Vail Mountain opens as forecasters call for more snow

Vail Mountain opened for the 2014-15 ski season on Friday with more than 500 acres of skiable terrain and access to both Lionshead and Vail Village.

Olympic gold medalist Lindsey Vonn and her dog Leo celebrated first chair of the 2014-15 ski season with guests at Vail Mountain’s Opening Day on Friday (photo by Kari Mohr, Vail Resorts).

The ski area offered surprisingly expansive terrain after a largely sunny and dry fall gave way to a week of winter starting Nov. 10. More than 3 feet of snow fell, allowing Vail to open with 7 of 31 lifts and 33 of 195 trails.

Officials say they expect to open more terrain and lifts soon with a snowy Thanksgiving week in the forecast.

“Early season is a fantastic time to visit Vail, and with more than three feet of snowfall last week, recent cold temperatures for snowmaking and more snow in the forecast, the mountain is in great shape and the resort anticipates opening up more terrain soon,” Vail officials said in a press release Friday. “In addition to great conditions, early season also offers the benefits of smaller crowds and more of the mountain to yourself.”

Eldora also opened on Friday, and Aspen Mountain opens today (Saturday, Nov. 22), bringing the total number of operating Colorado ski areas to 10. Several more resorts are scheduled to open Thanksgiving week, including Beaver Creek and Crested Butte on Wednesday. Crested Butte is offering free skiing on opening day.

According to Opensnow.com, a storm is headed into the state late tonight (Saturday) and then northwest flow will continue producing powder through the first several days of next week.

Go to www.vail.com for all the latest snow reports and terrain conditions at Vail Mountain.