Winter finally arrives in Vail, Beaver Creek

A winter storm dropped a foot of fresh snow on Vail Mountain and 10 inches at Beaver Creek Thursday night, allowing the resorts to open significantly more ski terrain after a very dry fall.

The new pasting of snow followed hard on the heels of a first wave of 2-3 inches on Wednesday.

The snow is expected to continue throughout the day on Friday, with a warming trend for the weekend and then another storm moving in by the middle of next week.

“On Friday early morning, we will see steady snow continue, then during the midday, it will be more showery, and another 2-6+ inches could accumulate through Friday afternoon,” Opensnow.com meteorologist Joel Gratz wrote Friday morning. “Looking ahead, our next storm will be on Wednesday, December 15.”

After weeks of just Gondola One and Chair 4 being open, Vail is steadily adding more chairlifts, including Chair 3 on Friday.

“Skiing and snowboarding is now available off of Wildwood Express!” Vail announced on Facebook. “Our tremendous mountain operations teams are working hard to create even more fun and safe opportunities for you to enjoy on this snowy day.”