The unfathomable stupidity of humanity is boundless. In today’s very obvious PSA, please don’t drive up the slopes of an active ski resort. I-70 Things shared videos of someone doing just that at Winter Park. Who needs lift lines when you can drive yourself?

Dylan Turner captured one of the videos shared by I-70 Things. According to Turner, the driver appeared to be in a rental vehicle (can’t say I’m surprised by that). The woman in the video had no ski gear, just a sweet fur coat. A Winter Park employee immediately intervened when she exited the vehicle. It is unknown at this time if she received any fines or citations for this action.

Check out the two videos shared by I-70 Things in the post below:

Photos and Videos Courtesy of I-70 Things and Dylan Turner

Breckenridge Ski Resort opened for the season this past Friday (11/10). With the launch of their opening day, Breck offered immediate access to the brand new FIVE SuperChair. I headed to Breck for opening weekend, and I can confirm that the new lift is solidly running as planned!

The FIVE SuperChair is a high-speed quad which replaced the unbelievably old 5 Chair double. This new lift closely follows the original towers, though the new towers are to the side of the alpine slide instead of directly over it. This new lift doesn’t access any new terrain and strictly serves as a capacity improvement.

Having used the original 5 Chair, I would say this new lift is a huge improvement for the resort. The FIVE SuperChair now allow’s Breck to boast that all of the Peak 8 base area lifts are at least high-speed quads. Breck anticipates this improvement (along with last year’s opening of the new Rip’s Ride) to allow for quicker egress out of the base area and shorter lines.

An immediately evident improvement was the ride time. The previous ride time was over 7 minutes, and the new ride time is just over 3. I would anticipate this ride time improvement to actually be greater during peak season due to reduced stopping. The previous lift had the typical swing of a fixed grip, and this swing paired with the tight two-person fit caused a lot of beginners to completely biff loading the lift. This lift used to stop all the time, and hopefully that will be less of an issue in the future.

Another huge improvement to the beginner experience is the unloading pitch. If you’ve ridden the old chair, then you know just how surprisingly steep the unloading zone was. Beginners would fall constantly, and skiers/snowboarders would crash into each other all the time. The new pitch is much more mellow and wider to accommodate the new lift. While this won’t prevent all newbies from falling, I would bet these falls and collisions will be greatly reduced.

Lastly, the new lift maze is aligned better to the base area. The maze entrance is now easy to ski into from the main run Springmeier. It allows for better crowd flow compared to the past lift, which required a good amount of speed and traffic crossing in order to make it the lift without taking your skis off.

Overall, I’m impressed by how much of an improvement this new lift is to the beginner experience at Breck. I’m excited to see how the crowd flow improves this season as a result of the FIVE SuperChair. Fingers crossed for shorter lift lines! Check out the opening day highlight reel from Breck below:

Photos and Video Courtesy of Breckenridge Ski Resort and skiingsolo

Loveland has announced that they will be opening this Friday (11/10) for the season! Chet’s Dream will start turning at 9am, and it will continue to run 7 days a week following opening day. Skiers and riders will be able to enjoy top-to-bottom skiing on the Home Run trail from the start.

Note that this opening day is for the Basin only. The Valley will open the following week on Friday, November 17. Check out Loveland’s social media announcement below:

Photos Courtesy of Loveland

Get ready Boulderites (I think that’s what they call people from Boulder)! Eldora has announced they are opening a full two weeks earlier than planned! They will now be opening this Friday, November 3rd. They were previously scheduled to open on the 17th. Eldora will be opening the same day as fellow Ikon Pass resort Winter Park, who also announced their opening day on Wednesday.

Eldora will open with a full 1,000 feet of vertical and a small terrain park. For more information, head to Eldora’s website. Check out their social media announcement below:

Photos and Video Courtesy of Eldora

Winter Park will be open for the season starting this upcoming Friday, November 3rd! This announcement makes the Ikon Pass resort the third to open in Colorado this week, right behind Arapahoe Basin on October 29th and Keystone on November 1st.

While most resorts make their big reveals on social media, Winter Park first announced this news through a push notification on their app. Don’t have their app? Here’s all of the pertinent details from their app announcement:

Photos Courtesy of Winter Park

Keystone has announced they are officially opening for the season this upcoming Wednesday, November 1. Skiers and riders can head up the River Run Gondola to take laps on Schoolmarm to the Montezuma chairlift. Lifts will start turning at 9 am. Looks like there will not be a top to bottom run available on opening day. Check out Keystone’s social media announcement below:

Photos and Video Courtesy of Keystone

Ah opening day! Is there anything as good as hitting the slopes for the first time for the season? Sure core season may offer better skiing, but opening day isn’t about the skiing! It’s about the fun and camaraderie of being in the great outdoors with like-minded ski bums.

