Colorado ski areas open despite little to no natural snow: Here's how much they have

DENVER (KDVR) — It may not look like it outside, but it is officially ski season in Colorado.

Denver has yet to see its first snowfall of the season. Its one of the longest stretches without snow that the city has ever had, and the first snowfall could be one of the latest in history.

The high country has not seen much more snow than Denver, but has seen a little. FOX31’s Jim Hooley got a look at some high elevation areas that showed no signs of snow on Friday.

But thanks to low temperatures, some ski areas and resorts have been able to make enough snow to make up for Mother Nature and open up some slopes to skiers and snowboarders.

Most ski areas anticipate opening dates closer the middle and end of November, but Winter Park, Keystone and Arapaho Basin are already open, and Copper Mountain, Loveland and Breckenridge are opening this weekend.

“Our teams have been working so hard despite the temperatures Mother Nature has thrown our way to get this mountain ready for opening day,” Breckenridge Communications Manager Max Winter told FOX31 on Thursday.

This time last year, the resort had about two feet of fresh snow, but this year Winter said the new snow guns have made all the difference, with most of the ski trail being covered with snow made artificially by crews working day and night.

“So the moment that we see the right humidity in the air, the right ambient temperature to make snow, we can turn those suckers on immediately,” Winter said.

For opening day Friday, Breckenridge has one out of nine lifts open and one out of 147 runs open, and Copper Mountain has one of 23 lifts open and three of 159 trails open.

Keystone appears to have the most terrain open, with four of 142 trails open and four of 21 lifts running.

Many ski areas have a base of snow on the ski trail, surrounded by brown ground with little to no snow.

How much snow do ski areas and resorts have?

Some ski spots have base depths listed on their websites. Here’s how much snow some have reported as of Friday:

• Winter Park: 18 inches
• Arapahoe Basin: 18 inches
• Copper Mountain: 18 inches
• Breckenridge: 18 inches
• Keystone: 18 inches
• Vail: 12 inches
• Loveland: 13 inches

Winter Park reports seven inches of snowfall and Keystone reports nine inches of snowfall for the season so far, while others like Breckenridge report having zero inches of measurable snow for the season total.

Vail is scheduled to open next weekend and reports a season total of three inches of snowfall so far.

Eldora is also set to open soon, but the website as of Friday said it has a base depth of zero inches, with two inches of snowfall for the season total. The website said its snowmaking crew is working toward an opening day of Nov. 14.

Most ski areas are not expecting substantial snowfall this weekend, though light snow is expected around the Interstate 70 corridor Friday night and could make for slick travels Saturday morning.