![Ski lifts on a snow-covered mountain.](https://www.cpr.org/cdn-cgi/image/width=3840,quality=75,format=auto/https://wp-cpr.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2019/05/img_2992.jpg)
Much of the state has forecast highs in the 80s and 90s this week, but Vail Resorts is already looking toward winter and on Wednesday announced its opening days.
- Keystone is expected to open mid-October, with weather to determine the exact day
- Breckenridge is scheduled for Nov. 8
- Vail Mountain is expected to open Nov. 15
- Beaver Creek and Crested Butte are scheduled to open on Nov. 27
Vail Resorts paired the update with an announcement that its Epic Pass, which gives skiers and boarders seasonal discounts on admission to its resorts, will increase in price after Sept. 2. The company says that this coming season, none of its resorts will require reservations for Epic passholders, except for Telluride.
If Keystone’s mid-October opening holds true, it would be much earlier than its Nov. 1 opening in 2023. The resort is often the first to open its slopes in Colorado — and frequently the first in all of North America — but Arapahoe Basin beat it by several days last year.
The 2023/2024 ski season started off slow, with poor snow conditions, but late winter storms helped out the ski industry, increasing visitors at resorts across the state.
- Colorado’s oldest operational ski lift will stop spinning after this winter season at Sunlight
- Vail Resorts struggling as lift ticket sales fall, visits down
- Parent company Alterra announces Steamboat Ski Resort is getting a new boss
- Waivers signed at ski areas don’t always shield them from liability, Colorado Supreme Court rules
- Is it time to ban trailer trucks during ski traffic rush hours on I-70?