Pikes Peak Region Trail Finder

Wired.com on ski resorts' race to open

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Created on Monday, 18 October 2010 19:27

Written by Carmen Boles

While the leaves haven’t even hit the ground on Colorado’s front range, the snow guns at Loveland and Arapahoe Basin fired up roughly two weeks ago in anticipation of the annual race to be the nation’s first ski area to open for the season.

The bragging rights on the runs themselves aren’t much: one, or maybe two runs, with just enough coverage to be rideable. Still, there is much prestige to the contest, and both Loveland and A-Basin require edge-to-edge coverage with at least an 18-inch base. Once they open, they plan to stay open the whole season — no closing down again after a few days of sliding.