Telluride postpones opening due to meager snow; other areas limits acreage

Six more Colorado ski areas will open this week with limited terrain, but one is postponing its opening by a week or two “due to recent and forecasted warm weather.”

Telluride Ski Resort, which had been scheduled to open on Thanksgiving, is now looking at Dec. 2 or Dec. 8, according to a post on its Instagram page.

Steamboat, Beaver Creek and Crested Butte are slated to open Wednesday. Aspen Mountain and Snowmass will open on Thursday, and Powderhorn will open on Friday. That will bring the number of open areas in Colorado to 16.

Aspen Snowmass announced on Tuesday that it will open 41 acres on the upper slopes of Aspen Mountain and 16 acres in Elk Camp Meadows at Snowmass.

Most of the areas currently operating have had meager natural snowfall that is 20% to 50% below normal, and less than 6% of the trails are open at those areas. Steamboat officials said the resort will open Wednesday with 25 acres, which would amount to about 3% of its skiable terrain when fully open. Steamboat is at 52% below normal for snowfall.

“We’re eager to kick off another incredible season at Steamboat and applaud our operations teams in their efforts to get the resort open,” said Dave Hunter, vice president of resort operations, in a news release. “This preseason has been dryer than usual, but we’ve maximized snowmaking opportunities and will continue to take advantage of cold temperatures and natural snow to open more terrain. We can’t wait to see what this winter has in store for us.”