Opening Dates, '18-'19

[LKillick]

Portland for either. 1.5hrs to Sunday River vs 2.5 to Sugarloaf. I actually thought SL was further... hmm... will do some more reading!

I have two research papers due this week. One is complete. The other is making me drink wine (not quite this early in the day, just yet) and plan ski trips.

Edited to add: maybe we should check out both...

 

[marzNC]

Mount Snow in Vermont is making news this week. Opening Day is this Saturday, Oct. 27, 2018. Apparently the earliest opening in the history of the ski resort. The delays of the expansion of the snowmaking infrastructure ran into years. Total investment was on the order of $30 million.

Didn't know that in the 1980s, Killington and Mount Snow had the same ownership. Powdr didn't come into the picture for Killington until 2007.

 

[marzNC]

A surprise in the Tahoe area last weekend. Mt. Rose opened up for passholders on Oct. 19, and then had a few trails open for the weekend. The projected opening day had been Oct. 26. Free publicity for the $2 million spent on improvements, including 15 tower snow guns was probably worth the effort.

Mt. Rose has earliest opening day in its history

 

[marzNC]

There is a new webpage for opening dates for Ikon locations. I like that it's arranged by date, together with a section for NOW OPEN (Killington, Sunday River) and TBA. There is no distinction made between Alterra and partner destinations. As of late Oct, at the TBA list includes Crystal, Sugarloaf, Loon, and Niseko.

https://www.ikonpass.com/en/opening-dates

 

[CarverJill]

I'll be in Vail about 2 weeks after opening. I had something else I needed to be there for an tacked on 2 extra days to ski. Fingers crossed there is more than one trail open. I'll be on the slopes Tues and Wed so even if the options are minimal it shouldn't be too busy.

 

[SuperSkiMom]

A lot of opening dates here.

Pico Mountain just posted this on Facebook. They normally open up on a Friday, so we will see.

Anticipated Opening Day is Saturday, December 15, 2018! https://www.picomountain.com/

 

[Gratefulgal]

Mount Snow opened this past weekend though we had limited trails on the North Face only. They worked hard the days before to get a nice base. It's been warmer the last couple days tho so not sure if we will be open this weekend or not. Jury is out on that.

 

[marzNC]

Opening dates are changing to be earlier in Colorado after the recent snowstorms. Aspen Mountain opening on 11/17 and Snowmass opening on 11/22.

 

[marzNC]

Looks like the pre-announced opening dates are holding out west this season. Definitely going to be a lot more open terrain than a year ago.

Not going to check every place that have been mentioned but here are a few that are definite as of Nov. 12. My sense is that ski resorts are on track in Utah and Colorado for those that announced dates already.

Big Sky: November 22, 2018
Sun Valley: November 22, 2018
Grand Targhee: November 16, 2018
Jackson Hole: November 24, 2018

 

[marzNC]

Taking the opposite approach to thinking about opening dates. Here are some ski resorts in the west that will not open until the first week of December. Other resorts near these locations will be open by Thanksgiving weekend.

Solitude, UT
Deer Valley, UT
Whitefish, MT
Bridger, MT

For the mid-Atlantic and southern New England, opening dates are usually around mid-December. The places below are opening earlier. Weather permitting of course. Especially for Plattekill and BEast since they depend a lot on natural snow coverage.

Plattekill, NY
Berkshire East, MA
Camelback, PA

There will be plenty of skiing available in the northern midwest states by Thanksgiving weekend. Quite a few places are opening by Nov. 17. Plenty cold enough for snowmaking this week.

I tend to look at opening dates on OnTheSnow, even though they are not always completely up to date if the early season weather situation keep changing. They redid their website for 2018-19. Have separate lists for Epic, Ikon, and the MCP in addition to regions and states with a lot of snowsports.

 

[Jilly]

Tremblant has been pumping out the snow. Should be open top to bottom on the south side for November 22nd!!

I don't see the rope or chairs yet on the new Lowell Thomas chair. And there are still a lot of truck working on the Grand Manitou. So Nansen will not be open as they are using it as a road to get up top.

But natural snow is in the forecast this week. So they better get there act together.

