DENVER — Arapahoe Basin became the nation's first ski area to open for the season Friday, offering man-made snow on a single run and its terrain park in winning the public relations battle to be No. 1.
"The snow is basically beautiful. There's no bald spots anywhere, which actually really surprised us," said Chris Salturelli, a skier from Denver who was doubly anxious to hit the slopes because he lost last season to a blown knee.
Snowboarder Andrew Lawrence, who moved to Denver from the East Coast this year, added: "It is wonderful to get such an early start on the season."
It was the first time in seven years that Loveland, Arapahoe Basin's neighbor along the Continental Divide 70 miles west of Denver, wasn't the first area to open for continuous operation.
"We have wanted this title for a very long time and we're excited to see it finally come to fruition," said Alan Henceroth, the general manager at A-Basin. "Our entire team has put in tremendous effort to make this happen, and they can all be proud."
For $43 for an adult lift ticket, snowriders were offered the High Noon Run, which has 1,200 vertical feet and access to the terrain park favored by snowboarders. The area warned of early season conditions and a base of just 18 inches.
"This has been a race up until the very last hour," said Rob Perlman, president of Colorado Ski Country USA, the industry's trade group in the nation's most-visited ski state. The new season was eagerly awaited after Colorado set a record last year with 12.53 million skier visits.
A-Basin, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary, only entered the race to be the first to open in 2002, when it added snowmaking. Last year it lost to Loveland by one day.
Loveland planned to open on Saturday.
"Our snowmaking efforts were wonderful overnight and we were able to get the base that we required to open," spokeswoman Kathryn Johnson said.
She said one top-to-bottom run of 1,000 vertical feet with an 18- to 21-inch base, will be open, along with a small terrain park.
Copper Mountain has been making snow and will be the first major Colorado resort to open, scheduled for Nov. 3. Mammoth Mountain in California is scheduled to open Nov. 9. Hilary Reiter, spokeswoman for Ski Utah, said the first resort scheduled to open is Alta, on Nov. 16.
In Vermont, the Killington resort won't begin making snow for 10 days to two weeks, spokesman Tom Horrocks said.
"Our goal is to open early November with a top-to-bottom ski and snow product for our guests. We are still waiting for that weather window to grace us so we can make snow consistently." He said the Colorado openings have everyone excited.
Bretton Woods, N.H., will begin making snow next week, and also hopes to open in the first week of November.