Saturday, October 17, 2015

Loveland, Keystone ski areas start snowmaking

#Summit County, Colorado.

Bill Linfield / Special to the Daily

Summit Daily News Link

Loveland Ski Area and Keystone Resort have turned on their snow guns for the 2015-16 winter season.
Loveland made snow for eight hours late Thursday, Oct. 15, and Friday morning.
“It has been a long couple weeks waiting for the temperatures to cooperate,” said Rob Goodell, director of business operations. “Our crew has been on standby monitoring the weather waiting for the right time to get started and was ready to kick things off last night when the cold temperatures arrived.”
Last year, Loveland opened on Nov. 1, losing its race to open with friendly rival Arapahoe Basin Ski Area, which opened Oct. 17 in 2014.
Keystone Resort also started snowmaking ahead of the ski area’s opening day scheduled for Nov. 6.
At Copper Mountain Resort, employees are making snow as temperatures allow on the Andy’s Encore and Copperopolis runs down to Solitude Station, the mid-mountain lodge just below the top of the American Eagle chairlift. Copper also plans to open Nov. 6.
Locals anxious for the season to change shouldn’t worry as winter typically arrives in Summit by November, said state climatologist Nolan Doesken, who noted residents might want to enjoy autumn a little longer.
The latest the snow has flown was in February in the 1976-77 winter and in March in 1980-81, he said.
Courtesy of the Summit Daily News.