The announcement that Loveland Ski Area will open for the season Sunday had some people raising their hands in the air and singing songs of praise.
“Hallelujah!” said Kevin McKinney, manager of The Ski Shop in Colorado Springs.
Colorado Ski Country USA announced Saturday that Loveland will start its lifts at 9 a.m. John Sellers, the ski area’s marketing director confirmed the announcement and said one chair lift will be servicing three trails — Catwalk, Mambo and Home Run.
While Loveland beat neighboring Arapahoe Basin as the first to open in Colorado, it will be the second ski area opening this season in North America.
Sunday River in Maine beat the Colorado ski areas to the punch Friday, opening a black-diamond trail after 19 hours of continuous snowmaking to become the first to open in the nation.
“We’re just excited to be opening the chairs and getting skiers up on the hill,” Sellers said.
At 11:30 a.m. Saturday it was 29 degrees at Loveland Ski Area and operators reported an 18-inch base. Sellers said that five inches of natural snow fell Saturday morning with more expected overnight.
Arapahoe Basin opens its season Monday. The area’s spokeswoman Lee Hierholzer said A-Basin will have its new high-speed, quad chair lift open for skiers along with one run — an intermediate trail called High Noon.
Hierholzer didn’t express any sadness over Loveland beating them out by a day. She said, however, that Sunday River is only opening for this weekend and not for the whole season. A rumor which Sellers confirmed.
“If you don’t open for the whole season, you don’t count,” Hierholzer said, discrediting the Maine ski area’s claim to fame. “That’s just my little rule.”
Snow fell at Loveland for the first time this season Sept. 23. Resort operators took advantage of the cold temperatures that night and fired up their snowguns.
But it was a false start. Loveland and A-Basin had to put off snowmaking when September turned in some of the hottest and driest days on record in Colorado for that month.
Snowguns were cranked up in earnest two weeks ago at the resorts and also at Copper Mountain.
National Weather Service meteorologist Mark Wankowski said that Colorado will be “a little warmer than normal” this winter because of a strengthening La Nina, or cooler surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. He said that could mean higher-than-normal moisture levels in the central mountains, which include Loveland and Arapahoe Basin areas.
Vail Mountain sent out this note Saturday on its Facebook page: "Winter has arrived in Vail! Snow last night all the way down to Pepi's Face and more in the forecast through Wednesday. See you November 19th on opening day!"
Check back at gazette.com for details of opening day and a Sunday weather forecast for the high country.
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Dena Rosenberry contributed to this story.
