s a brand new lift.
“We replaced Lift 7 over in Loveland Valley,” Roberson said. “That’s our ski lift that’s really for beginners and ski school.”
That lift is going from a double chair to a triple to widen capacity.
While each ski area shares friendly competition, they’re both ready to see skiers back in the mountains as soon as possible.
“We’re always rooting on all of our neighbors on the I-70 corridor so last night when we all fired up, I think we’re all really excited to see it happen,” Roberson said.
Neither Keystone nor Loveland have confirmed opening dates yet, but both are hoping for late October or early November.
Anthony Sutton is a business strategist and writer with a passion for management, leadership, and entrepreneurship. With years of experience in the corporate world, he shares insights on business growth, strategy, and innovation through management-opleiding.org.
