The October Race
Keystone opened first last year, on 25 October, and Arapahoe Basin followed the next day. The pair have a habit of launching North America's season, with Wolf Creek occasionally claiming the honour. None of them has set a date this time. Arapahoe Basin, Keystone, Loveland and Winter Park all list opening day as "as soon as possible", and the projections you will see online are estimates, not announcements. Those range from about 9 to 24 October for Arapahoe Basin and about 31 October for Keystone. Loveland's own website lists a five-year average opening day of 5 November.
Keystone says upgraded snowmaking could pull its opening forward by up to three weeks under ideal conditions. Opening depends on enough cold nights to build snow on the opening run, and a few warm afternoons can undo that.
November Fills the Calendar
Breckenridge and Copper are both advertising Friday 6 November. Vail Resorts has Vail Mountain on 13 November and Beaver Creek and Crested Butte on 25 November. Steamboat is holding an opening day event on Saturday 21 November, with the first 100 people on the mountain getting a limited edition t-shirt. Telluride is targeting Thursday 26 November, which is US Thanksgiving Day, and says its dates are subject to change with weather and unforeseen circumstances.
Aspen Snowmass opens in two stages. Aspen Mountain and Snowmass start on 26 November, then Aspen Highlands and Buttermilk follow on 12 December.
The Smaller Areas and the Late Starters
Purgatory and Powderhorn are listed for 20 November, Granby Ranch for 25 November and Howelsen Hill in Steamboat Springs for 28 November. Ski Cooper is pencilled in for 9 December, Sunlight Mountain for 12 December and Silverton for 31 December. Eldora and Monarch have not announced dates. Eldora typically opens in mid-November and Monarch in mid to late November.
Hesperus, in the south-west, did not open at all in 2025-26.
Why Everyone Is Hedging
Colorado's snowpack hit record lows in many places last winter, and the summer that followed was dry. A super El Niño is forecast for this winter, and optimism is running high, but the state climatologist is cautious. He says Colorado sits near the middle of El Niño's usual influence, with a slightly higher chance of a wet winter rather than a confident one. The strongest signal is in the south. OpenSnow expects above-normal snowfall in southern and eastern Colorado, including the San Juan Mountains and areas near or east of the Continental Divide such as Telluride, Silverton, Purgatory, Wolf Creek, Eldora, Winter Park and Loveland.
Experts quoted by Colorado Public Radio say this winter will very likely beat the last one, though that is a low bar. The state's snowpack picture should become clearer from November.
