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Ski Resorts Struggling To Make Snow With Warm Temperatures

KEYSTONE, Colo. (CBS4) - Colorado's unseasonably warm weather is causing problems for ski resorts.

Arapahoe Basin opened a single run on Friday, but others may be forced to push back their scheduled openings because there's just not enough snow.

Sixty-degree highs don't help snowmakers at all, but at Keystone Resort and Loveland Ski Area officials are staying optimistic and say they only need a few good nights of snowmaking to open.

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Arapahoe Basin on Monday (credit: CBS)

"People are always excited around this time," Russell Carlton with Keystone Resort said.

"It's been a frustrating couple of weeks. We started early October and got off to a great start and have been battling some warm temperatures unfortunately this week," John Sellers with Loveland Ski Area said. "So right now we're in sort of a holding pattern."

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Loveland Ski Area on Oct. 24 (credit: CBS)

Keystone hopes to open on Nov. 4.

"Ideally we want to see low temperatures and low humidity, and when we get those temperatures we will make the snow," Carlton said.

Snowmaking is tricky business so a few degrees difference can have a major impact on just how successful the snow guns are.

"We've got a great start up top; we just need to finish the second half of the run and this base area, which normally doesn't take too long," Sellers said. "So if the cold temperatures come we're not that far away from being open."

snow gun snowmaking
(credit: CBS)

At Copper Mountain they say snowmaking is going well and they are still on schedule for opening on Nov. 11.

Ski Report

Check the status of trails & lifts at Colorado ski resorts in the CBSDenver.com Ski Report section.

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