 

[SuperSkiMom]

Gore, Whiteface and Belleayre are opening November 23rd.

https://www.adirondackdailyenterpri...8/11/whiteface-gore-belleayre-to-open-nov-23/

 

[MaineSkiLady]

Sugarloaf opens on Friday, Nov 16. They have received 15" of mother nature in last 7 days, more on the way, and 180 guns are firing. Should be a good start this year.

 

[MaineSkiLady]

You thinking of flying into Boston? For Sugarloaf, would fly into Portland I think. All this thinking just goes to show what happens when someone has a multi-resort pass.

Fly to Portland for either Sunday River or Sugarloaf.

 

[SuperSkiMom]

Sugarloaf opens on Friday, Nov 16. They have received 15" of mother nature in last 7 days, more on the way, and 180 guns are firing. Should be a good start this year.

And the weather is looking fantastic!! If we could swing it we would go to the Loaf!! Thanksgiving weekend at K-ton will be packed for the FIS World Cup, but we will be there. It is inspiring to see the racers come down Superstar. Last year we saw Mikaela's winning run, and it was super exciting.

 

[tinymoose]

Sugarloaf opens on Friday, Nov 16. They have received 15" of mother nature in last 7 days, more on the way, and 180 guns are firing. Should be a good start this year.

I love Sugarloaf. Such a great mountain with such a great variety of terrain.

 

[tinymoose]

Taking the opposite approach to thinking about opening dates. Here are some ski resorts in the west that will not open until the first week of December. Other resorts near these locations will be open by Thanksgiving weekend.

Solitude, UT
Deer Valley, UT
Whitefish, MT
Bridger, MT

For the mid-Atlantic and southern New England, opening dates are usually around mid-December. The places below are opening earlier. Weather permitting of course. Especially for Plattekill and BEast since they depend a lot on natural snow coverage.

Plattekill, NY
Berkshire East, MA
Camelback, PA

There will be plenty of skiing available in the northern midwest states by Thanksgiving weekend. Quite a few places are opening by Nov. 17. Plenty cold enough for snowmaking this week.

I tend to look at opening dates on OnTheSnow, even though they are not always completely up to date if the early season weather situation keep changing. They redid their website for 2018-19. Have separate lists for Epic, Ikon, and the MCP in addition to regions and states with a lot of snowsports.

Big Boulder in PA too. They'll open Friday evening if it means that's what they need to do to one up Camelback. lol

 

[marzNC]

Big Boulder in PA too. They'll open Friday evening if it means that's what they need to do to one up Camelback. lol

That's what Sugar Mountain and Cataloochee in NC just did last week. Not sure exactly who pays attention to whom, but they usually open the same day. Had just enough snowmaking to have a two beginner trails open for a day at Cat. Sugar probably had one top-to-bottom run. Sugar stayed open Monday too but the rain kept people away. But they both got free media coverage.

 

[marzNC]

Sugarbush opening for season pass holders on Fri, Nov. 16 and then the public on Nov. 17.

"It’s official, thanks to the incredible efforts of our snowmakers and over a foot of snow from Mother Nature, we’ll be opening a day early for Passholder Appreciation Day this Friday, November 16th. We’ll then open for everyone else on Saturday, November 17th. Last year our newer Valley House Lift along with really good early snowmaking temperatures allowed us to open Snowball and Spring Fling providing a much better opening day experience than our traditional higher summit trails and we’re excited to repeat that this year. Because we’ll be making snow through Thursday, on Friday we’ll open an ungroomed Snowball and Spring Fling with the plan to groom that terrain Friday night. Depending on conditions, there’s the potential for additional terrain off of Super Bravo and Heaven’s Gate on Saturday as well.

Over at Mt. Ellen, we’ve been focusing initially on Inverness, which will allow the Green Mountain Valley School to get training as soon as they return from Thanksgiving. Because Inverness is 25 acres it does take at least 5 days of really good temperatures to get it in shape for race training. After we finish on Inverness, we will focus on other trails so that we are in great shape for opening Mt. Ellen later in December."

 

[liquidfeet]

Bretton Woods is opening tomorrow, Friday Nov. 16, at noon. Two trails, basically. Friday it's free if you bring canned goods.