Lots of new snow since yesterday! Double digit highlights: Vail, Aspen, Buttermilk, Crested Butte, Steamboat, Wolf Creek.

Denver International Airport (DIA)

This central hub is the easiest to fly into from across the country (even the world) and within a two hour drive you can arrive at:

• Echo Mountain
• Eldora Mountain Resort
• Loveland Ski Area
• Winter Park Resort
• Arapahoe Basin
• Copper Mountain
• SolVista Basin

Regional Airports

From DIA it’s actually possible to connect to regional airports serving the following locales on the western slope:

• Gunnison (Crested Butte)
• Aspen
• Telluride
• Durango (Durango, Wolf Creek, Silverton)
• Steamboat
• Montrose
• Grand Junction (Powderhorn)

In addition to Aspen and Eagle…

Aspen/Snowmass

American Airlines has announced new daily non-stop flights from both Dallas/Fort Worth and Los Angeles for the winter season beginning December 15, 2011.

Frontier will continue to offer four daily flights to Aspen/Snowmass from their Denver hub for a total of up to 30 daily flights in and out of Aspen/Snowmass on three airlines.

More details can be found at flyaspensnowmass.com.

Vail/Eagle County Airport

The Vail/Eagle County Airport serves the following:

• Vail
• Beaver Creek
• Ski Cooper

More details can be found at snow.com.

Once you get to Colorado you need to get to the resort. While there are plenty of shuttle services at DIA and Eagle, I’ve learned that Colorado Mountain Express (CME) is one of the more prominent services in the area. Learn more at coloradomountainexpress.com.

THANKSGIVING OPENINGS: Beaver Creek, Steamboat, Crested Butte (Weds, 11/23), Telluride (Thurs, 11/24), Purgatory (11/25)

Forbes has put together a great photo gallery describing some of the best resorts for families. Of course, Colorado dominates the list with five well known spots:

• Beaver Creek: escalators, kids teaching area, and most importantly warm cookies
• Crested Butte: single base area means less lost kids, reasonably priced
• Aspen/Snowmass: no greens but Buttermilk is good for learning, four mountains on one ticket
• Steamboat: invented the kids ski free program, great family dining options
• Vail: excellent ski school, Adventure Ridge, ice skating and “Kids Fly Free” into Eagle

Be sure to check out the full gallery.

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Hot off the presses, here’s Colorado’s newest ski pass:

Three of Colorado’s most historic and celebrated ski towns have joined forces to unveil the new Colorado Triple Play featuring an unprecedented two days of skiing and riding at Aspen/Snowmass, Steamboat and Winter Park Resort during the 2011/2012 winter season.

You read that right. For $299 you get 6 days of skiing at world class resorts (2 days each). For those of you playing at home, that works out to $50 per day.

Sales will start today at the Colorado Ski and Snowboard Expo, online at ColoradoTriplePlay.com, and at some local Christy Sports Stores — all while supplies last.

As a quick reminder, the opening dates are posted:

• Winter Park: opens November 16, 2011
• Steamboat: open November 23, 2011
• Aspen Snowmass: opens November 24, 2011

cosnow’s take

As a local who has already bought one of the “big name” passes, this seems to be too-little-too-late for folks who already made a decision about where they want to ski this season. With the economy how it is, sure, this could be a great addition to the days already planned, but I’m likely not going to drop another 300 bucks this season.

Since each of these resorts are a little further off the typical I-70 corridor, it’s also a bit harder to get to and stay. My guess is the plan is to have folks do a long weekend at each: stay a night, eat at the restaurants, etc. It makes for a spendy trip if you’re not willing to do the day drives up and back from Denver. Though, $50 to ski at Aspen is unreal.

Hopefully this sticks around next season, I’m interested to see how it does.

If you didn’t get last weekend’s Sunday Post then you’re in luck: the Denver Post has published it’s 2011 ski guide. It’s a nice overview of most of the CSCUSA spots across the state with pass pricing, location, lifts, and other vitals. If you’re looking to bone up and learn more about Colorado’s gems, check out the guide.

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Any changes (early opens! fingers crossed) will be posted here and on the events calendar.

Updates

If you aren’t already, be sure to get on the mailing list and follow cosnow on Twitter and Facebook to get the latest updates this season:

Follow @cosnow

Openings by Resort (Alphabetical)

Openings by Date

Sources:

• Vail resorts
• Colorado Ski Country

Posted from Denver, Colorado, United States.

