After a warm and mostly dry fall, Mother Nature has finally begun to deliver, gifting the Colorado High Country with several powerful snow storms over the first half of November. 

The snowfall and cold temperatures have helped ski areas in and around Summit County to open up for the start of the 2024-25 season. With guests officially back on snow and working to dust off the cobwebs that have settled in the offseason, ski areas are hastily trying to open up more terrain for skiers and riders to explore.

Breckenridge Ski Resort opens Peak 9 base

After seeing over 2 feet of snow in the days leading up to opening day on Friday, Nov. 8, Breckenridge has continued to see natural snowfall, which has helped snowmaking teams to open more terrain.

“The snow keeps coming at Breck, and we reported another 7 inches this week, bringing us to a total of 47 inches season-to-date,” senior communications manager Sara Lococo said. “November is off to a great start with natural snow, and our teams continue to work hard to get us up and running this early season.”

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<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A statue of Ullr, the Norse god of snow, points its arrow at the skies above Breckenridge Ski Resort on Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024, following a snowstorm that brought inches of powder to the ski area right in time for opening weekend. </figcaption><figcaption>Andrew Maciejewski/Summit Daily News</figcaption>

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The additional snowfall and snowmaking has allowed Breckenridge to be able to open the lower part of Peak 9 on Friday, Nov. 15. The terrain opening will include the Quicksilver SuperChair and will access beginner terrain on Silverthorne, as well as all learning terrain carpets and platters.

Additionally, Breckenridge will open the Peak 8 SuperConnect and the Snowflake lift for access to and across Peaks 8 and 9. The resort will not have the mid-load stations open on SuperConnect or Snowflake.

Although the resort is just a week into its 2024-25 season, Breckenridge Ski Patrol is already conducting mitigation work across its high-Alpine terrain. With another favorable storm in terms of wind direction, Breckenridge could open up hike-to access to Contest Bowl.

“We’re eyeing other natural terrain in the near future on Peaks 8 and 9 as well, but snowmaking is still key for ingress and egress access, and we’re continuing to make snow at every opportunity to help get us there,” Lococo said. “Looking ahead, we’re aiming to get upper Peak 9 open next as well as the Rocky Mountain SuperChair on Peak 8, so stay tuned for more.”

Copper Mountain Resort gives access to beginner terrain

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<figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A snowboarder launches off a jump at Copper Mountain Resort on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.</figcaption><figcaption>Curtis DeVore/Copper Mountain Resort</figcaption>

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Like its neighbors on the other side of the Tenmile Mountain Range, Copper Mountain Resort will also be expanding this weekend.

Starting on Saturday, Nov. 16, Copper will start running the Gem and Pitchfork lifts, which will access Green Acres, Copper’s beginning learning area located between East and Center Village. The terrain opening will allow guests to hone their skills before venturing out to more advanced terrain.

“We’ve had a great start to the season with 43 inches of snowfall this month and top-to-bottom access out of Center Village,” communications and philanthropy manager Olivia Butrymovich said. “Our teams have been working hard to open the mountain, and we’re looking forward to getting more terrain online in the coming weeks.”

Arapahoe Basin Ski Area working on upper mountain

With the majority of its terrain requiring natural snowfall, Arapahoe Basin Ski Area will not have any major terrain openings for the upcoming weekend. A-Basin will continue to have its early-season terrain package open for guests, which features High Noon accessed by the the Black Mountain Express. 

Teams at A-Basin are working hard to get more terrain open, including the upper mountain. Until the upper mountain opens, skiers and riders should keep an eye out for limited openings on its lower mountain terrain, like Ramrod.

“Limited openings are when patrol will drop the rope on a run for a short period of time so that it doesn’t get completely skied off throughout the day,” communications manager Shayna Silverman said. “We won’t officially claim it as open terrain until we get a bit more snow for the run to be safely open all day long every single day of the season.”

For those wanting to earn their turns, A-Basin has opened up its uphill access route for guests to climb outside of operating hours to the Black Mountain Lodge. Uphill passes are now on sale and are a $29 add on to a A-Basin pass product. 

Snowfall helps Loveland Ski Area to drop ropes 

After opening Upper Richards on Thursday, Nov. 14, Loveland Ski Area will drop the ropes to several other trails over the next few days.

On Saturday, Nov. 16, Loveland will begin spinning Lift 2, which will provide access to Tango Road. Teams are also working hard to open Spillway and are hopeful to have  it open by Sunday, Nov. 17, weather and conditions permitting.

Keystone Resort plans to open Peru Express Lift

Since opening for the season on Nov. 2, Keystone Resort has taken full advantage of cold overnight temperatures. As a result, it plans to open more terrain across Dercum Mountain.

For this weekend, Keystone is on track to open the Peru Express lift on Friday, Nov. 15, which will give guests access to the Mountain House Base Area. Keystone also anticipates the opening of the Dercum’s Dash and River Run trails in the next couple of days, which will offer intermediate skiers and riders an alternative, steeper route back to the River Run Base Area.

Following the opening of its Mountain House Base Area, Keystone will move its hike-to terrain park to its new home above Acapulco Road. The terrain park can be accessed via the Peru lift in the Mountain House Base Area.

Snowmaking, grooming and snow tubing teams have also put Keystone ahead of its original schedule in terms of opening the resort’s tubing hill. Keystone anticipates that the Mountaintop Snow Tubing Hill will open a few days before the Thanksgiving holiday.

In the coming weeks, Keystone will focus on opening up Paymaster and Spring Dipper.

“As we get closer and closer to reaching 100 acres of open skiable terrain, our teams are focusing their attention on two early-season crowd-favorites, Paymaster and Spring Dipper,” senior specialist in communications Sarah McLear said. “These trails offer long, rolling intermediate pitches for more experienced guests and will help us continue to spread our guests out with unique and challenging terrain.”