Two Colorado Ski Resorts Nearing Opening Day
CLEAR CREEK COUNTY, Colo. (CBS4) - You can't say the race to become the first Colorado ski resort to open this season is, um, heating up.
Rather, it's a cold war, so to speak, at the top of Colorado's mountains.
"Got the snow guns cranking up and both Mother Nature and A-Basin are making snow today. This is awesome. Can't be much happier right now," Arapahoe Basin's Adrienne Saia Isaac said.
It's hard to tell it's October near Loveland Pass, but snow has blanketed the slopes and trees.
And there's a familiar noise in the air at both Arapahoe Basin and Loveland.
"This weekend the cold temperatures returned and Mother Nature dropped eight inches of snow on us," John Sellers of Loveland said. "Last night was our most productive night -- temperatures dropping into the teens. And with the natural snow we got, it's starting to look a lot more like winter around here."
The phrase "winter is coming" isn't relevant for these two resorts. Winter is already here.
"If we can blow snow 24 hours a day, not only does it help us open faster, but it saves us from having to turn the guns on and off, and it's much more efficient," Isaac said.
Skiers could see opening day soon, but weather like this isn't sticking around.
"Looking forward to this week," Sellers said. "We've got some warm days coming up but some cold temperatures at night, which will still allow us to be productive with snowmaking."
Neither resort would tell us how soon they're opening.
Resorts are close when they make snow at the base. Loveland's bottom guns were off on Monday. They were on at A-Basin.
"We don't want to make snow if it's not going to be efficient, and if we're not going to be able to make it stick around," Isaac said. "We're close. We're really close. As soon as we get that 18-inch base all the way up and down (the) High Noon (run), we're going to open up for you."
