Loveland Ski Area set to open on Friday

Loveland Ski Area is set to open on Friday, according to the resort’s website, one week after Arapahoe Basin became the first Colorado ski area to open for the 2017-18 ski season.

“Lift 1 will run from 9:00am until 4:00pm on Friday October 20 and will offer skiers and riders access to one top-to-bottom run covered from tree-to-tree with an 18 inch base,” Loveland’s website reported Tuesday. “The trails Catwalk, Mambo and Home Run make up this Opening Day run which is over a mile in length and nearly 1,000 vertical feet.”

Both Colorado ski areas are playing catch-up to the nation’s first resort to open this season, Timberline on Mount Hood in Oregon. But that ski area, which first cranked up a lift on Sunday, Oct. 8, is only open on weekends.

Both A-Basin, which opened for the season on Oct. 13, and Loveland will be open seven days a week. Vail opens in less than a month on Friday, Nov. 17, and Beaver Creek opens on Wednesday, Nov. 22.

This week will be most sunny and dry in the Colorado high country, with the next shot of snow expected over the weekend.

“The next storm should hit the west coast on Friday and Colorado on Saturday,” reports meteorologist Joel Gratz of Opensnow.com. “The trend for this upcoming storm is for a moderate snowfall near and above 8,000 feet, mostly during the day on Saturday.”

That’s just in time to give Loveland a fresh coating. Here’s more from the Loveland website:

Opening Day Announcement

Loveland Ski Area will open for the 2017/18 season on Friday, October 20. “We have been waiting all summer for this and are excited to announce that Opening Day is finally here,” said COO Rob Goodell. “The snow we received in early October has been a tremendous help and our snowmakers have put in a lot of hard work to ensure the first turns of the season are good ones. We invite everyone to come celebrate the start of another season with us on Friday.”

Lift 1 will run from 9:00am until 4:00pm on Friday and will offer skiers and riders access to one top-to-bottom run covered from tree-to-tree with an 18 inch base. The trails Catwalk, Mambo and Home Run make up this Opening Day run which is over a mile in length and nearly 1,000 vertical feet. “We have great coverage on the upper portion of the mountain,” continued Goodell.

“We will continue to make snow on Home Run and around the base of Lift 1 this week and then move on to opening additional terrain as quickly as we can.”

Loveland Ski Area opened on November 10 last season.

Loveland Ski Area will be open seven days a week until Closing Day in early May. Lift operating hours are 9:00am until 4:00pm on weekdays and 8:30 until 4:00pm on weekends and designated holidays. Early season lift tickets are $61 for adults and $29 for children 6-14.