Winter weather hits Colorado’s ski areas

A winter storm slammed into Colorado’s ski areas on Wednesday and Thursday, Nov. 4-5, depositing more than half a foot at the two open ski resorts, Arapahoe Basin and Loveland, and walloping Wolf Creek in southern Colorado with more than a foot and a half of new snow.

New snow Thursday morning at the Beaver Creek ice rink (Beaver Creek Facebook photo).

Wolf Creek opened last weekend for skiing, shut down this week and then announced it will re-open for business on Friday, Nov. 6. The ski area will then close again Monday and Tuesday before opening full-time for the season on Wednesday, Nov. 11. That may require a road trip for anyone looking for truly deep snow this coming weekend.

Closer to home, Keystone opens Friday, Nov. 6, which will then provide two Vail Resorts’ Epic Pass mountains for skiing and snowboarding. VR employees have to pay $10 at A-Basin until Keystone opens.

According to Opensnow.com, a minor northern storm will flow into the state Friday after a brief break Thursday evening, and then a much larger storm will move into Colorado middle of next week, when both Breckenridge and Copper Mountain will open on Friday, Nov. 13.

Vail opens a week later on Friday, Nov. 20, followed by Beaver Creek on Wednesday, Nov. 25. Beaver Creek was the big northern winner in this week’s storm, seeing more than 8 inches of new snow throughout the day Wednesday and into Thursday morning.