Around 8 a.m. on Thursday, Oct. 15, Arapahoe Basin's vice president of mountain operations, Louis Skowyra, drove a lifted pickup up the ski area's rough service roads with snowmaking manager Blair James beside him. According to Summit Daily's account of the morning, Skowyra held a plastic Pepsi cup of coffee steady the whole way up. The two parked near Black Mountain Express and walked from gun to gun.
There were not many guns to check. A-Basin communications manager Shayna Silverman told Summit Daily the ski area has about 20 snowguns and about five snowmakers. Nearby Keystone announced more than 600 guns in its own press release the same week. One team has about 30 times the equipment of the other, but the two have been trading the title of Colorado's first open ski area for years. The reason has little to do with gun count. Each resort opens on one narrow strip of snow, so the race goes to whichever crew makes the most of the cold nights it gets.
The Scoreboard Since 2022
Recent seasons show how close the race usually is.
| Season | First Summit County opening | Date | What happened |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022-23 | Arapahoe Basin | Sunday, Oct. 23, 2022 | First ski area in Colorado to open |
| 2023-24 | Arapahoe Basin | Sunday, Oct. 29, 2023 | First in Colorado, High Noon the only trail open |
| 2024-25 | A-Basin and Keystone | Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024 | Same day, Black Mountain Express loading at 8:12 a.m. and Keystone opening at 9 a.m. Wolf Creek had already opened Oct. 22. |
| 2025-26 | Keystone | Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025 | Afternoon opening from 3 to 6 p.m. A-Basin opened the next morning. |
Those results come from reporting by The Denver Gazette for 2022 and by Summit Daily for 2023 and 2025. In 2024 the margin came down to 48 minutes on the same Saturday morning, as Summit Daily reported. Last season Keystone won by opening for three hours on a Saturday afternoon, and A-Basin opened lifts at 8:30 the next morning.
Each Resort Only Has to Cover One Run
The scoreboard stays close because neither resort tries to open much terrain on the first day.
A-Basin opens High Noon, a blue run served by Black Mountain Express, and adds terrain as snowmaking allows. That has been the pattern for years. When A-Basin opened in October 2023, High Noon was the only trail. In its opening-day announcement that year, the resort said High Noon is for intermediate skiers and above. A crew of about five can concentrate 20 guns on that one run.
Keystone's opening route is bigger. Last season it opened more than two miles on Schoolmarm and Silver Spoon, reached by the River Run Gondola and Montezuma Express. Even so, Summit Daily reported that Keystone skips the bottom of the mountain early on and opens from the top to mid-mountain so it can start sooner. Keystone has a much larger fleet and a much longer opening route, so its extra guns do not give it a clear head start.
Those nights are hard to count on. James told Summit Daily that A-Basin waits for a startup temperature of about 26.5 degrees Fahrenheit. Humidity is the other factor. On the morning of Oct. 15, relative humidity at A-Basin was 89 percent, and he explained that wet air limits how much water a gun can turn into snow. The Denver Post reported that temperatures generally have to stay between 10 and 27 degrees for snowmaking. Both resorts are waiting on the same weather. Warm nights stop the guns, and humid nights cut how much snow they make.
Following This Year's Race Night by Night
The 2026-27 race started on Wednesday night, Oct. 14. A storm dusted the county, and Loveland, Keystone, Copper Mountain and A-Basin all started their snowguns. Breckenridge followed on Friday morning. Silverman told Summit Daily that mid-October is usually when snowmaking conditions first line up. "We're right on track," she said.
The best public source on A-Basin's progress is Al's Blog, written by the ski area's president and chief operating officer, Alan Henceroth. His first three posts this season covered the opening stretch:
- Oct. 15. A 23-degree wet bulb let crews make snow on the upper two-thirds of High Noon, and Henceroth called the outlook "bright."
- Oct. 16. He reported more than 36 hours of snowmaking on High Noon and a wet bulb of 15 degrees.
- Oct. 17. Crews had made snow for about 52 of the previous 60 hours.
The Oct. 17 post also covered what comes next:
"We took major steps towards getting High Noon open. I don't see a whole lot of snowmaking weather in the forecast the next few days. As the coming week progresses, it looks like another disturbance with cooler weather is brewing."