I made it to Arapahoe Basin for their season opening day on Sunday, October 29. This was definitely a late opening day for Colorado, so I was beyond ready to ski. Winter storm be damned; I was getting to A-Basin! Road conditions were mostly packed powder (though I heard I-70 actually wasn’t as bad). I was able to get one of the last spots in the Early Riser lot when I rolled in late at 8:45.

A-Basin reported 14 inches of fresh snow in the 24 hours prior to opening day. While it didn’t feel like a typical powder day, the fresh snow was definitely fun.

The energy of hundreds of stoked ski bums is infectious and the people-watching was entertaining.

And man, did the ski bums deliver! It didn’t matter that the day started out at a balmy 10 degrees on mountain; many people still donned their best costumes. I rode a chairlift with a unicorn who was kind enough to let me touch his butt. I was passed by the Pope in line, which eased my Catholic guilt for skiing on a Sunday (that’s what I tell my mom at least). There were a lot of capes, proving not many people have seen or remember The Incredibles. I ran into someone I know, which is rare for me as a staunch introvert. Strangers shared lift line beers and snacks with a smile and a fist bump!

Opening day satisfied the intense desire to finally ski. The skiing was fun and the party was even better. Let’s hope the fun continues throughout this season. See you next weekend!

Photos Courtesy of skiingsolo

Get ready Coloradans, Arapahoe Basin has finally announced their opening day! The lifts at A-Basin will start turning at 8:30 this upcoming Sunday (10/29). Does this mean they have won the Colorado race to open? No word yet from Keystone or Loveland, so stay tuned. See you out there!

Check out A-Basin’s social media announcement below:

Photos and Video Courtesy of Arapahoe Basin

Yesterday, Colorado Parks & Wildlife (CPW) shared photos of a recent deer rescue. The buck had 8 pounds of hammock netting and a pole trapped in his antlers. CPW was able to tranquilize the deer, but unfortunately needed to completely remove his antlers in order to save the animal. Luckily, the antlers will likely regrow next year as part of the shedding process.

Here’s CPW’s social media statement on the incident:

“This deer has a lot less weight on its head thanks to our wildlife officers. They successfully removed EIGHT POUNDS of hammock netting and a pole from this buck’s antlers last week.

After tranquilizing the deer, our officers tried to untangle the net, but time is extremely limited during these situations. Keeping in mind the stress of the animal, our officers swiftly opted to remove its antlers — rest assured, they’ll shed and regrow next year!

In a perfect world, we could walk up and easily remove the netting, but wildlife rescue is rarely that straightforward. The decision to remove the antlers was made with the deer’s well-being as our top priority. With help from our officers, this buck was able to leave the area, free of any obstructions that could have hindered its feeding or led to further entanglements. Be a good neighbor to wildlife by limiting yard decorations or sports equipment that could potentially become entangled in antlers.”

As a reminder, please be aware of any recreational netting you leave in the outdoors (including at your own home). It is unfortunately very common for deer and other animals with antlers to become caught up in man-made objects.

Photos Courtesy of Colorado Parks & Wildlife

As they make snow in the hopes of opening this month, Winter Park has released an update to their trail map. Following in the footsteps of Keystone and Steamboat, it seems like October is the month of the new trail maps!

Winter Park has two updates to their map. After teasing the expansion on last year’s map, Winter Park has included new hike-to terrain in The Cirque. This terrain was shown as closed on previous maps, but the map for this year features the extreme Jelly Roll glades. This terrain will be accessible for the first time this season (although an opening date is TBD).

Winter Park’s map also highlights the new Wild Spur Express lift. This update is definitely the bigger impact of the two, as this new high-speed 6-person lift replaces the old Pioneer lift (which was an ancient 4-person lift). While this new lift appears to have the same terminal and tower locations, the Wild Spur Express has added a mid-load station. This station will be a big quality of life improvement for snowboarders, as the return to the bottom of the lift is notoriously flat.

You can check out the full map below, or download a copy from Winter Park’s website. Winter Park is set to open “as early as possible” for this season, so keep an eye out for the opening announcement!

Photos Courtesy of Winter Park