Amongst the top resorts ranked by SKI Magazine are most of our Colorado favorites: Vail (#2), Snowmass (#4), Beaver Creek (#7), Steamboat (#8), Breckenridge (#9), Telluride (#10), Aspen (#11), Winter Park (#14), Crested Butte (#15), and Copper Mountain (#18). Photo credit: Jeff Cricco

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If you haven’t yet, upgrade your Rocky Mountain Super Pass or Winter Park/Mary Jane and Copper Mountain season passes before September 5, 2011. After that prices may go up. The Super Pass is a great deal at $409 for unrestricted skiing at Winter Park and Copper.

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Do you have a skiing or snowboarding problem? Do you always take “just one more” run? If you answered “yes” to either of these, it may be time for a Wintervention. Narrated by skiing icon Jonny Moseley, Warren Miller’s Wintervention is the definitive solution for the snow-obsessed. Wintervention takes riders like Chris Davenport, Jonny Moseley and Lindsey Vonn on a global tour of Alaska, Norway, Canada, Antarctica and beyond… delivering a successful Wintervention for all of us in need. Warren Miller films attract a cult-like following and mark the official start of winter for sports enthusiasts everywhere. Warren Miller premieres are an experience, a party and a phenomenon not to be missed.

John Morrison, Andrew McLean, and Kip Garre make their way up in Antarctica.

If you’re in Denver, you don’t want to miss the premiere at the Paramount Theatre next week (Wednesday, November 17th through Sunday the 21st). Ticket holders receive all kinds of goodies including:

• Buy one get one free ticket to Crested Butte
• Buy one get one free ticket to Steamboat
• Buy one get one free ticket to Winter Park/Mary Jane
• A coupon for $25 off a $100 purchase at Colorado Ski and Golf

And if you’re closer to Boulder, you can catch the documentary up at the Boulder Theatre starting tomorrow, Sunday November 14th.

Learn more about Warren Miller

• Follow Warren Miller Entertainment on Twitter
• Like Warren Miller on Facebook
• Photos from Wintervention
• Some clips and videos from Wintervention

Loveland and A-Basin are fierce rivals in this yearly ritual, despite being considerably smaller than neighboring ski areas on the I-70 corridor or in bordering states. Other occasional entrants include Maine’s Sunday River — often the first East Coast area to open. Read More

Most locals are not surprised with Loveland opening first. Since 1999, it has opened first nine times versus A-Basin’s two (they tied in 2008).

Colorado ski and snowboard resort opening days

This year is looking fairly average with white stuff only appearing just weeks ago. That said, we have a bunch of opening dates here for you to help plan your season start:

• Arapahoe Basin – October 25, 2010
• Aspen Highlands – December 11
• Aspen Mountain – November 25
• Beaver Creek – November 24
• Breckenridge – November 12
• Buttermilk – December 11
• Copper – November 5
• Crested Butte – November 24
• Echo Mountain – December 1
• Eldora – November TBD
• Howelsen – December TBD
• Keystone – November 5
• Loveland – October 24, 2010
• Monarch – November 24
• Powderhorn – December 16
• Purgatory – November 25
• Ski Cooper – December 17
• Snowmass – November 25
• SolVista – December 15
• Steamboat – November 24
• Sunlight – December 3
• Telluride – November 25
• Vail – November 19
• Winter Park – November 17
• Wolf Creek – November 5

Learn more at Colorado Ski Country and Vail Resorts.

UPDATE: awesome! CSCUSA has posted the 2009 season dates to their resort pages. Note that the cosnow listing includes non-member resorts (Vail, Keystone, Breckenridge, Beaver Creek).

Here you have it, the comprehensive list of scheduled opening days for ski and snowboard resorts in Colorado by date.

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

• Loveland

Friday, October 9, 2009

• Arapahoe Basin

Saturday, October 31, 2009

• Wolf Creek

Thursday, November 5, 2009

• Keystone

Friday, November 6, 2009

• Copper

Thursday, November 12, 2009

• Breckenridge

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

• Winter Park

Friday, November 20, 2009

• Eldora
• Vail

Saturday, November 21, 2009

• Echo Mountain

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

• Monarch
• Beaver Creek
• Crested Butte
• Steamboat

Thursday, November 26, 2009

• Telluride
• Aspen Snowmass
• Ski Cooper

Friday, November 27, 2009

• Purgatory

Friday, December 4, 2009

• Sunlight

Saturday, December 5, 2009

• Silverton

Saturday, December 12, 2009

• Aspen Highlands
• Buttermilk

Thursday, December 17, 2009

• Powderhorn

As always, you can find these dates listed on the CoSnow events calendar. Just search for “opening day”.