That was a forecast, and A-Basin had not announced an opening date. Its homepage still said it would open for winter "ASAP."
Keystone's homepage gave the same answer: "Opening Day, ASAP!" Communications manager Jacob Marquardt told Summit Daily that "The timeline to open is as soon as possible" and that Keystone did not have an official opening date. Keystone was selling lift tickets for Saturday, Oct. 24, but that was the first date on the ticket calendar, not an announced opening. The resort said October tickets can be exchanged for an opening-day ticket. Last season Keystone started making snow on Oct. 13 and opened about two weeks later, according to The Denver Post. This year the guns started one day later in the calendar.
By the time you read this, either resort may have announced an opening date. The cooler weather Henceroth mentioned for the week of Oct. 19 is the window to watch.
Why Snowmaking Mattered More This Fall
Last winter makes this year's early snowmaking more important. Summit Daily reported that snow melted faster than normal last season. In the same report, Copper Mountain president and general manager Dustin Lyman said Summit County residents were "already sick of talking about what a terrible winter there was last year."
Keystone vice president and general manager Shannon Buhler told Summit Daily that warm temperatures made snowmaking difficult last season while the resort was trying to open terrain as fast as it could. The resorts have spent the off-season on snowmaking. Lyman described "massive investments into the Copper snowmaking system," including replacing pipe laid 20 to 30 years ago, adding high-efficiency guns and extending the network onto new trails. Henceroth said A-Basin is working through approvals for four projects, including new parking and remote avalanche control.
Nov. 6 Is the County's Second Opening Day
After Keystone and A-Basin, the county has a fixed date. Vail Resorts' 2026-27 announcement lists Breckenridge for Nov. 6 and says dates can change with conditions. Copper Mountain announced the same date on Sept. 8, and Summit Daily reported it the same day.
Each resort has something new when it opens:
- Copper Mountain. The events calendar lists an opening celebration on Friday, Nov. 6, and Snowsation on Saturday, Nov. 7, with music and games. Copper is also testing a light on American Flyer that flashes when the safety bar is up. Lyman said it is the first step toward AI detection of unseated riders, and "We're not there yet."
- Breckenridge. Two remote Wyssen avalanche-control towers now stand in Peak 7 Bowl. Summit Daily reported they are the first at a Summit County ski resort. The resort's new "Kingdom of Breck" campaign comes with pop-up music, new food and drink, and Dec. 16 as Founders Day. More events will be announced closer to the season.
- Keystone. The River Run Gondola plaza has been redesigned with an underground system that melts snow and ice. The ski and ride school has moved to Kindred Resort, which opened to the public in May. Buhler said, "We now are right at the base of the resort, which is awesome."
A Summit Daily roundup on Oct. 13 found no new lifts or new ski terrain at the four Summit County resorts this season. The changes are in snowmaking, safety and base areas.
Opening Day Traditions
Opening day at A-Basin is usually a party. Past coverage describes people camping in the parking lot for first chair, cooking breakfast in the lot and tailgating at the base-area "beach." In 2023 there were costumes, donuts, music and a costume contest. That year, Denver resident Kevin McMichael told Summit Daily the day was "like a beach day." His friend Anders Olson answered, "But opening day instead." Keystone's 2025 opening had a DJ, a hike-to terrain park, beer and hot dogs, and free donuts and coffee on the first full day.
The towns are changing over for winter too. Frisco scheduled the removal of its Main Street parklets for Tuesday, Oct. 20, with Main closed between 2nd and 5th avenues from 6 a.m. to noon. Nordstrom Rack opened Oct. 1 at Dillon Ridge Marketplace, 318 Dillon Ridge Road. The McDonald's at 960 North Drive in Frisco started serving customers the week of Sept. 1 and is Summit County's first fast-food restaurant open 24 hours.
Between the first lift at Keystone or A-Basin and Nov. 6, the best guide to opening day is the overnight temperature forecast for the Continental Divide.
If you own a Summit County home that you rent out for part of the winter, now is the time to set up showings, turnovers and maintenance for the first ski weekends. TR Real Estate handles property management and works with mountain owners on scheduling and vendors. Let's Connect before the lifts start.
