Las Vegas, Nev., Oct. 6, 2009-The Las Vegas Ski & Snowboard Resort, located only 45 minutes from the Las Vegas Strip, is opening for the "winter" season on limited terrain at noon on Oct. 7. This makes the resort the second in the U.S. to open for the season, after Loveland, Colo.

Unseasonably cold nighttime temperatures and aggressive snowmaking efforts have enabled LVSSR to open Chair Three, Rabbit Peak, the only lift and trail scheduled to open. The lift accesses beginner terrain only.

"Since we're so close to an urban center, we have many young skiers and snowboarders who love to jib on our freestyle terrain features, and we expect many families to take advantage of this great opportunity to learn the sport and have fun so early in the season," said Craig Baldwin, base operations manager. "We are extremely excited to open over seven weeks early, a record early opening by far. Kudos to our snowmaking crew for making this possible, they deserve a ton of credit!"

LVSSR will operate Wednesday through Sunday this week, then open weekends only until conditions allow additional terrain to open. Lift ticket prices are reduced to $20. Base area services will include equipment rental, instruction, BBQ and bar.

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