After 2 feet of new snow, Vail, Beaver Creek to see two more holiday snowstorms

Editor’s note: Vail and Beaver Creek on Friday both reported two inches of new snow as of the 5:30 a.m. report, with snow still falling steadily as of 6:45 a.m. Vail is now running 18 lifts and offering more than 1,200 acres of skiable terrain.

Since high pressure broke down and storms started rolling through Eagle County last Thursday, Vail has seen 21 inches of new snow 25 inches have fallen on Beaver Creek. Another storm is in the forecast for Thursday night into Friday.

After a slow start to the season, Vail now has more than 1,000 acres of skiable terrain open with more rope drops hopefully in the very near future – just in time for the holidays. And forecasters are calling for another storm next week, just two days before Christmas.

“On Tuesday, light snow fell over the northern mountains, and now on Wednesday morning, light snow continues to fall over the northern mountains with a couple of inches of total accumulation,” Opensnow.com meteorologist Joel Gratz wrote Wednesday morning.

“Thursday will be mostly dry, then the next storm will bring 3-6 inches to most mountains on Thursday night and Friday. Our next chance for some snow will be around Wednesday, December 23^rd,” Gratz added.

As of Wednesday morning, Epic Pass reservations – necessitated by reduced capacity during the COVID-19 pandemic – were available at Vail through Friday. But after that, there were no more reservations available through New Year’s Day.

Beaver Creek, as of Wednesday morning, still had reservations available the next few days and then Dec. 24-27.

A Vail Resorts spokesman said the goal is to provide more reservation spots over the holidays as more terrain opens, so passholders should continue to keep checking.

In other good news, 875 doses of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine arrived at Vail Health on Thursday, with more on the way, and Moderna’s vaccine is expected to be approved by the FDA on Friday and to start shipping on Monday.