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Loveland, A-Basin making snow, gearing up for opening day

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October 2, 2013, 10:03 pm

Both Loveland and Arapahoe Basin ski areas turned on their snow guns last weekend as a cold front passed through the state and lowered overnight temperatures.

The manmade snow supplements natural snow that fell in two separate storms late last month, moving both resorts closer to opening day.

“The surrounding peaks have been white all week and it is great to see our snowmaking team push the snow line a little further down the mountain,” said Loveland marketing director John Sellers said. “Every flake that falls from the sky or from one of our snow guns gets us that much closer to opening day. We look forward to turning the lifts for all the skiers and snowboarders that have patiently made it through another long summer.”

Arapahoe Basin ski area has been making snow since last Friday (A-Basin photo).

Arapahoe Basin ski area has been making snow since last Friday (A-Basin photo).

During an unusually dry fall last year, Loveland opened for the season on Oct. 23, with A-Basin opening first on Oct. 17. The two ski areas high atop the Continental Divide typically duel to be the first to open in the state, sometimes starting the lifts as early as the first week of October.

“Our mountain ops crew fired up the snow guns late last night [Friday], and [Saturday] morning we have new snow blanketing the intermediate High Noon run at Arapahoe Basin,” A-Basin marketing and communications manager Adrienne Saia Isaac said in an email blast on Saturday. “Break out your puffy and get that gear tuned. The 2013-14 ski and ride season will be here before we know it.”

Loveland’s snowmaking crew also started up the guns Friday night and will work their way down Catwalk, Mambo and Homerun for opening day. Sections of the three trails form a top-to-bottom run that’s more than a mile long and drops nearly 1,000 vertical feet.

It usually takes two to three weeks for Loveland’s snowmaking crew to cover the top-to-bottom run with an 18-inch base and tree-to-tree coverage. Loveland started making snow on Oct. 4 last season. Go to the websites for both Loveland and A-Basin for the latest snowmaking updates.

Forecasters are calling for partly sunny and dry weather to continue through Thursday, with another storm rolling in late Thursday and possibly dropping anywhere from 6-12 inches at altitudes down to 6,500 feet by Friday.

 

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David O. Williams

Managing Editor at RealVail
David O. Williams is the editor and co-founder of RealVail.com and has had his awarding-winning work (see About Us) published in more than 75 newspapers and magazines around the world, including 5280 Magazine, American Way Magazine (American Airlines), the Anchorage Daily News (Alaska), the Anchorage Daily Press (Alaska), Aspen Daily News, Aspen Journalism, the Aspen Times, Beaver Creek Magazine, the Boulder Daily Camera, the Casper Star Tribune (Wyoming), the Chicago Tribune, Colorado Central Magazine, the Colorado Independent (formerly Colorado Confidential), Colorado Newsline, Colorado Politics (formerly the Colorado Statesman), Colorado Public News, the Colorado Springs Gazette, the Colorado Springs Independent, the Colorado Statesman (now Colorado Politics), the Colorado Times Recorder, the Cortez Journal, the Craig Daily Press, the Curry Coastal Pilot (Oregon), the Daily Trail (Vail), the Del Norte Triplicate (California), the Denver Daily News, the Denver Gazette, the Denver Post, the Durango Herald, the Eagle Valley Enterprise, the Eastside Journal (Bellevue, Washington), ESPN.com, Explore Big Sky (Mont.), the Fort Morgan Times (Colorado), the Glenwood Springs Post-Independent, the Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, the Greeley Tribune, the Huffington Post, the King County Journal (Seattle, Washington), the Kingman Daily Miner (Arizona), KUNC.org (northern Colorado), LA Weekly, the Las Vegas Sun, the Leadville Herald-Democrat, the London Daily Mirror, the Moab Times Independent (Utah), the Montgomery Journal (Maryland), the Montrose Daily Press, The New York Times, the Parent’s Handbook, Peaks Magazine (now Epic Life), People Magazine, Powder Magazine, the Pueblo Chieftain, PT Magazine, the Rio Blanco Herald Times (Colorado), Rocky Mountain Golf Magazine, the Rocky Mountain News, RouteFifty.com (formerly Government Executive State and Local), the Salt Lake Tribune, SKI Magazine, Ski Area Management, SKIING Magazine, the Sky-Hi News, the Steamboat Pilot & Today, the Sterling Journal Advocate (Colorado), the Summit Daily News, United Hemispheres (United Airlines), Vail/Beaver Creek Magazine, Vail en Español, Vail Health Magazine, Vail Valley Magazine, the Vail Daily, the Vail Trail, Westword (Denver), Writers on the Range and the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. Williams is also the founder, publisher and editor of RealVail.com and RockyMountainPost.com.