SAM Magazine—Dillon, Colo., Oct. 27, 2023—Arapahoe Basin announced it will open for the season on Sunday, Oct. 29 at 8:30 a.m. It will run the Black Mountain Express to provide access to the High Noon trail. Opening day will feature complimentary duct tape and donuts for the first guests in line, a Halloween band, and a costume contest with prizes. 

In his blog, general manager Alan Henceroth stated, “To get open takes an extraordinary amount of work and coordination by all departments and the entire staff, in particular, the snowmakers, the cat drivers, the ski patrol, lift operations and lift maintenance have to shift gears on very short notice and capitalize on ever changing weather conditions to get the mountain open, they didn't miss a beat this month.”

A-Basin's winter season begins about one month after it closed its summer operations on Sept. 24. Snowmaking crews performed a test run of the system the previous day, and snowmaking continued intermittently the following weeks as temperatures allowed. The resort has received a few inches of natural snow since late September.

A-Basin’s opening is a little behind the past two seasons, as the resort began operations on Oct. 23, 2022, and Oct. 17, 2021.

Earlier this month, the resort said it is now operating with 100 percent renewable electricity.

In recent years, many resorts have leveraged opening day announcements for publicity, and this season is no different. A key distinction is whether resorts are open for seven days of operation, or limited operation.

On Oct. 22, Massachusetts’ Ski Ward created a media buzz when it opened for limited operations thanks to its new Latitude 90 all-weather snowmaking system. The area was able to open a portion of a run serviced by a conveyor lift, with $5 lift tickets, as part of its Fall Festival.  Ski Ward will host a rail jam Oct. 28. There's no word on when it will open seven days a week. 

On Oct. 8, Wisconsin’s Trollhaugen hosted a one-day rail jam on snow it preserved under a tarp since last season. Trollhaugen posted a photo of natural snow on social media this week, but has not said when it will open for full operations.