Friday Freshies: Latest Snowfall Brings Early Opening Dates to Resorts

Storms during ski season are to be anticipated, sought after and celebrated. But storms granting resorts to open earlier than anticipated? Those are our favorites.

In case you missed it, we’ve rounded up the resorts who have either already opened early or who are currently planning on opening earlier than expected.

Early Ski Resort Opening Dates:

Mammoth Mountain, California on Nov. 5

Breckenridge, Colorado on Nov. 9

Solitude, Utah on Nov. 10

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Brighton, Utah on Nov. 10 (to passholders)

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Marmot Basin, Alberta on Nov. 10

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Timberline Lodge, Oregon on Nov. 11

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Eldora, Colorado on Nov. 11

For Colorado Resorts, the snow that came in on Wednesday was projected to be between 3-8” and OpenSnow reported those who came through with the most snow were Copper with 6” and then Beaver Creek, Vail, Breckenridge, Monarch and Aspen Highlands with 4”. While the snow has stopped, temperatures in Colorado are looking to drop over the next few days and into the coming week which will at least help support resorts in their snow-making efforts.

Western Slope locals in Colorado were stoked to hear the announcement this morning from Aspen Mountain and Snowmass about their opening dates moving up by five days, for a scheduled early opening of Saturday, Nov. 19. Their announcement cited recent storm cycles bringing in over three feet of snow and preferred snowmaking conditions, causing the early opening to be possible.

Utah skiers are likely celebrating today with some huge snow totals at their mountains. According to OpenSnow, Brian Head saw a storm total of 25”, Park City 32” and Alta, with a buried snow stake, also had 32” come through. It’s looking like their precipitation has subsided for the week, but overall, the average snow across the state is at 433% of normal for what they have this time of year.

Red Lodge Mountain resort in Montana also announced an early opening date of Nov. 25 this week after gaining about 7” in the last 5 days from the same storm. Snowbird, Utah is another one which will now be opening on Nov. 30, about two weeks ahead of schedule.

In a nutshell, the Friday Freshies report for this week did not disappoint. We’ll be keeping an eye out to see if any more resorts join in on the early opening bandwagon between now and Thanksgiving. In the meantime, if you make it out to the slopes be sure to tag us in your photos on Instagram or Facebook with #ToTheMountains for a chance to be featured in our upcoming Friday Freshies, plus if you’re out there enjoying the snow anyways, we’d love to see pics. Go get that pow!