Copper Mountain to open on Veteran’s Day

Copper Mountain is now planning to open on Wednesday, Nov. 11, just in time for a quick-moving powder storm that’s expected to drop 6 to 9 inches of new snow starting tonight and lasting through Wednesday morning.

Copper Mountain Facebook photo

Copper originally was scheduled to open on Friday, Nov. 6, then postponed until Friday, Nov. 13. Now Copper is opening on Veteran’s Day and offering free skiing and riding for all active-duty military, retired military, National Guard, reservists and their dependents (spouses and children).

Breckenridge still plans to open on Friday, Nov. 13, joining Copper, Arapahoe Basin, Loveland and Wolf Creek, which also opens for the season on Wednesday, Nov. 11, after being open the last couple of weekends. Tonight’s storm is the only real weather action this week, but Opensnow.com is calling for two storms next week, when Vail opens on Friday, Nov. 20.

“We’ll see our next storm around Tuesday, November 17th, with another slower and potentially stronger system sometime around Saturday, November 21st, plus or minus a day or two,” Opensnow.com meteorologist Joel Gratz wrote on Tuesday.

“This is a pretty good early-season pattern. If the next two storms track favorably for Colorado, we could have plenty of in-bounds terrain open for Thanksgiving,” Gratz added. “It’s a bit early to get excited about the details of next week’s storms, but the fact that most models show storminess across the West is a very good thing.”